Layered Brownies/White Chocolate Caramel/Cacao Nib Gelato
- Ready In:
- 14hrs 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 28
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
-
CANDIED PECANS
- 1⁄2 cup sugar
- 1⁄4 cup water
- 1 cup pecan halves, toasted
-
BROWNIES
- 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (54% to 60% cacao)
- 1⁄4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder, plus
- 1 teaspoon natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 1⁄2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 cup sugar, plus
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-
WHITE-CHOCOLATE CARAMEL
- 3 tablespoons water, divided
- 3⁄4 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 4 1⁄2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 4 ounces high-quality white chocolate, finely chopped (such as Lindt or Perugina)
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
-
BITTERSWEET-CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 2⁄3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (54% to 60% cacao)
-
CACAO-NIB GELATO
- 1 1⁄2 cups whipping cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1⁄2 cup cacao, nibs
- 1⁄2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1⁄4 cup sugar
directions
-
FOR CANDIED PECANS:
- Lightly butter baking sheet.
- Stir sugar and 1/4 cup water in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
- Increase heat and boil until sugar syrup is light golden, occasionally brushing down sides of skillet with wet pastry brush, about 8 minutes.
- Add pecans and stir until syrup coats pecans, about 1 minute; immediately pour pecans out onto prepared baking sheet; spread in single layer with heatproof spatula.
- Cool completely and coarsely chop nuts.
- *Do Ahead: Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.
-
FOR BROWNIES:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan with foil; butter foil.
- Combine 1/2 cup butter and bittersweet chocolate in heavy medium saucepan; stir over medium-low heat until melted and smooth.
- Remove from heat; cool slightly.
- Whisk cocoa powder, flour, and salt in small bowl.
- Whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla in medium bowl to blend.
- Pour butter mixture into sugar mixture; whisk until blended; add cocoa mixture; whisk until blended.
- Transfer brownie batter to prepared baking pan; smooth top (layer will be thin).
- Bake brownie until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 18 to 20 minutes.
- Allow brownie to cool slightly, then gently press down on edges to form flat, even layer.
- Cool completely in pan on rack.
-
FOR WHITE-CHOCOLATE CARAMEL:
- Spoon 1 tablespoon water into small bowl; sprinkle gelatin over and stir to blend.
- Let stand until gelatin softens, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine remaining 2 tablespoons water, sugar, and pinch of salt in heavy small saucepan.
- Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil until syrup is deep amber, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 8 minutes.
- Slowly add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously) & reduce heat to low.
- Stir to dissolve any caramel bits.
- Remove from heat; let cool 5 minutes.
- Add gelatin mixture; stir until gelatin dissolves.
- Add white chocolate; whisk until melted and smooth; whisk in butter.
- Pour caramel atop cooled brownie; spread evenly to cover completely.
- Chill uncovered until caramel firms slightly, at least 8 hours or overnight.
-
FOR BITTERSWEET-CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
- Bring cream to simmer in small saucepan; remove from heat.
- Add chocolate; whisk until melted and smooth.
- Cool until mixture is slightly thickened but still pourable, about 15 minutes.
- Pour ganache atop caramel on brownie; spread just to edges.
- Sprinkle chopped candied pecans evenly over.
- Chill uncovered until ganache is firm enough to cut, about 4 hours.
- **DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.
-
CACAO NIB GELATO:
- Combine whipping cream, milk, and cacao nibs in heavy large saucepan.
- Scrape in the seeds from vanilla bean; add bean and bring mixture to simmer; remove from heat.
- Cover and let mixture steep 30 minutes; uncover and return to simmer.
- Whisk egg yolks and sugar in large heatproof bowl until mixture is pale yellow and slightly thickened.
- Gradually add hot cream mixture to yolk mixture, whisking until blended.
- Return mixture to same saucepan and stir over medium low heat until custard thickens and coats back of spoon when finger is drawn across and instant-read thermometer inserted in custard registers 170ºF, about 5 minutes (do not boil).
- Transfer custard to medium bowl; cover and chill overnight.
- Pour custard through fine strainer set over bowl, discard solids in strainer.
- Transfer custard to ice cream maker and proocess according to manufacturer's instructions & transfer gelato to freezer container.
- Cover and freeze until ice cream is firm, at least 8 hours or overnight.
- ***DO AHEAD - Can be made 3 days ahead; keep frozen.
-
ASSEMBLY:
- Using foil as aid, lift brownie out of pan; place on work surface.
- Fold foil sides down.
- Using sharp knife, trim off about 1/4 inch of brownie on all sides.
- Cut brownie into eight 3 1/2-inch-long, 13/4-inch-wide bars.
- Place 1 brownie bar and scoop of Cacao Nib Gelato on each of 8 plates and serve.
- E N J O Y!
