Le Pain Quotidien's Belgian Brownies

Just who, exactly, was I kidding when I thought it was a good idea to go easy on the sugar in the waning days of winter and a most stressful time at work? I have seen the light, my friends, and it comes in the form of individual chocolate brownies that when eaten for breakfast or a midnight snack can easily be substituted for illicit drugs or alcohol as self-medication in dire times.

Not only do the chocolate and butterfat and sugar do wonders in perking up the most depressed of souls, but distributing them at will helps, too. It must have something to do with karma, but if you bake up a batch of these and throw a few at your boyfriend and his mother and your doctor's receptionist and the doorman of your office building and your poor starving coworkers (while saving a couple for yourself, for crying out loud), I guarantee any foul mood will slink wretchedly out the window.

Described as "brownies" by both Le Pain Quotidien and the Los Angeles Times, these little chocolate cakes are soft and creamy on the inside with a thin top crust that shatters under pressure. As far as I'm concerned, "brownies" is a misnomer. These are airy (practically flourless) delights that aren't fudgy or cakey or any of the other characteristics that have people's emotions running high when the virtues of a good brownie come up in conversation. They're rich but still delicate (Ben complained about the structure of them while eating a few hunched over the sink last night) and would be best unmolded on a plate with a huge melting scoop of ice cream creating little vanilla rivulets all around.

I prepared these cakelets while watching Oprah cry as Sidney Poitier walked out on her stage unexpectedly - a deep chocolate aroma filled the air, I snuggled deeper into my couch, and another person's happiness proved to be the best distraction from an overwhelming world.

Belgian Brownies
Makes 14 brownies

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60 - 64% cacao)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
5 eggs, beaten lightly with a fork
1 1/3 cups superfine sugar
3 tablespoons pastry flour

1. Roughly chop the chocolate into pieces. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and add the butter. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, until the two ingredients have melted. Mix well and transfer to a large bowl; set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Sift the sugar and flour together, then stir into the chocolate. Add the eggs and mix well. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The batter will thicken as it stands.

3. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers. Spoon one-fourth cup batter into each paper-lined cup. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. The brownies will still be moist when done; they will puff up and fall slightly as they cool.

Comments

[gemma]

oh my goodness these look SO yummy. I am COUNTING the days till Easter so I can make them and DEVOUR them. I personally think I will be a lot happier if I keep them all to myself
x

[Julie]

Chocolate therapy is very effective.

These look wonderful!

[Melissa]

Great......Love it!
I might just prepare them this weekend,
Merci!

[Anonymeuse]

Your boyfriend...your boyfriend's mother....now what about your boyfriend's sister? Remember, never forget the sisters!

[Lindy]

Well, now I know what I'm going to do with the silicon muffin cups a friend gave me for Xmas. I am not a huge fan of the muffin, per se.
I am, however a huge fan of the virtually flourless dark chocolate cake. All the more so when miniaturized, and as you say, unmolded on a plate with a huge melting...well, like you said.
And I have a friend with a birthday coming up, who is not crazy about birthday type cakes. I think this will suit his purpose very well.

[tokyoastrogirl]

These look luscious- I can just imagine the crackly tops giving way to the moist cake. The photo completely captures the essence!

[David]

Those don't look like brownies, but they sure look good...and I don't think Belgians make brownies, but they sure eat a lot of chocolate!

[Bakerina]

I am so grateful to you for posting this that I just might have to repay you by posting the Shaker Meyer lemon pie recipe. Which, you know, I was planning to do anyway. :)

[Josh Friedland]

I wonder if this would work as a passover dessert substituting matzo cake meal (since there's only 3 tbsp flour in the recipe anyway)?

[Luisa]

Gemma - well, you should keep them all to yourself, after all, you've been without them for too long!

Julie - you're right. It's a good thing this medicine tastes so good.

Melissa - hope you like them! A perfect baking weekend.

Alizah - if I could have thrown a couple to Providence, I would have! I'll make it up to you next weekend ;)

Lindy - these would make perfect individual b-day cakes. Cute but not TOO cute...

Ann - thank you!

David - I agree, the name is totally wrong, but the things themselves? Very very right.

Jen - Can the world get more perfect?! One hand washing the other... Thank you!

Josh - I think you absolutely could try this with matzo meal - that's a great idea for Passover. Let me know if you do try them. And you could also try David Lebovitz's Gateaux Bastille - I blogged about them last fall and the recipe is on his site. They have no flour - and are luscious, too.

[Zarah Maria]

Gaaah! What I wouldn't give for one of those right now - did you save some for when I'm coming?:-)

[Alexandra]

drool...this might just be my permanent chocolate fix!!

[Ivonne]

Wow!

Those look and sound delicious. I'm certainly glad that you're back to the sugar!

[Luisa]

Zarah - oops, all gone! I'll just have to cook up something else ;)

Alexandra - I'm glad this looks so good to you, too.

Ivonne - me, too. ME TOO! Temporary insanity.

[bestvnteas]

Fantastically fabulous!!!

I love all kinds of brownies. This is another one for my collection.

bestvnteas
http://www.cookies-in-motion.com

[barbjack]

Wow!
What a great idea!
We made these in cupcake papers for easter, unmolded them, heated them in the microwave and served them with ice cream!Will definitely make them again.

[emiglia]

I made these and you're right, they're incredible. I'm going to do a longer post on them soon, but I just wanted to thank you for the recipe... they're in my top five now!

[Chantelle]

Wow these turned out awesome! I looked up the recipe on a whim while trying to cope with a chocolate craving, and I decided to make them then and there. Thanks! They are great!! :)

[Mortimer]

Le Pail Quotidien is just gross, that restaurant is dirty.

[Ysatis]

I do confirm that here in Belgium, these chocolate cakes are available almost everywhere. We call them brownies but it is not, it's just some delicious chocolate cakes.

Your food blog is absolutely stunning, the recipes, the pictures everything is perfect. Congrats!

[Luisa]

Thanks, Ysatis!

[an]

my brownies are concave- are they supposed to look like that? Perhaps I should have kept them in the oven longer?

[Luisa]

An - I'm not sure what that means, did you bake them for the full amount of time? It could be that your oven temperature isn't calibrated and is too low, which would mean that the brownies were taken out before they were entirely cooked... I'm not sure. I'd try another batch and let them go longer, or buy an oven thermometer and see what the story is with your oven. Good luck!

[valerie]

I made these over the weekend for Valentines Day to mend my friend's broken heart.
It was delicious, but it was a bit more fudgy/gooey than I expected (also, they weren't like the belgian brownies I get at Le Pain Quotidien) so I wanted to see if I did something wrong-
I accidentally let the batter sit for an hour, rather than 30 min. as directed. Then I filled 15 cups (rather than 14) and baked for about 32 minutes. The cakes rose and were puffy right after I took them out of the oven, but in a few minutes, they deflated, and had a dent in the middle.

[Heina]

Hi there! I stumbled upon this recipe in February when I was Googling a way to use up some fine dark chocolate I had that had bloomed, and have made it at least three times since. It's been a bit of trial-and-error to get them to rise and fall properly but I got it right last night, woohoo! I also added chipotle powder to the recipe last night for Spicy Mayan chocolate-style cakelets, and they turned out wonderful. Thanks for the great recipe; I'm going to browse more of yours.

[elisa ross]

this brownie recipe could be altered to work for Passover by eliminating all flour and/or matzoh meal and separating the eggs, beating the whites until stiff, incorporating them GENTLY and using them as levening. i make a lava cake frequently using this method and just add ganache in the center. DELICIOUS!