Dessert · Year-round
Brownie with fleur de sel and smoked chocolate
Fudgy middle, crackled edge. Smoked salt, no smoke flavour.
First brownie I ever made was for a girlfriend's birthday when I was nineteen. It came out like a hockey puck. She ate a slice anyway, told me it was 'crunchy', smiled, and never asked me to make one again. I think about that brownie more than I should.
Marc at Bord'eau. The same Marc from the gougère. Fixed me later with one rule: underbake. Always. Chocolate continues to set after the tin comes out. A brownie that looked right out of the oven is a brick by the time it cools. A brownie that wobbles in the middle when you pull the tin out is what you actually want.
The smoked salt I use comes from a tiny operation in Cádiz where they smoke flake salt over old whisky barrels. Don't use commercial smoke flavour. It tastes like wood preservative. Plain fleur de sel is also fine. The point is salt in punctual little crystals on top, not stirred through.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Serves
- 9 people
- Difficulty
- 2 / 5
- Pair with
- Espresso, or a twenty-year tawny port in a small glass.
Ingredients
- 200 g70% dark chocolate
- 150 gbutter
- 200 glight brown soft sugar
- 50 gwhite sugar
- 3medium eggs + 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 gflour
- 20 gcocoa powder + pinch salt
To finish
- to tastefleur de sel, or smoked sea salt
Method
- 1
Oven to 170 °C. Line a 20-cm square tin with baking paper, with overhang for lifting.
- 2
Melt chocolate and butter together over a bain-marie. Cool 5 minutes off the heat.
- 3
Beat in both sugars and the eggs with the vanilla. Hard, until glossy and ribbon-thick (2 minutes by hand).
- 4
Sift flour, cocoa and salt over the top. Fold gently with a spatula. Stop just before it's fully combined.
- 5
Into the tin, smooth the top. Bake 22-25 minutes. The middle should still wobble.
- 6
Cool fully in the tin. Lift out, cut with a hot wet knife. Scatter fleur de sel on top.
