Espresso Tahini Brownies

My favorite fudgy brownie recipe. A thick, chewy chocolate espresso brownie, swirled with nutty tahini because there is nothing better than a good, homemade brownie.

Today, we’re getting a little controversial. I know that what I am about to say is not the overall opinion of the masses and I also know that I am getting ready to step into what could be a very heated discussion. Nonetheless, I press on. I am one of those people who never read Harry Potter…until now. Though I was a voracious childhood reader back when the first book was released, my mom wasn’t a big fan and I had little to no interest in fantasy literature so it just wasn’t on my radar. I am smack in the middle of the Harry Potter generation and as I got older, everyone I knew had read ALL of the books, seen ALL of the movies, knew ALL of the backstories, plot twists, etc, etc, and so I just kept quiet about the fact that I never read them. Sometime last year, my husband and one of our friends decided that I was still missing out so we started watching the movies. I made it through one and a half. So now, my book club (which by the way is comprised of my best friends from high school and devout Potter fans) have decided to remedy my situation by reading through the series month by month. For me, it’s been a slow month. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the story or see the draw, I just feel like I missed the boat back in elementary school and have been doing okay without Harry Potter in my life. I will, however, promise to keep an open mind and will report back as we move through the series.

Though it may not be my cup of butter beer (I think that is an appropriate HP reference), I get it. There are some books that draw you in again and again. Books with dog-eared pages and crinkled covers, in which you discover something new every time you pick it up. In my overstuffed shelf of cookbooks, I have one like that. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh is the HP of my cookbook collection. All 363 pages are pure gold and I am drawn to something new each time I flip through. Their approach to dessert challenges me to use new ingredients and introduces me to slightly unorthodox, but always delicious flavors, but Ottolenghi’s writing walks me through each step in such a way that makes me feel like he is in my kitchen with me, folding egg whites into chocolate and chatting about yoghurt. These espresso tahini brownies are my riff on the ones from Sweet. These are my favorite way to make brownies and I now I continually find myself trying to swirl tahini into any baked good I can.

how to make espresso tahini brownies

I am a big fan of thick, fudgy brownies, which means I tend to incorporate a lot of eggs and not a lot of flour in my brownie recipes. For this one, we start with a base of melted dark chocolate, butter, and espresso powder. Sugar and brown sugar are whisked into the warm chocolate, followed by the eggs until everything is smooth and homogenized. A bit of flour and some dark cocoa powder is folded in until just incorporated and then the batter is swirled with dollops of tahini before baking.

Yield: 16 brownies

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Espresso Tahini Brownies

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 55 Min

My favorite fudgy brownie recipe. A thick, chewy chocolate espresso brownie, swirled with nutty tahini because there is nothing better than a good, homemade brownie.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp dutch process cocoa powder
• 11 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cubed
• 2 tsp ground espresso
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup tahini

Instructions

1. Grease a 9x13 pan and line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place chocolate, butter, and espresso in a large, heat proof bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, brown sugar and 6 T water (or coffee). Cook over medium heat until syrupy and simmering at the edges. The sugars should be mostly dissolved. Immediately pour the syrup over the chocolate/butter mixture and gently shake the bowl to make sure everything is coated. Let sit for 3-4 minutes. Whisk until everything is combined and smooth.
4. Add 2 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Whisk in the remaining 3 eggs and vanilla extract. Sprinkle dry ingredients over the top of the chocolate mixture and use a rubber spatula to fold in gently until no flour streaks remain.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
6. Dollop tahini evenly over the top of the batter and swirl with a toothpick or a knife.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

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Classic Sourdough

I think that 2019 should be the year of bread. Over the last year or so, I’ve been wading into the homemade artisan bread pool and this year I’m diving in head first. (Two of my actual 2019 goals are “regular bread making” and “make more croissants” so obviously, I have a great handle on my priorities.)

We are starting off with this classic artisan sourdough, which is a naturally fermented bread. This means that the leavening (and sourdough flavor) come from naturally occurring yeast, not active dry or instant yeast you can get at the store and also means that you will be working from a sourdough culture or starter. If you don’t yet have your own little starter, jump on over to my Sourdough Culture How To for a full rundown on how to start your own. (Mine is named Pierre and he is now an integral part of our family).

I’ve been tweaking and testing this process to try and get it right so that even the most novice bread bakers will have success and I’ve learned most of my gluten handling skills from Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread and Tara Jensen’s Baker Hands. Bread making is a special process because although it is very precise and measurement-reliant, it is also a very tactile and intuitive process. It was a little difficult to write this process out because the more you bake, the more you rely on the feel and look of the dough. Over the next few weeks, I will be working on creating an Instagram story that follows my bread process to help out in the visual department. Making your own bread is not a quick and easy adventure, but I promise that when you bite into your first craggy piece, it will all be worth it and you will be running back to your kitchen to do it all again.

