Friday, May 15, 2009

Delectable Brownies



I remember the first time I made brownies. I just came back from university and was in one of my baking phase. I passed a few along to my relatives and my cousin (bless her!) told me she loved it. I still have that old recipe but I am going to try out new ones to compare and contrast. This particular one makes very moist brownies, with quite an intense chocolate flavour. I don't like my desserts very sweet, so these brownies are just nice for my tastebuds. Put in more sugar if you like very sweet desserts. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

Yields 8 big brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 Tablespoons dark cocoa powder
5.5 ounces quality sweetened dark chocolate, chopped coarsely
4 ounces butter (1/2 stick)
1 tsp instant coffee granules
1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoon light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 177 degrees.
2) Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal pan 8.5x6x2.5 pan.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, the salt, and cocoa powder. Add in the walnuts. Prepare a large sized double boiler. Place the chocolate, the butter, and the instant coffee granules in the bowl of the double boiler and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler and add both sugars. Whisk the sugars until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan. Mixture should be room temperature.
4) Add two eggs to the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining egg and whisk until just combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not over beat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
5) Sprinkle the flour/cocoa/salt/walnut mix over the chocolate. Using a spatula fold the dry into the wet until there is just a trace amount of the flour/cocoa mix visible.
6) Pour the mixture into the pan and smooth the top with your spatula. Bake the brownies for 25 minutes (rotate the pan half­way through baking) and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the pan. The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.


5 comments:

  1. Looking very chocolicious.. slurp

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  2. yeah it actually is. It's good even without warming up and it's stayed moist after 3-4 days.

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  3. Hey I heard what your "food testers" said and ... you know, ya should give them their walking papers ;-) and hire me! Mwahaha. Though I wasn't there to taste 'em, I found this tip on brownie baking while surfing the Net. Donno if you want to give it a try but the writer credits someone named Alice Medrich for this method:

    1. Bake the brownies at a high temperature for 20 minutes, then dunk the pan in an ice bath to arrest the cooking from the outside in.

    2. This means you must use a metal baking pan, since any other material (e.g. glass or pyrex) could shatter when you take it from a hot oven and plunge it into freezing water.

    In the writer's words: "This works. The brownies are the best brownies I have ever had, hands down. They are smooth and creamy in the center, without seeming raw or underbaked. They are crisp on the top and firm rather than gooey on the bottom, making them easy to handle. They are rich but neither greasy nor overly dense and fudge-like."

    I found this quote at http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2006/01/cooking-school-perfect-brownies.html

    Just a suggestion only ... but hey, wanna give it a shot sometime and tell me how it turned out?

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  4. eh? what did my food testers say?

    oh yeah. i read that tip. but as always, i decided to start with the simplest recipe and move on from there. These ones are great. They're still moist after 5 days! I'll be making more of them. But I'll definitely try other recipes too

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  5. the brownie was nice, only one advise, don't heat brownies in the microwave. It brings the temperature of the butter too high so that if fries internally the brownie

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