Goat Cheese Brownies
It's here: the official publication date for the first-ever, all-goat book--meat, milk, and cheese! If you want to know the butchering schematics for goat and then a whole heckuva lot beyond--like how goat cheese is made, how goat milk differs from all other mammal milks, why it's considered the "universal" mammal's milk, how there's a whole cheesy world beyond creamy chèvre--this is the book for you.
Bruce and I are so thrilled. And thrilled so much is in the works for the book. Crazy. We'll be teaching at Central Markets across Texas in May, introducing my fellow Lone-Star-ites to the pleasures of all things goaty. We're heading out to California in a few weeks to be a part of the Third Annual Goat Festival at the Ferry Terminal Market (4/16) and do a signing at Omnivore Books--as well as shoot a few TV episodes and some tips for CHOW. And much more to come.
Such a reaction is probably inevitable. Goat meat is the world's most consumed meat. And goat milk is the world's most drunk dairy. (Although more cow milk is drunk per annum in sheer poundage, more people drink goat milk than cow milk.) Yet this global animal has escaped factory farming. If you want to go local, go goat. Or if you simply want to experience a whole new culinary horizon--and how many times can you say that?--go goat. Click here to get your copy of this first-ever book--with perhaps the best introductory line I've ever written for a cookbook: "I lied while wearing make-up." I'll just leave it there and let you imagine what comes next. (By the way, it's being simultaneously published in Canada, Great Britain, and many other countries. Check your local booksellers' websites--or the amazon site for your country.)
But for now, I wanted to celebrate with a blog-only goat recipe: fudgy, buck brownies made with creamy fresh goat cheese.
I realize I'm on a bit of a brownie kick as of late (see here and here and here), but I can't help myself. I wanted to give the readers of this blog an exclusive, something not found in the book, a thank-you as it were for being one of the hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of daily subscribers and unique visitors to this site. I realize I don't garner a lot of comments, but I see you in the stats--and I wanted to thank you in some way. So here goes.
Begin by positioning the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheating the oven to 350F/175C. Butter and flour a 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33-cm) baking pan.
Whisk 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl.
Place 4 ounces (115 grams) chopped bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate and 4 ounces (115 grams) chopped unsweetened (sometimes called "baking") chocolate in the top half of a doubler boiler set over a pan with about an inch of slowly simmering water. Don't have a double boiler? Set a heat-safe mixing bowl over a medium saucepan with a similar amount of slowly simmering water. Stir until half the chocolate has melted, then remove the top half of the double boiler or the bowl from the pan (watch out--escaping steam can cause a nasty burn!) and stir off the heat until all the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat 10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons--or 150 grams) cut-up unsalted butter, 8 ounces (225 grams) crumbled soft fresh chèvre or goat cheese, and 1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated white sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy and thick, about 6 minutes.
Beat in the melted chocolate until smooth, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the inside of the bowl and beat in 4 large, room-temperature eggs, one at a time, adding the next after the one before has been thoroughly incorporated. Beat in 1 additional large egg yolk and 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract.
Turn off the beaters, add half the flour mixture, and beat it in at very low speed. When creamy, beat in 1/2 cup (120 ml) low-fat or whole milk. Finally, beat in the remaining flour mixture just until there are no white streaks or rifts in the batter. One warning: it's a stiff batter. Pour and spread the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. The middle may be soft but it will set up. These are pretty fudgy brownies, dense and wonderful. And goaty, to boot! Like a cross between cheesecake and brownies. What could be better?
Cool the pan on a wire rack for an hour, then cut the brownies into 24 pieces. Carefully remove them from the pan. You can store them between sheets of wax paper in a sealed container on the counter for up to 3 days--or in the freezer for months. As if any will be left. And who knows? You, too, might become indoctrinated with the gospel of goat. Bruce and I sure hope so.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Friday, April 1, 2011 at 10:21AM | in Cake, Chocolate, Desserts, Fabulously Empty Calories
Reader Comments (16)
I have been trying and trying to get a good goat cheese brownie worked out...
