Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Squares

Happy moments call for brownies.

Truth to be told, sad moments call for brownies too, for when you want that chocolatey stick-to-your-teeth goodness to heal the soul and for the dark fudginess to glue your heart back together. But happy moments need happy foods. And since brownies make me happy regardless of the situation (unless I overbake them. Then brownies make me sad), they're a fitting treat to make and devour.

Not that I made these especially to celebrate, though. Remember when I mentioned that I was given a chance to sell some goodies ? Well, the chef of the cafe requested that I bake some brownies and tiramisu and bring some samples over to the cafe for him to test. I had to pick one of the thousands of brownie recipes I had hoarded, and since he mentioned he wanted chewy ones, I made him just that. I was so excited (and terrified) at the thought of having to meet him that I ate two huge hunks of brownies right after I portioned them (I cut the pan into 16 squares, and having used a 10 by 10 inch pan, they were big squares) and then wisely decided to pack away a few pieces before they were all completely gone.

I also made two flavours of tiramisu, one traditional and one flavoured with matcha, which is a Japanese green tea powder. It was my mom's suggestion that I add a twist because not all people are coffee-people. There are tea-people, like yours truly. 

So last night, my dad drove me to the cafe. Box of treats in hand, I stepped inside, not knowing what to expect. I had never actually heard of that cafe (a friend of mine had introduced me to the idea of supplying them with goodies), let alone dined there, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the cozy-yet-contemporary layout, and there were a many tables already occupied by college students. It was loud and cheerful and as I pushed open the glass doors, a young man in a tee and jeans came up to me and said "Are you Viyern ?"

We sat down at the back of the cafe with several of his friends and coworkers to test them. I felt like my exam papers were being graded right before me, so when they turned to me with big smiles, I nearly keeled over with relief.

I still have to tweak the recipe to make it more suitable for their little cafe. Like make the portions bigger and more student-budget-friendly (for the tiramisu) and jazz up the presentation a little (for the brownies). But all in all, they were pretty happy with what I made, which made me really happy with what I made. Especially when prompted for how he would like the brownies to be presented, the chef replied "Just a scoop of ice cream with a piece and I'm a happy man."

Life is good. Especially when upcoming projects including tweaking brownie recipes and shopping for chocolate.

Brownies are my vice. Aside from the three pieces I brought to the cafe and the little slices from the pieces that my family stole, I ate most of them. Like, almost half the pan. 

All in the name of research.

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Squares (adapted from Lisa Yockelson's ChocolateChocolate)
1 1/3 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 sticks/16 tbsp butter

5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

4 large eggs

1 large yolk

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line a 10 by 10 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

2. Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and set the bowl over a pan of simmering water to melt both the butter and chocolate. When melted, remove from heat and stir in the sugar. The mixture should be warm enough to melt some of the sugar, but it'll still be a little grainy. Stir in the vanilla extract, salt and cocoa powder.

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and the yolk just to blend, not to incorporate any air. Stir the eggs into the chocolate mixture. The batter will seem somewhat ropy at this point. Stir in the flour just till combined, you don't want to beat the heck out of this batter. 

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the batter for a couple of hours. 

5. Preheat the oven to 180C. Take the batter out of the fridge - it'll be really thick because the chocolate and butter have set somewhat. Pour (or scoop) the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, until just set. You can cool the pan on a rack before popping in the fridge to chill overnight before cutting. Or do what I do, which is to just throw the pan into the freezer right after I remove it from the oven. It stops the brownies from cooking any further. Once then pan is no longer warm to the touch, transfer it to the fridge and chill overnight before cutting into squares and serving.