Brownies

Outside of the people who are allergic to chocolate or don't enjoy chocolate... who doesn't love a well-prepared brownie? Since the very first time I tried one many years ago, I have learned and re-learned one golden rule about baking brownies: creating the perfect brownie is not just baking. It's an art form. Why? Because a brownie is not cake. A brownie is not fudge. The perfect brownie is something in between: a thin layer of crunch on the outside, followed by what's not quite a cake structure, and semi-gooey center. Best consumed a little warm with a scoop of vanilla-perfumed ice cream and a little warm chocolate sauce.

Ingredients and preparation - Brownies

For 6 - 9 people

  • About 2 cups (392 gr) sugar, it may be less if you want to experiment
  • 1 cup melted butter that has cooled (you can also use vegetable oil)
  • 4 eggs - room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup (90 gr) to no more than 1 cup  plain flour (never pack it down, just scoop it out of the flour bag and wipe away the excess)
    • more flour = more cake-like
  • 2/3 cup (70 gr) good cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (recommended)
  • 1/2  to 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts
  • Conversion chart

Brownies with a twist

  • Option 1 Pistachio brownies
    • instead of walnuts, use freshly roasted/salted pistachios (omit the salt in the recipe)
  • Option 2 Peanut butter brownies
    •  once the dough is in the baking dish, add a couple of spoon-fulls of peanut butter (smooth or textured is up to you)use a large skewer or the handle of a spoon to swirl the peanut butter gently through the brownie dough (don't scrape down to the bottom of the baking dish though)

Method

Dough

  • Beat eggs GENTLY together with sugar and vanilla extract , using a whisk
    • Remember, we're not baking a cake. You don't want too much air in the eggs as it will make the brownies rise i.e. turn cake-like.
  • Add cooled down, melted butter
  • Sift flour and salt into the bowl and gently mix through
  • Add chocolate chips and nuts, gently mix through
  • Butter and flour or cocoa powder a square (preferred) baking dish
  • Poor the batter into it and gently spread to all four corners (GENTLY!)

      Bake & finish

      • Bake at 160c (about 350F) for 20 to 30 min
        • set a timer for 20 minutes and use a toothpick to check the center of the brownies
        • if too liquid, it's not time yet
        • NOTE: the toothpick has to have some goo - in other words, the toothpick should not come out completely dry.
        • That's why in the last ten minutes, you should not walk away, but keep checking using a fresh toothpick each time (or wiping it clean in between checks)
          • if the sides of the brownie is turning too dark, it will be over-baked and the sides of the brownie will be too hard to serve.
      • Carefully cut the brownies into strips about 5cm wide, rotate the baking dish and do the same to get even pieces about 5cm by 5cm.
      • Carefully scoop out of the mold and place on a wire rack to cool.

      Serving suggestions

      • coffee or tea or milk
      • scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce (melt 1 bar of Cote d'Or chocolate with a little milk in the microwave, stir until thick sauce, add another spoonful of milk as needed)

      Enjoy!
      Bren

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      When baking brownies, if you want to perfect them, it's important to take some notes on what you want to adjust next time. First, I forgot to flour the baking dish. Oops! I had a bit of a time to get the first one out of the pan.

      I also used too much flour - this is why I'm recommending 3/4 cup to 1 cup maximum. For my taste they were yummy and just gooey but if you look closely, also a little too cake-like.

      It's a recipe you can play with e.g. by using three eggs instead of four, using more or less flour, less sugar. You can use bio bitter baking chocolate to further reduce the sugar content.

      My recipe is a good starting point, but ... happy experimenting with your next batch of brownies!

      Try this delicious pull-apart apéro bread

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