After a lot of New Years salad I have been eating, I just wanted a brownie 😉 A little basil infused in the chocolate and lemon in the caramel makes the rich brownie a little lighter! (Sorta;)
Basil Brownies
Yield 9 x 9 pan
2 sticks Unsalted Butter
½ cup Dark Chocolate pieces
1 ½ cups Fresh Basil, stems and leaves, rough chopped
1 ¼ cups Sugar
3 whole Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1/3 cup All Purpose Flour
1/3 cup Sour Cream
1 tsp Salt
Preheat oven to 350
Melt butter in a bowl over a pot of steaming water. Add basil to butter and mix to combine. Allow to steep over the steam for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Strain basil out of butter and discard spent basil. Add butter back to double boiler and add chocolate. Melt, stirring regularly. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
In a small bowl mix flour and cocoa powder.
In a mixer, cream eggs and sugar, add vanilla and sour cream. Mix until well combined. Slowly drizzle in melted chocolate. Add flour and mix until just combined.
Grease a 9 x 9 pan and bake for 30 minutes, until just firm in the center.
Lemon Caramel
Yield 2 cups
1 cup Sugar
½ cup Fresh Lemon Juice, room temperature
½ cup Heavy Cream, room temperature
¼ tsp Vanilla
¼ tsp Salt
Heat a sauce pan over medium high heat, until almost smoking. Pour in sugar and whisk vigorously until caramel forms. If your pot is hot enough it should happen almost immediately.
Once caramel forms turn down heat, and carefully add lemon juice and whisk to combine. Add heavy cream, vanilla and salt. If caramel balls continue to whisk over heat until smooth caramel sauce forms. Store in refrigerator for up to a week.
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