Candy Cane Joe-Joe's Brownie Bites

I ran to T-Joes to pick something up the other day and spotted a special cookie they have on their shelves in honor of the holiday season: Candy Cane Joe-Joes!  I immediately thought of trying to incorporate them into a batch of brownie bites I had been wanting to bake.  I took inspiration from a recipe I saw Michael Recchuiti demo at The Cooking School and baked up a batch for some holiday parties I'm attending this weekend.  These are pretty fantastic!  I used Ghiradelli unsweetened chocolate in my batch.  The only thing I think I would change for next time is maybe add 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract, just to punch up the minty flavor a bit.  


Now go grab a box of Candy Cane Joe-Joe's and give this recipe a try before Christmas passes you by!

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 20 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cups granulated cane sugar
• 1 package of Trader Joes Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, crushed into chunks with your hands

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325. Line the bottom of a standard jelly roll baking sheet with parchment paper and grease liberally with butter. 








Put the chopped chocolate and the butter in a large stainless-steel or glass bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the pot and set aside.




Sift together the flour and salt in one bowl.  

In another bowl whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk in the sugar.

Add 1/4 cup of the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and combine.  Add another 1/2 cup of the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and combine.  Then add the rest of the chocolate to the egg mixture and whisk to combine thoroughly.   

Add the flour using a rubber spatula, mix well. 

Then mix in all but 1 cup of the crushed cookies and blend.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Spread it evenly with the rubber spatula, making sure to bring the batter to all edges of the pan.

Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of crushed brownies over the prepared batter.




Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the brownies comes out clean.


Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan, on top of a cooling rack (I covered them in plastic wrap overnight).  Cut the brownies into 1 inch bite-sized pieces when you are ready to serve.

The recipe to which I referred when creating this recipe can be found here: http://www.recchiuti.com/recipe_detail.html?recipe=04