A latke fried in bubbling fat may be a classic way to celebrate Hanukkah, but it’s not the only nosh that can commemorate the oil-centric holiday. Olive oil brownies are another, albeit less traditional, option.
This recipe is particularly suited to the task because, unlike others of its ilk, it skips the butter, relying instead on olive oil and the natural cocoa butter in chocolate to enrich the batter. The result is moist in the center, crisp at the edges and perfectly smooth but for the occasional crunch of a chocolate chip. Closer to ganache than to cake, these dense, dark treats are not for anyone who prefers a lighter, feathery type of brownie. They’re for people who live to lick the icing bowl.
Dutch-processed cocoa powder and melted unsweetened chocolate flavor the brownies.CreditAndrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Because there’s no butter to soften its intensity, the flavor of the olive oil here matters a lot. Don’t use the grassy, sharp, highly aromatic stuff you’d drizzle on lettuce leaves. Choose something milder and more neutral. I use the same extra-virgin oil I cook with — a good-quality, midpriced workhorse.
The olive oil gives these brownies a slightly savory quality, highlighted by a sprinkle of flaky sea salt that’s added right after baking. Make sure to sprinkle the salt while the brownies are still warm, which helps it stick. While showering them with salt before baking works with other, frothier brownie batters, it fails here, with the flakes sinking in and disappearing without a trace. Adding it at the end gives each bite a salty snap and a gentle crunch.
For an even more pronounced crunch, add chopped, toasted nuts to the batter along with — or instead of — the chocolate chips. Or for an ultra-satiny batch of brownies that are just on the solid side of pudding, skip both nuts and chips, and let the salt provide the only textural contrast.
Because these brownies are so deeply fudgy, a tester won’t come out clean even when they’re done. Instead, bake them until the batter looks and feels solid when gently pressed in the center. The brownies firm up enough to cut as they cool, but without losing their essential olive-oil gooeyness, which is a fitting tribute on Hanukkah — and utterly compelling during the rest of the year.
