Fudgy Brownies with Eggnog Ice Cream

 

Christmas is over! The awesome part of being a Russian here in the US, though, is that you get to celebrate two big holidays: Christmas and then New Year's. You see, New Year's is THE biggest holiday in Russia, the time of magic, fun, and big parties. It is on New Year's Eve that Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz) comes and brings presents to kids. He is accompanied by his beautiful granddaughter, Snow Maiden (Snegurochka). Christmas is also celebrated (Russian Orthodox Christmas is on January 7), but on a much smaller scale, usually at home with the family. So, the holidays are not over yet... Getting ready to celebrate with friends, with traditional New Year's party foods such as olivie (I will write about it later) and vinegret, followed by the honey cake perhaps.

  
In the meantime, with this week off, I'm catching up on doing things around the house, not the least of which is BAKING. Mostly cookies, more cookies and brownies. Speaking of which. I have this recipe for fudgy and fabulous brownies from the folks of America's Test Kitchen (tweaked here and there). And it occurred to me to try to use eggnog in ice cream. And guess what? The eggnog ice cream works great with these warm brownies. Perfect for quiet days at home. Also really, really nice with a glass of champagne, especially in front of the fireplace (amazingly, it is actually cold enough here in Houston to light the fire).

 
You know the drill, right? If the brownies cool down, they can be microwaved so that our festive eggnog ice cream melts deliciously over their smooth, chocolatey goodness.

 
By the way, you may also want to check out pomegranate ice cream I wrote about in the fall. 

  


Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies

5 oz (140 gr) dark chocolate, chopped
2 oz (60 gr) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 stick (113 gr) butter, cut into 4 pieces
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup (250 gr) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoons salt
3 eggs
1 cup (140 gr) flour
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Butter or spray an 8X8 in (20X20 cm) pan.

In the microwave, melt together both kinds of chocolate and butter, add cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Add sugar, vanilla and salt, stir until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition. Add flour and nuts, mix until just incorporated. Bake 35-40 min, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool until firm enough to cut.

Eggnog Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup eggnog
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients until sugar dissolves. Make ice cream according to the ice cream maker instructions. It is best to let ice cream firm up in the freezer a couple of hours before serving.