Radical brownie makeover results in warm chocolate enjoyment

When it comes to recipe variations, no culinary genre beats the brownie. I do not know any baker or pastry chef who has not tried their floured hands at tweaking this favorite treat.

The temptation to spin our own ideas into this classic recipe lies in the versatility of the dessert. Unlike other desserts that maintain a consistent set of recognized characteristics, brownies enjoy a wide swath of accepted styles and tastes.

Brownie lovers fall into two distinctive camps: cake-style fans and fudgy devotees. From here, our taste and creativity blur any similarities; we add frostings, various flavorings and diverse stir-ins to create our signature recipe.

It occurred to me that a basic recipe this versatile could handle a radical shake-up. While I'll be the first to admit that the science of baking is serious culinary business, you can have a little fun in the kitchen now and then.

My first departure from the norm plays against the single characteristic brownie recipes share: temperature. Who hasn't pulled a hot pan from the oven, our senses enticed by the sensuous aroma of chocolate? We push temptation aside and wait impatiently for the brownie to cool and congeal.

Taking a cue from trendy chocolate cakes with their molten centers, I set out to create a brownie that could be enjoyed warm. This meant my new brownie would need to mimic the cake-style versions; chewy and fudgy textures require significant cooling time.

Offering a warm brownie also eliminates most favorite stir-ins. Nuts distract the taste buds away from the desired melt-in-your-mouth texture, while flavored chips cool more slowly and could potentially scorch your tongue. Of course, frosting remains off the menu.

However, there is one pastry chef secret I seldom reveal: Serving a dessert warm hides a multitude of culinary shortcomings. The perception of warmth on the taste buds signals freshness. The downside is the warmness dominates the dessert, stifling the true flavors of the ingredients, especially powerful chocolate.

My "aha" moment came while pondering how I could introduce a complementary ingredient to chocolate that would boost overall flavor without compromising the texture. Could another sweetener be the answer?

As a big fan of all-fruit spreads, I needn't look farther than my refrigerator for a possible solution. Jams and preserves offer the sugar content but lack that flavor punch needed to stand up to the heat. Replacing some of the sugar in the standard recipe with a 100-percent fruit strawberry spread boosted the chocolate flavor.

The first test recipe revealed the most important secret to success lied in thickness of the brownie. Baking the batter in an 8-inch square pan yielded a gooey center that felt raw in my mouth. In this recipe, thinner is better. I increased the recipe by one-half and baked in a larger pan.

Rounding out the flavors, a splash of vanilla enhances the fruit essence. A small amount of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder darkens the brownie's crumb without gumming up the texture.

The best part of today's recipe is knowing when the brownie pan goes into the oven, warm chocolate enjoyment is only minutes away. That's worth waiting for.

Cocoa Berry Bars

½ cup unsalted butter, melted and very warm

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons Hershey's special dark cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

½ cup 100 percent fruit strawberry spread

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

In large heatproof bowl, stir unsalted butter, chocolate and cocoa powder until melted and smooth. Add sugar and stir until combined. Whisk in fruit spread and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition.

In small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to chocolate mixture and stir only until flour is combined and absorbed. Spread evenly into baking pan and bake 18-20 minutes, just until center begins to spring back when touched. Do not overbake.

Cool 15 minutes in pan; serve warm.

Serves 18.

Baker's hint: Regular cocoa powder can be substituted for the dark variety, but the finished brownie will be lighter in color.

Nutrition values per serving: 167 calories, 9 g fat (5 g saturated), 22 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein, 49 mg cholesterol, 95 mg sodium.