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Reviews
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I found this to be very very rich(you only need a smal piece)I made it without the gelato(no ice cream maker)I don't see why it needs to sit for up to 8 hours,I set mine in the fridg for about 2 hours,until it set ,then added the chocolate ganache,and let it set for another hour or so.My compnay loved it(sevred with a good vanilla ice cream(store bought :-(
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>Hello all, thank you for visiting My Page but forgive me for it is a work in progress! :) As I am sure you have noticed I changed my Chef Name to Manami which means love & beauty. ;) Just thought I should get with the program - my geisha & my icon! :) Don't fret, I won't change it again! <br /><br />I am 70 years young and I live in a nursing home, which is out of this world, I am treated like a princess and the world is my oyster! I have a private room and during the season I do taxes for most of the staff, as well as my personal clients that have been following me since I left the business world about 25 years ago. I was rear-ended by a van and it turned my whole world upside down. Why dwell on that? <br /><br />I am an American Jew (from NYC) who moved to Havana, Cuba when I was 2 1/2 years old, lived there until a few days after Castro took over and vamoosed it out of that country as fast as my legs would carry me! I was on a forced hiatus from the UofM, due to illness. <br /><br />From there my sister, mother and I went to NYC to work and my father went to Haiti in Port-Au-Prince, where he and my uncle had purchased some tiny cocoa plantations & a chocolate factory - for the choccolate liquer - to make baking chocolate (the real bitter stuff). We joined my father about 2 months later where I spent 2 of the most carefree & wonderful years of my life! It is the stuff that movies are made of! (A la Grace Kelly - even my clothes were like hers)> </p>
<p>I then continued my studies in upstate NY and hated it because it was too, too cold!:( Went back to NYC to work and see what I wanted to do with my life - I was all of 20 years old and had to drop out of school because of illness and then because of the weather! Yuck - so I got a job in a Textile Buying Office as a receptionist and soon I found myself buying trimmings! Loved it and was very happy with the work I was doing. <br /><br />However, I got an offer from two young guys who had a factory in Cleveland, Ohio, where they made Maternity Clothes and they wanted me to be in charge of the shipping dept, keep inventory and in my spare time - help with the designing!! I couldn't pass it up - the offer sounded so great and the salary was twice what I was making in the NYC. So I went to Cleveland, got married, had both my children and got a divorce 15 years later. <br /><br />Then my children and I moved to South Florida and have been here since 1978, I can't count that far back :) <br /><br />Learned how to do taxes with H&R Block and worked simultaneously as a Supervisor in 2 offices for them for 15 years. Then after the accident everything went spiralling downwards until I could no longer walk alone even with a walker - so the next step was a wheelchair. Stayed at home with a lot of help (nurses, PT therapists) fixed the bathroom so I could bathe myself and fixed the kitchen so I could help warm-up meals (was taught how to cook in rehab) and so forth and so on. <br /><br />However, the fire department had other plans for me, I called them too often to pick me up off the floor - how embarassing! So they gave me a choice - either a home or they would have to call HRS! :( (very sad) <br /><br />It was there, in my home where I was robbed! <img title=Cry src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-cry.gif border=0 alt=Cry /> All my cookbooks (all my Julia Childs Cookbooks, my Settlement Cookbook which had been my mothers - published in 1939 - with all her notes) my mother's cookbooks from Cuba & Haiti, all my handwritten recipes. They also took all my Delft collection, some antiques that I had in the kitchen like my rolling pin, a beautiful old & used wooden bowl, a charcoal-iron that was brought north when my parents left Haiti, it was hand-painted & was gorgeous, as well as all the other things that are too numerous to mention! <br /><br />That proved to be the last straw & from there it was an ALF,<img title=Yell src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-yell.gif border=0 alt=Yell /> which was horrible, and then on to another home where the administrator of that home became the administrator here and voila, here I am. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /></p>
<p>I have a beautiful large private room with a private bath, furnished to my liking: eclectic! <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /> My room is large enough to house my office and all the other odds and ends with which I like to surround myself.<br /><br />During tax season, mostly, my room is always full (of course I love it that way)! I have a blanket my daughter bought for me in New Mexico and that is on my bed. You guessed it - that is where everbody sits or on my great grandfather's arm chair which is in great shape. <img title=Smile src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif border=0 alt=Smile /> Update 01/11/2008 that time is here again :) Have started doing taxes already and not just regular taxes but corporations, partnerships and 1040X - ammended returns! Whoopee! I love the feeling I get when this time comes around and I get into gear!!! I love it! :) <br /><br />The head chef, the kitchen supervisor & the dietician enjoy the recipes from Zaar; the ones that I post, as well as, the others. We are in the process of changing the menu right now - so we have been doing a lot of figuring. The administrator is so cute because every once in a while she asks for a recipe and then she gives me a pack of paper so I can print them. <img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /><br /><br />I am president of the resident council and most of the family members come to me to take care of their grievances - this way I do my part - and the staff can take care of the larger problems! It has been working for 10 years - why change if it ain't broke?<img title=Wink src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif border=0 alt=Wink /></p>
<p>Well, it's time to say hasta luego folks. <img title=Laughing src=/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-laughing.gif border=0 alt=Laughing /><br /><br /></p>