Recipe updated 3/14/20: Since posting my original sourdough recipe, I’ve continued to play with the ratios and flours used. I also spent part of my summer at the restaurant baking loaves of sourdough everyday for the resort and my sourdough skills have improved greatly. This recipe will probably always be evolving as I discover new flours and play with hydration ratios, but this updated recipe has been honed and perfected and is my regular, everyday sourdough.

Classic Sourdough Bread 

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients: 

For the leaven: 

100 grams starter

200 grams water 

200 grams bread flour

For the bread: 

620 grams bread flour

60 grams whole wheat flour

24 grams kosher salt

2 grams active dry yeast

500 grams water, 75-80°F

270 grams leaven (see above recipe)

Procedure: 

The night before baking, make the leaven: 

1. In a large plastic bowl, stir together 100 grams of your starter, 200 grams of water, and 200 grams of bread flour. Cover (I like to use plastic wrap and a rubber band) and let set on the counter overnight. 

To make the bread: 

1. In a large bowl, mix together leaven, warm (75-80 degree) water, and yeast and stir gently. The leaven will begin to break up leaving you with a cloudy water. 

2. Add the bread flour and whole wheat flour and stir to combine, until there are no more streaks of flour and you have a rough dough. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let rest for 30 minutes. (This period is called autolyse and it allows the flour to absorb the water before the addition of the salt, which is hygroscopic and will soak up the water immediately.)

3. After your autolyse, add the salt. I like to sprinkle the salt over the dough and pinch it in distribute. Using your fingers and a bowl scraper, work the salt into the dough. You will feel the dough tighten a bit and develop tension as the salt mixes in.

4. At this point, you can transfer the dough to a large clear proofing container, if you have one, or to a clean bowl. Cover the bowl with the dish towel and place in a warm area of your kitchen. This is the bulk fermentation period. The dough will proof for about 3 hours, during which the yeast will begin creating rise and gas bubbles. We won’t knead the dough, but it will undergo a series of folds which help strengthen the gluten development. When folding, take care not to crush all of the little gas bubbles forming in the bread- we want to keep those! 

5. Proof the dough on the counter for three hours, turning every 30 minutes. To complete a turn/fold: grab the bottom of the on side of the dough and stretch it up and over to the other side of the rest of the dough. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat until you have folded all four sides of the dough. This is considered one turn. Cover and continue to proof, repeating the turn every 30 minutes (for a total of 5 times). 

6. After 3 hours, the dough should have noticeable bubbles and should have slightly puffed and increased in size. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and divide it into two pieces. Dust the top of one dough piece with flour and fold the cut side onto the dough. Use your floured hands and a bench scraper to shape the dough piece into a round. By the end of shaping, your dough should have a taught, smooth outer surface. Repeat with the other dough piece, cover bowl with the dish towel and let rest for 20-30 minutes. 

7. After this resting period, you will form the final shape of the dough and transfer it to proofing baskets to complete its final rise. To shape the dough, use your bench knife to flip your round over on the surface, so that your smooth side is down. This will be the outer crust of your bread. Gently pat the dough into a rough rectangle shape. Grasp the bottom lip of the dough and fold it up, about 2/3 of the way, like you are folding a letter. Press the edge into the dough. Grasp the right side of the dough, stretch it out and over so that it crosses to the left side. Repeat this with the left side. You should have an envelope looking dough shape now. Grab the top side of the dough, stretch it out slightly and fold it over the entire package like you are closing an envelope. Take hold of the dough nearest to you and flip the entire package up and over (away from you) so that all of the seams are on the bottom. Let rest while you repeat this with the other dough piece. 

8. Dust your proofing baskets with a good amount of flour* and transfer your dough to the baskets, so that the smooth side is facing down and the seams are upright. Cover with a dish towel.

9. At this point, you have two options for final proofing. You can either proof both loaves traditionally, on a warm countertop for about 3 hours, or you can wrap the loaves and transfer them to the fridge to cold proof for 8-12 hours. 

To bake the loaves: 

1. When you are ready to bake the loaves, place a large Dutch oven with a lid in your oven and preheat to 500 degrees. You want the Dutch oven to be very hot when you add your bread to it.  

2. When your oven and pot are preheated, carefully remove the Dutch oven. Flip your dough out of the basket onto a piece of parchment paper. Quickly, use a knife or a lame to score the top of your dough and then grab the sides of the parchment paper and carefully lower it into the Dutch oven. Place the lid back on the Dutch oven and bake for 20 minutes, covered. 

