Dennys Tapas Style Brownies

Want your chocolate brownie but also want a healthier yet tasty version without the idiot substitutes? Read on!

For the past twenty years or so the American brownie has grown to gargantuan proportions. One brownie really could serve four people! The trend has been to undercook the batter to a gooey center. Well, folks, read that as why Americans have gotten so fat.

Everyone knows the larger portion size is a real diet killer. But do you know that the wheat flour so commonly used in America is also high in gluten? Gluten is what slows down your metabolism, and, along with white sugar as a partner, builds water retention, causing weight gain.

In the never-ending search for the perfect brownie I amended some older recipes lying around my kitchen, lurking in older cookbooks. Americans love to experience with their brownie recipes.

I’ve been working on the gluten idea for some time. You don’t have to suffer from gluten intolerance to suffer its effects if too much of it is in your daily diet. American grocery shelves are stuffed to overflowing with some form of wheat flour in our products.

But hey! I still love chocolate! And I do run a chocolate blog (Romancing The Chocolate); what is a girl to do? What I do like is what Spanish chefs are doing these days. They are treating desserts like tapas, creating small intensely flavorful bites of pure pleasure!

To create my own small bites of pure pleasure tapas style I decided to go to a smaller height pan in which to bake my brownies: a jellyroll pan. It’s long and small in height and this one is nonstick so no need to add any oil to the pan to bake. They came out beautifully after cooling a bit in the pan. I’m amazed they lasted that long fresh out of the oven!

I also cut the sugar level as you can do in most American dessert recipes. My aim is to taste the chocolate above the sugar. Chocolate is the jewel here! I also cut some of the saturated oil and some of the gluten by substituting 1/2 cup of the wheat flour for almond meal. If you don't have almond meal, just go ahead and use the all-purpose flour. This recipe isn’t gluten free or low calorie. It is a healthier and smaller version of a favorite American dessert.

This little cake brownie is simple and easy to put together. I was out of an official bag of Ghirardelli double chocolate chips. What I did have was a huge bar of Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chocolate that I was able to hack and slice into chunks to about the size of chocolate chips. Awesome!

For photographing I cut these cake brownies into larger pieces for better viewing. Why not cut them into two-inch bites tapas style? After I photographed them I did just that and they were wonderful. You do have to wait until they are completely cooled to cut well into such small pieces. Fewer calories and pure pleasure. They even freeze well! Does life get any better than this?!

Dennys Tapas Style Brownies (with Chocolate Chips and Almonds)

Bake at 350° F. for about 15 – 18 minutes. (Mine took 18 minutes.)

Ingredients:

½ cup butter (1 stick)

¼ cup canola oil

1 cup dark brown sugar (less intense than white sugar and more flavorful with chocolate)

½ cup unsweetened Hershey’s cocoa powder

2 large AA eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup almond meal (found at health food stores)

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup low-fat organic milk

1 cup sliced almonds

6 ounces Ghiradelli semi-sweet double chocolate chips

Directions: Set aside a long shallow pan that is nonstick coated. Otherwise go ahead and lightly grease and flour a regular pan. You only want these brownies to be about an inch or so high when baked.

You can do all this with just a wire whisk and a wooden spoon – no need to drag out the huge mixer, unless, of course, you just want to show off to the family and friends. :)

Gently melt the butter and oil together. Can just be softened and semi-melted as you don’t want the butter and oil to be too hot when you add the eggs.

Stir in sugar and cocoa powder until combined. Now add the vanilla and eggs and beat until just combined.

In another small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to chocolate mixture, beating after each addition.

Note: Don’t worry if you screwed up the order of adding ingredients. I’ve done that and all came out well anyway.

Pour batter into pan. Now comes the fun decorating part. Gently place across the batter all your chocolate chips/chunks. Then spread liberally all those sliced almonds. I really love almonds so you may not want to use as many as I did in the photos. Pecans would be divine on this too. The beauty of the nuts resting on top of the batter is that they roast in the oven and smell divine!

Bake at 350° F. for about 15 – 18 minutes. Cool at least one hour, maybe two, on a wire rack before cutting into bars. Can be frozen for later enjoyment.

To serve: gently heat a few seconds in the microwave to soften those chocolate chips! If you really want to be decadent add some French vanilla ice cream… junior scoops like small melon balls, of course.