Recipe: Raspberry Brownies

Image found here

Another item my mom has a lot of in her pantry is raspberry pie filling. I found this recipe for raspberry brownies on the Live Well, Bake Often blog. While it calls for fresh raspberries, I thought I'd just substitute them with two heaping tablespoons of pie filling. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil (making sure to leave some overhang), spray well with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
• Add the melted butter and granulated sugar to a large bowl and mix together until well combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla until fully combined.
• Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Mix until just combined, then gently fold in the raspberries and chocolate chips.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes. Check at the 30 minute mark and bake longer if needed, mine were perfect at 35 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.

I was afraid to use too much of the pie filling, since it's wetter than fresh raspberries. But with only a few tablespoons, I couldn't even taste it (my dad said he could, though). If you decide to make this same substitution, use more of the filling; I am going to spread the filling on top of my brownies for now to add more berry flavor. Along with switching the raspberries, I also realized I didn't use enough flour. Usually when a recipe calls for an extra tablespoon of something, I figure it's for dusting or coating the pan or something like that. While making this dessert, I assumed the instructions would tell me later when to add in those extra tablespoons of flour. But it never did, and I forgot about them. Oops! If I were to make these brownies again, I would use more pie filling as well as more flour to balance things out. I also never wait for the melted butter to cool (who has the patience for that?), but I'm not sure what kind of impact that would have on anything anyway.

In the end, these brownies are very fudge-like and dense. Great for chocolate lovers!