3. After 20 minutes, carefully remove the lid from the Dutch oven and lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes. The bread is done with the top crust is deeply browned and the bottom has a hollow-side when you tap it. 

4. Before repeating with the other loaf, let the Dutch oven preheat again in the hot oven. 

Soft Ginger Cookies

Christmas is almost here! If you are anything like me, you are in full Christmas mode- the gifts are wrapped, the halls are decked, and your house smells like sugar and spice and everything nice. We are doing Christmas with both sides of the family this year so that means that we will be hitting the ground running once guests arrive this evening. I have spent the last few days rushing around trying to get everything together and my house clean before everyone gets here and it has been quite the whirlwind! Lucky for you, one of the things that I have been working on so diligently are these soft ginger cookies. They are warm and cozy and firmly in the Christmas cookie category even though they don’t contain royal icing and sprinkles.

When developing this recipe, one of the issues I kept running into was cookie spread-age (I don’t think that is the technical term, but…) so I wanted to address that a little in today’s post. It is the absolute worst when you go through all of the trouble of making and scooping cute little cookie balls (or even worse, rolling and cutting out shapes) only to have your cookies morph into one large, crispy cookie sheet as soon as you stick them in the oven. Here are a few precautions and things you can take note of in order to help prevent this catastrophe!

-Ingredients: First things first, check your recipe ahead of time and know the purpose of each ingredient. White sugar, low protein flours (like cake and pastry), and a large amount of fat will all contribute to cookie spreading. This definitely doesn’t mean don’t use these things, just be mindful of the quantities and ratios and adjust your expectations accordingly. Baking soda will also cause spread and browning in cookies. Baking soda is needed to counteract acidic ingredients, like the molasses in these cookies, and it is much stronger than baking powder. In this recipe, I found that a blend of the two worked best to give my cookies balance and still keep them a little fluffy.

-Procedure: Using the creaming method for cookies, like we do in this recipe, is slightly different than using it for cakes. When you are creaming butter and sugar, you are creating space and trapping air bubbles in between your fat and the sugar crystals. Air bubbles then help to create leavening and give the carbon dioxide produced from the baking soda and powder a place to go, creating a light and fluffy crumb. This is great in cakes, but not so great in keeping cookies from spreading. When creaming the butter and sugar for cookies, you aren’t going for “light and fluffy”, but more of a “thoroughly combined” mixture. The final steps you can take to help safeguard against cookie spreading is 1) chill your dough- this allows the fat to re-solidify, so it doesn’t melt as quickly in the oven; 2) do not spray your cookie sheet- use parchment or a silpat, but don’t add any more grease that those cookies can slip around in; and 3) bake your cookies at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time-if your oven temperature is too low, it may allow too much time for cookies to spread.

David Lebovitz also has a really great article (with lots of links!) for some more tips and tricks on preventing cookie spreading here.

Happy Holidays and happy baking! This week, may your homes be filled with laughter, your glasses filled with Champagne, and may your cookies keep their shapes! Merry Christmas!

Soft Ginger Cookies 

Yield: approximately 30 cookies 

Ingredients: 

2 sticks butter, slightly softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1/4 cup molasses

3 1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

6 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp cardamom

3/4 tsp ground cloves

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

Procedure: 

1. In a medium bowl, measure flour using the spoon and scoop method. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cardamom, and cloves. Whisk together and set aside. 

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter and sugar and beat until just combined (*see above for details). 

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add eggs one at a time, mixing until combined before adding the next. Mix in molasses and vanilla extract, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

4. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients, mixing until everything is combined and no flour streaks remain. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. 

5. When ready to bake: preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use a small cookie scoop to arrange cookie balls on baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 10-11 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to brown and the tops of the cookies are no longer wet. Let cookies cool on pan for at least 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. (Make sure to let the baking sheet cool before adding more cookie dough to prevent spreading in the oven.)

Decorating Ideas: 

*I glazed these with a cream cheese icing and topped them with crushed pistachios and freeze dried raspberries (ground into powder using a food processor) to give them a Christmas-y feel. To make the cream cheese icing, I melted half a block of cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl. I then added 1/4-1/2 cup of powdered sugar, and whisked until smooth. I added 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream until the icing reached my desired consistency. Dunk the tops of the cookies in the glaze and then sprinkle with pistachios and raspberry. 

*To create a sugared ginger cookie more reminiscent of a ginger snap, roll the cookie balls in Demerara or turbinado sugar (or another coarsely ground sugar) before baking. 

*To create a clean, classic look, melt some white chocolate and drizzle it over the cookies or dip the cookies so that they are covered with white chocolate half moons.