Brownie Love

I usually hate getting all those batch emails that get forwarded and passed around by most people. You know which ones I’m talking about; it’s not only the spam that bothers me, but it’s the junk mail that gets circulated by all your friends that are supposed to be hard at work in the office. Hey, aren’t you supposed to be working?

Sorry to say, but I’m not really interested in the next thing that I should stop using because it might cause cancer, nor do I want to know that I will have bad luck or never find true love if I don’t pass on this email to ten people in the next five minutes. I think the only exception to this peeve is a forwarded email I received about chocolate and women. I can’t even remember the details of the email, not even vaguely, but I do remember laughing in concurrence about how right the email was about women and their affection for chocolate.

I can’t speak for every woman, but I can speak for the ones I do know and it’s true, we cannot say no to chocolate. And I sincerely believe that there is nothing that chocolate cannot solve. You have a bad day at the office, you have a bad hair day, you snap a heel, you have a fight with your partner, you have a headache, and for all those dilemmas, there’s always chocolate. Am I right, or am I right?

I am not sure whether it’s the chemicals in chocolate that tickle the endorphins in our brains that make us love it so much but it is pretty unanimous that the majority of women enjoy chocolate. Well while I was stuck at home, nursing my sore larynx and slowly sinking into a despair that can only be brought about by being given strict orders to be house-bound for 3 days straight, I decided that a batch of brownies would be the only remedy.

Okay so perhaps this method is not scientifically proven, nor do I recommend it when trying to get over an illness but all I can say that it was more to soothe my tired mind of having to stay at home for so long. I had some Fromage Blanc lying around in the fridge that was going to spoil if I didn’t use it, so I decided to exercise my brain by concocting a brownie recipe that included the fromage blanc.

Fromage Blanc is a soft white cheese that is very similar to cream cheese although has the consistency of sour cream. As the fromage blanc is quite dense, and you don’t want to end up eating something that feels like bricks, I decided to make the brownies in the same method as you would a sponge cake. You separate the eggs and beat the whites until you get stiff peaks and then add it to the batter. The end result is a cake that is still quite dense and chocolaty, although it isn’t stiff and stodgy. Just be warned a couple of squares is more than enough to satisfy, so make sure you aren’t too greedy.

Also don’t be too meticulous in mixing in the fromage blanc, don’t worry if you get some chunks in the batter, you will find that you will get little bursts of white in the brownies in the end that are a nice treat. If you want more brownie action, make sure you wander over to Myriam’s for a round up of this month’s Brownie Babe.

For now here is the recipe.

Chocolate Fromage Blanc Brownies

makes 16 squares

60g unsalted butter, cut into chunks
170g dark chocolate
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 cup plain all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
140g fromage blanc

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare a square baking tin with parchment paper.
Melt chocolate and butter in a small bowl set over a saucepan with simmering water. Stir until blended.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Sift flour and baking powder together, set aside.
In a another bowl, whisk egg yolks, vanilla and half of the sugar until pale and thick.
Stir in the melted chocolate and fromage blanc.
In another bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar until soft peaks form.
Fold in flour mixture until just incorporated into the batter.
Pour batter into prepared baking tin and bake for 30-35 minutes.
Let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes and then lift out from the tin.
Cut brownie into squares.