High altitudes make cookies spread in the pan, cakes fall, and few baked goods turn out as they do at sea level. This twice-monthly column presents recipes and tips that make baking in the mountains successful. 

Coffee and chocolate, a perfect pairing, are beautifully showcased in this easy-to-make bar cookie. A soft chocolate base and a chocolate ganache topping embrace a rich, creamy coffee-flavored filling. Like most brownies, it’s delicious, but the coffee filling makes it more sophisticated and very adult. 

Unfamiliar with unsweetened chocolate? It’s also known as baking chocolate and is a solid chocolate, usually in bar form, made with cocoa butter and cocoa mass that contains no sugar. It has an intense flavor and allows you to control the amount of sweetness in whatever you’re making with it. It’s available in the baking section of many grocery stores, at Trader Joe’s and online. 

Cafe au lait brownies

Make in an 8-by-8 inch shiny metal baking pan. Adjusted for altitude.

Base

• 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar, preferably superfine
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract

Filling

• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
• 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Glaze

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Get ready: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, with a rack in the center. Line your baking pan with non-stick aluminum foil or regular foil, extending it several inches on two opposing sides to use as handles when removing the baked bars. Grease any exposed parts of the pan and the regular foil with a baking spray that contains flour. Combine the flour and baking soda in a small bowl and whisk to blend well. Set it aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter: Cut the butter into small pieces, add them and the chopped chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl, microwave at a low temperature until almost fully melted. Remove from the oven and stir until completely melted, shiny, and smooth and set aside. This can also be done in a small saucepan on the stovetop, stirring over low heat until melted, smooth, and shiny. Cool to room temperature. 

Make the base: Using an electric mixer or by hand, beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until fully blended. Sir in the chocolate-butter mixture. In 3 additions, stir in the flour-baking soda until the dry ingredients are no longer visible and are fully distributed in the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, level it and smooth the top. 

Bake and cool the base: Place the filled pan in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, start checking after 20 minutes. Overbaking will make the base dry and unappealing, so remove it from the oven as soon as it’s done. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the filling: While the base bakes, add the coffee granules to the room-temperature whipping cream and whisk until dissolved. Add the confectioners’ sugar in 3 additions, beating with a mixer or by hand, after each addition. Cut the butter into small pieces, add them, and beat again only until the filling is thick and fluffy. Spread it over the cooled brownies and refrigerate until the filling is firm. 

Make the glaze: Combine the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave at a low temperature until both are almost completely melted. Remove from the oven and stir until smooth and shiny. This can also be done in a saucepan on the stovetop over low heat, stir until melted and fully combined. Cool it until it’s lukewarm but still pourable. Pour it over the filling and gently spread it so it covers it completely. Refrigerate the pan until the glaze is set.

Store: Use the foil handles to remove the slab of bars from the pan and cut it into rectangles or squares. Store them well-covered in the refrigerator for 4 days.

Editor’s note: This recipe is a variation of one published by Taste of Home.

Vera Dawson’s column “High Country Baking” publishes biweekly in the Summit Daily News. Dawson is a high-elevation baking instructor and author of three high-altitude cookbooks. Her recipes have been tested in her kitchen in Frisco, where she’s lived since 1991, and altered until they work at elevation. Contact her at veradawson1@gmail.com.