Birthday Brownies for CSCB
Happy birthday to my dear friend @carryonsimoncarryonbaz! You were my first friend in the Carry On fandom and your friendship means a lot to me. You’ve been so kind and supportive to me and to so many others in the fandom -- you are a true Fandom Parent. You are a wonderful beta reader — the ending of Mi Chamocha in particular owes so much to you! I love your fics and also your baking side blog.
Here’s my special treat for your birthday (I wish we could share them in person). In tribute to @cookingmywaythroughcarryon , here is an alternative recipe for Penny Bunce Brownies. I love brown butter in baked goods, and brown butter sage pasta sauce, so I took that as my starting point. I figured some orange would help cut the medicinal flavor of the sage and help marry it with the chocolate.
Fair warning: I really love this frosting, but I am the only person in my house who will even eat it. (More for me!)
Fudgy Brownies with Sage-Orange Frosting
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/8 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 cups confectioner's sugar, divided
2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Brown the butter. Melt over medium heat in a small saucepan then continue cooking until the milk solids turn golden brown. There will be foaming and possibly spitting.
Brown the sage. Make sure the leaves are dry. When the butter is pale brown, add the sage leaves and cook in the hot butter until they are crispy but not burnt. Remove from the heat.
Add the orange zest and break the sage up a bit with a fork. Add the first cup of confectioner's sugar and stir well; this will break the sage into smaller pieces.
Add the remaining sugar and stir until combined as well as possible. This will be imperfect, as it's less butter than would be needed to moisten all of the sugar.
Stir in the first tablespoon of juice, then the second. Continue adding more, a little bit at a time, until you get a spreading consistency that you're happy with.
2/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Valrhona, which is rich and mellow)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Line an 8x8” or 9x9” square pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray. (Tip: it's easier to line a pan with foil without tearing it if you first mold it gently around the outside of the pan, then move it to the inside.) (Also, you can skip the foil if you want. It just makes them easier to get out for frosting and cutting.)
Combine the dry ingredients and whisk together. Stir in chips.
Combine wet ingredients and mix well (I like my immersion blender for this, but a fork is fine too).
Bake 30-35 minutes for a 9” pan or 35-45 minutes for an 8” pan. Check by poking with a table knife — you don't want it to be still liquid, but it should still be moist.
Cool on a rack, then frost.
The frosting recipe is a modification of one from a 1941 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook; the brownie recipe is a modification of the Deep-Dark Fudgy Brownie recipe on the King Arthur Flour site.
