Red wine and cherry fudge brownies

What do you do with red wine you don't like?  This new California wine style that's taking off right now--- really heavy on the dark fruits, dark red to nearly black in color (stains your lips and teeth), and generally tastes like wine concentrate--- is a little too rich for my taste.  It seems like it should be made into a syrup and poured over ice cream.  (Hey, that's not a bad idea.)  So after about two glasses of this 2017 Pessimist Red Blend (Daou Vineyards, Paso Robles), I was looking for ideas.  I really like this Blood and Chocolate beverage (vegan, but I make mine vegetarian), but was less than overwhelmed with this red wine chocolate cake.  The brownies seemed like a promising cross between the two.

I omitted the chocolate chips from the original recipe and substituted sweet cherries macerated in the wine, since the wine already had a strong cherry influence.  I also added a little espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavor.  (Because there just wasn't enough in there already.)  My changes are in italics and strikeout.  Here's what I used:

For the brownies
1/2 cup chocolate chips dried dark sweet cherries (optional)
3 tablespoons of red wine, plus 1/4 cup
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (see Conclusion edit)
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the glaze:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons red wine
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter an 8×8 pan and line with parchment paper, then butter the parchment. Set aside.

Macerate the cherries in about 3 tablespoons of wine by heating slightly in the microwave; set aside.  Melt the chocolate and the butter together in a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth; stir in the espresso powder.  Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt; set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugars, and vanilla. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and then the wine.  Add the flour mixture and stir until the batter is smooth and has thickened slightly.  Drain the cherries, reserving the liquid. Cut each cherry in half, then fold in the cherries into the batter.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 15-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out mostly clean with just a few crumbs attached. You may need to bake the brownies for a few minutes more, but set your timer for 15 minutes and then hang out in your kitchen for the last few minutes of baking time just to make sure they don’t over bake. (At 15 minutes mine were still raw in the middle.  At 20 minutes the middle had just started to dull on top.  I removed them after another 6 minutes, when the middle had risen and was dull on top, but there was remnant damp mix on the knife.)  Allow to cool somewhat.

While the brownies are baking, make the glaze. Melt the chocolate and butter in the double boiler until melted.  Measure out the reserved cherry liquid and add enough wine to make 2 tablespoons.  Add to the chocolate along with the salt and whisk until smooth. Pour the glaze over the warm brownies (warm enough to melt the glaze but cool enough that the glaze remains a little thick) and spread it to the corners so the top is evenly coated.  Cool completely, preferably overnight in a cool area.  (They are very delicate until they've been allowed to sit for a while.)  Lift from pan using the parchment paper and cut into squares, wiping knife after each slice.

 

Conclusion:  These are crazy rich.  I'm undecided about the cherries, mostly from a texture perspective.  They don't really add flavor, so it's just this sort of squishy/chewy thing in an otherwise silky, melt-in-your-mouth crumb.  (I had expected them to taste wine-soaked.)  However, the wine imparts a mildly tart flavor (interesting, since the wine wasn't tart at all), so perhaps tart cherries would have been a better combination.  Or perhaps not macerating them, so they were chewier.  In the end, these are good, but I'd prefer a brownie less rich, so I can eat a bigger piece. (Later edit:  I discovered the missing flavor profile was salt.  The flavor of these improved immensely after sprinkling with a little salt.)

Recipe:  Red wine chocolate fudge brownies via butter me up, Brooklyn!

Granola

I love all the things that go into making granola, but I really don't care much for granola.  I remember when Quaker's 100% Natural granola first hit the shelves; it was a massive hit in our house and I ate loads of it. I can only think that I OD'ed on it and that's why I no longer care for it.

Fast forward to present day, when I found this "it will change your life" cult-following granola recipe and decided to give it a try.  I don't hate granola, and it's nice to have a crunchy, healthy snack in the house.

There are loads of variations suggested, but I went for the straight recipe to start.  The only change was that I had forgotten to add the brown sugar before spreading it out on the baking sheet.  I wasn't sure I wanted more sugar, and I really didn't feel like piling the mix back into the bowl, already in the sink.  But I also didn't want to miss out on the deep, toasty richness that brown sugar (aka molasses) could add.  So I just drizzled some molasses (maybe two tablespoons?) across the top and mixed it in.

Here's what I used:

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup hulled raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut chips
1¼ cups raw pecans, left whole or coarsely chopped
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (see introduction)
1½ teaspoon coarse salt, to taste

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Spread mixture in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes, until granola is toasted and dry, about 45 minutes.  Remove granola from oven and season with more salt to taste, if desired.  Let cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

I had more liquid in the bowl as I dumped it out than she does in the video, and the mix seemed fairly damp.  It might have something to do with the maple syrup and how liquidy or thick that is.  My maple syrup did not have a strong maple flavor, so it probably could have been reduced a bit more in processing, thus rendering it more flavorful and thicker.  I also baked it about an extra 10 minutes, as it still seemed damp prior to that.  Perhaps only a 1/2 cup of syrup next time would reduce the liquid and the sweetness.

Conclusion:  One of the nicest things about making your own granola is that you can toast it to the degree you like, which for me is more than what I get in store bought granola.  And whether it was the oil or the molasses, this recipe has a really nice crispness to it, rather than being crunchy.  I especially like the little bursts of coarse salt that sparkle on the tongue.  However, I'm glad I didn't add the brown sugar as it was plenty sweet as it was.  Perhaps could even be a little less so.  And I'm wondering what the maple syrup added...  Could I use a plain sugar syrup and add a little maple flavoring?  This is a fairly expensive recipe, so anything that would cut costs would help.

Recipe:  Nekisia Davis' Olive Oil & Maple Granola via Food 52