Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 16
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
• 3 large eggs, at room-temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 6 tablespoons whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 325°f; have ready a buttered 8-inch square glass cake pan.
• 2 first, prepare the brownies.
• 3 in a small saucepan, melt the butter and bring it to just below a boil; have the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl--pour the hot butter over the chocolate and let stand for 30 seconds.
• 4 stir until chocolate is completely melted.
• 5 sift in the sugar and cocoa powder (i do this through a sieve, not with a sifter).
• 6 with a wooden spoon, beat in the mascarpone, eggs (30 minutes on the counter brings them to room temperature) and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
• 7 gently fold the flour and salt into the batter.
• 8 pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly--this is important since, if the batter isn't spread evenly, it won't bake evenly.
• 9 place into preheated oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean (45 minutes did it for me).
• 10 place pan on a cooling rack and let brownies cool for 10-15 minutes, while you now make the ganache.
• 11 place chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl; in a small saucepan, bring the cream and the butter to just below the boiling point, over medium heat.
• 12 pour this hot cream-butter mixture over the chocolate and let stand for 30 seconds, then stir until smooth; ganache is now ready to use and can be spread over the brownies.
• 13 should you wish to wait a bit, make sure the ganache is warm when you spread over the brownies, as it does firm up which makes spreading hard to do.
• 14 don't cut into the brownies until ganache has firmed up; i find it best to put the brownies into the fridge to speed this along; once the ganache is firm the brownies do not need to be kept in the fridge, though.