I saw a show a year ago on the Food Channel about them (I think it was a Bobby Flay Throwdown)...
Can't seem to get them just right...
Thank you thank you thank you for this one!
I'll let you know how they turn out!
Yipes! I might be afraid of the competition. (But they were really good. I frozen them to make them last for months!)
M.
This may be what I need to bring my husband over to the dark side of goat cheese (which he resists at every turn). Thanks for the recipe! :)
these are right up our alley and the book looks beautiful - can't wait to pick up a copy. congrats!
hooray! i need to order my goat book, so thanks for the delicious-looking reminder! and, could you please come to seattle on your next tour? we have some Central Markets here that you could teach at. :)
Jeanette: We'd love to figure out a Seattle/Portland trip. Maybe we can put that together for later this summer or early this fall.
M.
Looks delicious, and I need to make a date with my kitchen to cook these bad boys. Congrats on the book and all the surrounding good energy!
These look phenomenal. Thanks for your perpetual creativity.
Two questions about the book:
- goat can be gamy -- do you discuss how to avoid (by making the right purchase) or address (by treating the meat in a certain way) this?
- is there a recipe from the book that you'd recommend as a main dish for Easter? Since you have a dog named Dreidel, Easter may not be one of your holidays, but you do know tastes here in Colebrook and clearly have a strong sense of what's right for a family feast.
Thanks, and congratulations!
These brownies were pretty fine. The book goes into butchering schematics at length--and even discusses ways to avoid the rather rank goat we got in Falls Village once! There's no real way to "treat" the meat--rather, you do have to realize you'll never have a flat, boring boneless skinless chicken breast when you cook goat. That said, you do want young goat, preferably under six months of age.
As to Easter, we may have a collie named Dreydl, but one of us here celebrates Christmas! We'd really recommend the goat leg roasted on a bed of chickpeas and tomatoes. That recipe is even on this blog right now. Or perhaps the shoulder roast--another great choice in the book. Or the goat shanks with cabbage, port, and vanilla--very cheffy and very delicious.
M.
Now this recipe may even induce me to buy goat's milk sometime. Interesting!
The recipe that'll get you to buy goaty dairy is the goat yogurt pie in the book. Promise. Make it with a lard crust--just because.
M.
I am excited to see you take goat on such an international north american level; we have been cooking with goat meat a lot in Lebanon, I remember folks killing a goat at every picnic we went to (I would cover my eyes); anyways, exciting news, will get the book and read more of the blog! (I did a goat chili once and a lot of people were less than enthusiastic, hope that feeling changes when they find out more about it)
We, too, hope people understand just what goat is: a cottage industry that supplies the world its most consumed meat. An animal that has largely escaped the horrors of factory farming. And one that has less fat than even chicken! (And would we ever like to be at a picnic in Lebanon where they cooked a goat!)
M.
Mark & Bruce,
Whenever you do one of your "Ultimate" recipe books, do you ever lose your appetite for that food? Do you still eat potatoes, brownies, ham, peanut butter, muffins... et al... ? I think I would have had my lifetime supply of (fill in the blank) with recipe development and testing... Just curious.... :-) Laura
Laura:
No doubt about it, single-subject books can be a challenge. Until we wrote The Ultimate Brownie Book, we didn't know you can actually get nauseated at the smell of melting chocolate. I would have told you it could never happen. Sigh. But then there's the part about doing what you love--and that motivates us all over again. Someone asked us last night at a dinner party if we were afraid of running out of ideas after so much work. We both instantly said, "Nope." So I guess there's more coming down the pike!
M.
Just found your sit for the first time via Twitter. So glad I did. Cannot wait to make these brownies! Love goat milk, goat cheese, goat butter... I've only had goat meat stewed in Indian cuisine, which was delicious, so I am very curious to see what you've cooked up in this new book. Wondering if I can swing a day trip to SF for the Goat Festival at the Ferry Terminal market... we'll see!