In celebration of the total solar eclipse, deep dark chocolate brownies.
Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
With the impending solar eclipse, #DarkRecipes are in order for your perfect midnight at midday foodie celebrations.
And today my blogging friends and I are sharing some of our favorite dark recipes. My particular favorite is chocolate.
I was going to make dark chocolate pots de creme, but got really busy this week, and then my deadline was upon me, as I intended to travel to my Dad’s house to view the eclipse, since he lives right in the path of totality.
Being out of time to make the pots- well, I should say I could have made them but they don’t travel in the car well, and we didn’t really have enough time to eat them all, and I didn’t want to hold them for days on end.
And now, I sit south of St. Louis Missouri, typing this out on public wifi as I speak (Dad no longer has internet). One day here and the brownies are already history. They turned out magically deep and dark and rich (and delicious!) And everyone enjoyed.
We’ve had a great time today visiting with my Dad and cousin Rodger along with my daughter- I did some cooking: pot roast with Certified Angus Beef- pan vegetables, mashed potatoes, pan gravy and fried green tomatoes (by request) and the brownies also disappeared.
I had a few issues getting things in place with cooking today. I didn’t like the grocers- the farm market had refrigerated their produce beforehand and I was not. pleased. I stopped at Dierbergs and obviously. No tomatoes. And the beef was too expensive for what it was. But I ended up at Schnuck’s which is an old favorite- and did well except wondering why half the baking aisle was greeting cards (Don’t people bake here anymore?) with a hard time collecting ingredients for the pot roast and assorted sundry for today and classic chicken and dumplings for tomorrow. Dad wants them the way Mom used to make them and you know. I must oblige!
And tomorrow afternoon we will be checking out the eclipse, set for around 1:15 in the afternoon, with 2-1/2 minutes of pure black. We’ve heard the weather may be cloudy, but dark skies are still dark skies. But more than the eclipse, visiting family is the most important thing of all and eclipses all else.
I love St. Louis! Any Missourians out there?
I’ll be travelling tomorrow- not sure if I can get another post up- since Dad doesn’t go online it makes things a little tough. But I’ll be home by Wednesday and if I don’t get something up early in the day, I’ll aim to post at noon.
I hope you all enjoy our eclipse holiday! And don’t forget to protect your pets and cameras! And wear your eclipse glasses!
~Sue
Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
- 10 ounces dark chocolate morsels
- 5-1/2 tablespoons butter, diced into cubes
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon chocolate extract (or one more vanilla)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons water
Method:
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Place 2/3 cup of the morsels (reserve the remainder) into a microwave safe glass measuring cup and top with chopped butter cubes.
- Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave at medium power about thirty seconds at a time, stirring after each time, until melted and smooth.
- Whisk together the melted chocolate with the sugar until smooth.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Stir in the extracts, flour, instant espresso, salt and water and stir to make a smooth batter.
- Liberally grease an 8-inch square glass baking pan or line with parchment.
- Pour batter into the pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes in the preheated oven until firm, then cool.
- Cut into squares and frost the tops if desired with dark chocolate frosting.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com

Dark Recipes for the Solar Eclipse
- Blackberry Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies by Sew You Think You Can Cook
- Chinese Mooncakes (Snow Skin Mooncakes) by Caroline’s Cooking
- Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies by Palatable Pastime
- Eclipse Pizza by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
- Homemade Moon Pies by Family Around the Table
- Ramen and a Martini from the Abyss by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Sweet Dark Cherry Crepes by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Triple Chocolate Cookies by The Freshman Cook
Well they might not be what you planned but they still look tasty! Hope you manage to get a good view from your Dad’s, I’m jealous!
Enjoy your visit Sue and thanks again for hosting.
Thanks for hosting this FUN event. We were completely fogged in here on CA’s central coast, but I’ll console myself with some of these #darkrecipes.
That looks absolutely divine!
I bought chocolate extract for this event and I’m excited to use it more – brownies is a great idea! YUM!