With this one, what you see is pretty much what you get--a gooey brownie (unsweetened chocolate, dark chocolate (I ran out of unsweetened), white chocolate, cocoa, and cacao nibs) in a chocolate pate sucre (cookie) crust. Overkill, in my opinion, but much appreciated at work. I think that one of the nicest things about a brownie is that you get a lot of bang for very little work, and you don't have to make a fancy multi-step crust. If you're going to make tart crust (not that it's hard, but still), why not put something tart-specific, like lemon curd or raspberries and pastry cream, in it? Still, who am I to deny the chocolate fiends their fix?
A few notes on the process: As mentioned above, I ran out of unsweetened chocolate so I subbed in a bit of dark chocolate, which I'm sure sweetened the pot but not disastrously. Instead of the suggested walnuts, I used a generous handful of cacao nibs. Like many brownies, I baked it to the gooey side of fully cooked, and was happy with that choice.
As you can see, the light in my kitchen and the light in my breakroom are worlds apart, but I include the reddish photo in order to brag about my new gigantic stove! Center burner!
