My mother loved these. Loved loved loved loved. She kept repeating this mantra “Oh my God I love these, Lisi these are incredible, oh my god I love these, Lisi these are incredible” as she nibbled again and again throughout the night and the next day. The ground macadamia nuts in the shortbread base is so ridiculous. It is rich and heavenly and well, buttery and crisp. The chocolate layer is very dense and full of bittersweet chocolate. I froze them (they freeze very well) since they are hard to give away with all the nut allergies – but served again at Greg’s graduation party where I got a few more oohs and ahhs which was great. Another brownie of course – but well, the more the merrier. Enjoy –
You can use any brownie batter that you like for this but I will share the one I used next post.
macadamia nut shortbread crusted brownies (from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet):
Brownie batter to follow in next post, but you can use any batter that you like.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup untested unsalted macadamia nuts, chopped medium fine
Preheat the oven to 350
For the crust, combine the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Stir in the flour to make the dough. Line a 9 inch square pan with foil – carefully pressing the sides in and keep plenty of overhang (the foil). Spread the macadamia nuts over the bottom of the pan, then gently press the dough into the nuts – and eventually to cover the bottom of the pan. Be careful because the foil can tear.
Bake until the crust is nicely brown all over – about 15-20 minutes.
Spread the brownie batter evenly over the hot crust and bake until the edges puff and begin to show fine cracks – between 20-25 min. Let cool. Lift brownies out by picking up the foil and transfer to a cutting board.
