White Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate Ganache

White chocolate brownies? I thought it sounded strange as brownies are supposed to be brown, aren't they?

I have an entire bag of white chocolate chips sitting around. In an attempt to use those up, I tried out this White Chocolate Brownie recipe.

It wasn't the fudgy type of brownie but this cake-like brownie was very delicious and moist. The additional white chocolate chips added a crunch to the brownie. 

I topped it with a chocolate ganache sauce which added some colour to an otherwise plain looking bake and made it even more delicious!

White Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate Ganache (24 servings)
Recipe from here

Ingredients for Brownie

• 225 g butter
• 84 g white chocolate, chopped
•  4 eggs
• 400 g white sugar (reduced to 300 g)
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 250 g all-purpose flour
•  1 teaspoon salt
•  180 g cup white chocolate chips (reduced to 150 g)

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache

• 100 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 100 ml of whipping cream

 Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
• Melt the butter and white chocolate together over low heat in a saucepan. Remove from heat, and let cool slightly. Meanwhile beat eggs with sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl; mix in the butter mixture, and stir in the flour and salt until thoroughly combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared baking pan; sprinkle with white chocolate chips.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for about 10 minutes before cutting into bars.
• Heat the chopped dark chocolate and whipping cream over a low heat and stir till melted and smooth. Let it cool for about 15 minutes. Place inside piping bag and pipe over the white brownies.

Coconut Checkerboard Brownies

While I am not a big fan of brownies, the  the Coconut Checkerboard Brownies recipe from Bon Appetit Desserts (pg 589) is no ordinary brownie. The coconut and checkerboard brownies consists of a layer of chocolate brownie at the bottom and alternating squares of chocolate and coconut brownie on the top which makes it look like a very attractive chess board.

When I first saw the recipe, I thought it looked fairly complicated and I was quite hesitant to try it out. But in the spirit of improving my baking skills, I gave it a shoot and it did not turn out as difficult as I thought, plus it was really quite delicious!

It was fairly easy to make the coconut and chocolate batter. The slightly more challenging part was laying out the checker board. First, I shaped the hardened coconut batter into squares and placed them on the chocolate brownie base. Then I spooned the chocolate mixture in between.

It has a lovely coconut fragrance and alternates between crunchiness from the coconut bites and chewiness from the brownies. It was well liked by my family especially those who like coconut.

Coconut Checkerboard Brownies (Makes a 9×9 inch tray)

Ingredients:

Coconut Batter:

• 1 7-ounce package sweetened flaked coconut (I use 200 g of desiccated coconut)
• 1/4  cup powdered sugar (cut down to 3/4 of this amount)
• 1/4  cup canned sweetened cream of coconut
• 2 ounces Philadelphia-brand cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes, room temperature (57 g)
• 1 extra-large egg
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• 1⁄8 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of salt

Chocolate Batter

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces (88 g)
• 3 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (100 g)
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar (cut to 1 1/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup sifted unbleached all purpose flour (sifted, then measured)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄8 teaspoon salt

Method

Coconut Batter: Measure 1/3 cup flaked coconut; cover and set aside. Place remaining coconut and sugar in processor; finely chop. Add cream of coconut and cream cheese to processor and blend well. Add egg, almond extract, lemon juice, and salt and blend well, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Transfer to bowl. Cover and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours.

Chocolate Batter: Butter 9x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Melt butter with chocolate in heavy small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Pour into medium bowl. Cool to lukewarm. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Whisk sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl; sift over chocolate mixture. Mix until blended and smooth. Spread 1 1/4 cups chocolate batter in prepared pan (cover and refrigerate remaining batter). Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil. Refrigerate batter until very firm, about 3 hours.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F (170°C). Alternate 1 tablespoon remaining chocolate batter and 1 tablespoon coconut batter over chocolate layer, filling pan completely (I arranged the coconut batter first into a checkerboard then filled the chocolate batter in between the coconut squares). Sprinkle reserved 1/3 cup flaked coconut over coconut mounds; press gently to adhere. Cover pan tightly with foil.

Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake until tester inserted in center of 1 chocolate mound comes out almost clean, about 40 minutes (This is a little too long as my coconut flakes started to turn very brown after 20 minutes – watch the oven carefully). Cool brownies completely in pan on rack.

Do Ahead : Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover brownies tightly and store at room temperature.