Piece of life
Spring is slowly settling in Quebec, even if the temperatures are struggling to get above 0°C. I won’t lie to you, I’m tired of winter. I’m waiting to put away the winter coat [and all the equipment that goes with it] and to see the little flowers break through with impatience. In the meantime, I’m using this weather as an excuse to cook some delicious treats.
About the chocolate & pistachio marbled brownie
A few weeks ago I won a contest on instagram and was lucky enough to receive an assortment of nut butters from one of my favorite stores, Mille et une noix. I mention them regularly and I have been using only their products for a few years. In my little shipment, I had, among other things, pistachio butter made of 100% pistachios [so it’s pure pistachio paste]. And I find it absolutely perfect to use in pastries.
I did a first test by baking a pistachio brownie with milk chocolate chips, a real success. But I wanted to take it a step further and decided to mix my classic dark chocolate brownie recipe with a pistachio brownie. Trust me, you want to try it. The result is absolutely spectacular !
From a practical standpoint there is no difficulty. The brownie batter is easy to prepare. As for the chocolate, I use 66% dark chocolate [Caraïbe by Valrhona]. You can choose another brand of chocolate, but I recommend that you stick with dark chocolate. Milk chocolate is possible but it will make the brownie even sweeter, knowing that there is already a good amount of sugar [brownie oblige !]. For the pistachio paste, choose a 100% pistachio paste [make sure it is not sweet]. If you live in Quebec, I strongly recommend the one from Mille et une noix.
How to obtain the marbled effect ?
The principle is the same as for a marbled cake. There are several techniques, I propose you here the “lazy” one that I adopted this weekend. Of course it is a bit rough, but with my two impatient kids around I went as fast as I could. The result is a little less aesthetic but but it doesn’t affect the taste.
I poured strips of dough in alternating layers [chocolate/pistachio/chocolate…] vertically. To be more precise, you can put your dough in pastry bags. The poaching will be more elegant. Usually that’s how I would have done it, but here I went with the barbarian [ie with a spoon]. At the end I run the tip of a knife between the layers in the opposite direction of the strips [ie horizontally] to create the marbling effect.
Chocolate & pistachio marbled brownie
Équipements
- square dish of 22 x 22 cm (8.6 x 8.6 inches)
Ingredients
For the chocolate brownie
- 160 g dark chocolate
- 80 g butter
- 80 g sugar
- 40 g flour
- 40 g almond powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 pinch of fleur de sel
For the pistachio brownie
- 40 g almond powder
- 40 g flour
- 40 g pistachio paste
- 80 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- 40 g of unsalted pistachios roughly chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1 pinch of fleur de sel
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
For the chocolate brownie
- In a bowl pour the flour, almond powder, sugar and pinch of salt. Mix well.
- Melt the chocolate with the butter (in a double boiler or in the microwave).
- Pour melted chocolate/butter over dry ingredients mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the eggs, one by one, mixing well between each.
- Set aside at room temperature while you make the pistachio brownie.
For the pistachio brownie
- In a bowl pour the flour, almond powder, sugar and pinch of salt. Mix well.
- Melt the butter.
- Gradually pour the melted butter over the pistachio paste, mixing well between each addition. You should obtain a liquid paste.
- Pour it over the dry ingredients mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the eggs, one by one, mixing well between each.
- Add the roughly chopped pistachios, keeping 1 tablespoon for decoration.
- In a buttered and floured dish (or lined with parchment paper), pour alternating strips of chocolate and pistachio dough vertically (for more precision you can transfer your dough into pastry bags). To create the marbled effect, use the tip of a knife to make lines in the opposite direction of the strips (i.e. horizontally, see the video in the text above).
- Sprinkle with remaining chopped pistachios.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, the brownie should still be "sticky" in the center (it should not be overcooked).
- Allow to cool before unmolding, then cut into 9 squares.
