Raspberry Chambord Hazelnut Brownies

Promised the folks on the Canning and Freezing forum that I would post this. This is not exactly the easiest or the cheapest brownie recipe, but I never bring any home when I take them for a pot luck. There's nothing in here that's good for you, according to conventional wisdom, but they sure do make people happy when they show up. ;-)

Bonnie's Raspberry-Chambord-Hazelnut brownies:

This is based on recipe that was invented by my friend Barb Schaller in Minnesota. Her recipe, Chocolate Cherry Amaretto brownies won a blue ribbon in the Minnesota State Fair for her and a blue ribbon in the Chowan County Regional Fair (12 counties in northeastern NC) for me in 2005. I just decided to experiment with raspberry.... These are pretty good, too.

Place oven rack in middle of oven, and preheat to 350°

Butter and line a 9" x 13" metal baking pan with parchment paper (yup, the metal does make a difference).

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

4 (1 oz) squares of unsweetened chocolate

2 Tbsp Hershey's Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder

2 Tbsp Chambord (or your favorite raspberry liqueur - I like the intense flavor of Chambord)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp natural Hazelnut extract (if you can't get natural hazelnut extract (don't use imitation), use 1/2 tsp almond extract. The flavor will not be exactly the same, but still darned good).
1/2 tsp salt

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup good quality red raspberry preserves. Trader Joe's low sugar raspberry preserves are excellent)

3/4 cup toasted, skinned hazelnuts (method listed below), coarsely chopped.
1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

To toast/skin the hazelnuts. Spread the raw nuts on a cookie sheet, and bake in a 350° oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool briefly, then while still warm, wrap in a kitchen towel and rub briskly. Most of the skins should come off. The other possibility is that you can find already skinned and toasted hazelnuts, in which case, you're ahead of the game.

Melt the chocolate with the butter in a double boiler, or a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water. You can also do this in a microwave, in a big glass mixing pitcher, about two minutes at full power (don't try this with the chocolate alone...). Whisk them together to complete the melting. Whisk in the cocoa powder. Whisk in the Chambord, and the extracts. Add the salt and sugar, and whisk to combine completely. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, making sure each is completely mixed in before adding the next one. Add the raspberry preserves, and the hazelnuts, and mix well. Combine the baking powder and flour, and add to the chocolate mixture, mixing until there is no white flour remaining. Pour into parchment-lined baking pan and bake at 350° for about 33-35 minutes, using a toothpick to test for doneness - moist fudgy crumbs (not wet batter) on the pick. Don't overbake - these are supposed to be more fudgy than cakelike.

Cool in the pan on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes. Then you should be able to use the paper to lift or slide the brownies out onto the rack without destroying all your hard work. Use your favorite chocolate frosting recipe, and add 1/4 cup raspberry preserves (or more if you like), and 2 - 3 Tbsp Chambord. Enjoy!