Red Wine Infused Brownies

Hello and welcome to the pilot episode of Nikoli's Kitchen! This show is a culinary journey of positivity and scratch-made food. Come with me as I discuss what I've been eating and the challenges I face along the way, be it diet, budget, and everything in between. Take part in weekly food challenges and submit ingredients for me to cook in random recipe challenges! We'll also break down a recipe each week for you to make at home.

In the first episode I talk about new beginnings, the skirt steak and chicken 'n waffles I made this past weekend, and then I break down a red wine-infused brownie recipe in the featured recipe segment. Thank you so much for checking out the show and thank you so much for going on this journey with me.

Featured Recipe Timecodes

22:11 - Ingredients List
23:48 - Step One (Reducing the wine)
24:43 - Step Two (Chocolate Prep)
25:21 - Step Three (Combining everything)
25:31 - Step Four (Sugars/etc in)
25:40 - Step Five (Eggs)
26:48 - Step Six (Flour)
26:58 - Step Seven (Baking)
28:10 - Step Eight (Homemade Ganache)

 

Featured Recipe for this Episode

Brownies:

4 cups red wine
1/3 cup white sugar
2 sticks butter
10 oz chocolate (good quality chocolate/baking chocolate, get it as dark or semi-sweet as you like, minding the sugar)
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 t vanilla
5 large eggs
3/4 c flour
1 t salt

 

Chocolate Red Wine Ganache:

8 oz heavy cream
8 oz baking chocolate
2 c red wine
1/8 c sugar

Brownie Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.
Add wine and white sugar to a large saucepan and cook, over medium heat, until the liquid is mostly gone. You'll notice a distinctive change in the liquid state from a simmer to a foaming or frothing as the liquid evaporates. Stir this and don't let it burn. Remove from heat and let it cool before using it. You can do the wine reduction for the ganache here as well since it's the same, just set aside some of the syrup for later.
Add two sticks of butter (1 cup) and the chocolate to a large glass or metal bowl.
Fill a saucepan with 2 inches of water.
Place bowl over top of the saucepan and turn it to high; the boiling water will melt the chocolate and butter. Stir frequently to combine.
Remove from heat once melted and allow to cool (it should just be warm to the touch, then you're ready). Once this is cooled and your wine syrup is cooled, add the wine syrup into your chocolate mix.
Add brown sugar, salt, and vanilla and stir to combine. 
Add one egg at a time, stirring until it is incorporated. Note- if you want to whisk these in quite a bit you're going to add a lot of air that will make your brownies more on the cake-y side. If this is something you like, by all means, whisk each egg as it goes in.
Sift 3/4 c flour into the bowl and stir together just until it is incorporated. 
Grease or spray a 9x13" or an 8x8" baking dish. Your brownies will obviously come out thicker in the 8x8" pan and not being as thin you won't get that kind of "crunchy" brownie edge like you do with a thinner 9x13" brownie. 
Spread batter out into the baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes (9x13") or 30-40 minutes (8x8"). This depends largely on what consistency you want. To get them rich and fudge-y in the middle you want a fork/toothpick inserted into the center to come out with brownie on it, but it shouldn't be liquidy or drip off it. 
Remove and allow to cool.

Ganache Directions:

As above, reduce the red wine and sugar until it turns into a thick syrup (this makes maybe 1/3 to 1/4 cup tops). Remove from heat. This needs to be warm to the touch ONLY before combining it with the cream and chocolate or you'll risk breaking your chocolate.
Chop the chocolate into fine bits and add to a glass/metal mixing bowl.
Heat heavy cream over medium heat just until it starts to simmer along the edges. Don't let your cream come to a boil as it'll be too hot and you'll break your chocolate. It just needs to start simmering around the edges of the pan. 
Pour into chocolate and begin to stir, continuing to stir until it is incorporated well and the surface has a shimmering quality to it.
Add the red wine reduction and stir to combine.
Pour the ganache over your cooled brownies and allow it to set at room temperature, this took a few hours for me.

 

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