Hazelnut Brownies

For Christmas, I got a ton of amazing cookbooks. One of them, Organic and Chic by Sarah Magid, has pictures of a bunch of desserts with lustre dust. Ever since then, I have been wanting to bake something using it. I stopped by Spun Sugar this week and picked some up. And tonight, after reading my blogging friend Beth's latest post, I decided tonight was the perfect night.

Now, as I told you earlier, I am relatively new to baking and cooking. What does that mean? I don't really have a 'go to' brownie recipe. Problem? I think so. Solution? I sat down with a ton of my cookbooks and looked through various brownie recipes. Most called for instant coffee which, being a non-coffee drinker, I didn't have on hand. Working with the ingredients I had in my kitchen, I chose to use the recipe from Betty Crocker's Cookie Book. I adapted it and changed it from regular to hazelnut. Enjoy!

Hazelnut Brownies

*Adapted from Cookie Book by Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

- 5 ounces of bittersweet baking chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)

- 2/3 cup unsalted butter

- 1 3/4 cups sugar

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 3 eggs, room temperature

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 2 tablespoons Nutella

- 1/2 cup of ground hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan (9 x 9 x 2 inches).

2. Melt chocolate and butter using double boiler. Cool slightly.

3. Beat sugar, vanilla, and eggs in bowl with electric mixer for about 5 minutes on high speed. Beat in chocolate-butter mixture on low speed. Beat in flour until just blended. Beat in Nutella.

4. Ground hazelnuts in food processor. Fold into batter.

5. Pour batter into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool completely.

6. Optional: Paint on lustre dust. (You can find it at any baking store)

Verdict: Not going to be my new brownie recipe. Not sweet enough but still pretty good.