Olive Oil Brownies

As I’ve admitted before, I’m not really a brownie person. I prefer to eat copious amounts of chocolate in bar form, the darker the better. A sprinkle of sea salt or a smidge of peanut butter are the only accoutrements I need, and even those are usually unnecessary. So I don’t really have a game plan for those once-in-a-blue-moon days when I decide that I must have brownies for dinner.*

The lack of a go-to recipe lets me get creative when looking for my brownie fix. These intriguing but effort-heavy salted caramel brownies caught my eye, as did these spicy ones and these red velvet cheesecake ones.

But then I remembered an old Melissa Clark story from a few years ago, on coconut and olive oil brownies that were gooey and fudgy and almost pudding-like with their rich chocolatey-ness. (We’re busting out the SAT words today.) I ignored the coconut part completely and instead focused on the pairing of olive oil and chocolate — such a no-brainer that I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t think of it first. (I’m only two years late to the party, NBD.)

Olive oil as dessert I’ve had a number of times, mostly in gelato form at Otto, and I like the subtle fruity savoriness that it brings to baked goods. It would cut the cloying sweetness that I find problematic with most brownies, and add a slightly peppery, tangy bite. Since Melissa’s coconut-free version called for a combination of butter and olive oil, I found an all-olive oil version at Sarah Cupcake, that (major bonus), was one-bowl and super easy.

Well. Minus the part where I discovered that the labels on my oven are completely off. What I thought was preheating my oven to 350F was actually preheating it to 600, and only by turning the knob to 575 would I get something approaching 350. Thank goodness for oven thermometers and an effective exhaust fan.

While my oven troubles produced a borderline cakey brownie**, if your oven works properly, you should be the proud owner of a batch of perfectly fudgy, intensely chocolatey goodness. The crunch of the coarse-salt topping belies a soft interior, rife with melted pockets of chocolate chunks. I’d say you should make them for Valentine’s Day, but then you’d presumably have to share …

*I legit have zero willpower against cravings. The only thing that’s ever stopped me: the deli below my apartment has a credit card minimum, which has thwarted a late-night cake craving on many occasions. It has almost convinced me to start carrying cash.

**In the great debate of cakey vs. fudgy brownies, I fall very strongly in the fudge department. If I want cake, I’ll just make cake. If I’m making brownies, I want dense, rich, almost truffle-like squares.

Olive Oil Brownies
Adapted from Sarah Cupcake

– 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

– 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

– 1/4 teaspoon table salt

– 1/2 cup white sugar

– 1/3 cup olive oil (the fruitier the better)

– 2 large eggs

– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

– 3-1/2 ounces dark chocolate (60-72%), chopped into small pieces

– coarse, flaky salt for sprinkling

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8″ square pan (I used an 11-x-7-inch pan).

2) In a large bowl, whisk the cocoa, flour, table salt and sugar.

3) Add the olive oil, eggs and extract. Whisk until just combined, then fold in the chopped chocolate. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle generously with coarse salt.

4) Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. (Err on the side of undercooking, since you want the brownies to be fudgy!) Cool for 30 minutes before cutting the brownies into small pieces.