the quintessential(sp?) brownie

[breadster]

what makes the quintessential brownie? as in the very chocolately fudgy kind- i have seen recipes using white sugar, brown sugar,
bittersweet choc. unsweetened choc. similar recipes that call for 1/2 to 1 c. flour - help- any opinions or favorite recipes out there?!

[Anneke]

Boy do I have the recipe for you!!!!
In fact, it's such a great recipe that my friends will move mountains to get to my place if they hear that I'm making those brownies. They are so rich an gooey, they are almost like fudge!

I took this recipe from Donna Hay's book 'Entertaining'

Double Chocolate Brownies
-------------------------

240 g (8 1/2 oz) butter
240 g dark chocolate
3 eggs
1 1/2 c caster (superfine) sugar (I use less)
1 1/2 c plain (all-purpose) flour
1/2 cup self-rising flour *
1 1/2 c roughly chopped white chocolate.

(* For those wondering, one cup of self-rising flour can be prepared by blending 1 cup of all purpose flour with 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/8 tsp salt; use half for this recipe)

Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth.
Place eggs and caster sugar in bowl and beat until light and thick.
Fold this through the dark chocolate mixture, sifted flours and white chocolate.
Pour into a greased and lined 23 cm (9") square cake tin .
Bake at 180*C (350*F) for 30 minutes or until set.
Allow to cool. Cut into squares and dust with icing sugar or a good quality cocoa. Makes 24 squares.
-----------------------------------------

By the way, this recipe will not be divine unless you use really REALLY good quality dark and white chocolate. Otherwise, it's a waste...

[W.DeBord]

Thanks Anneke, I printed out your recipe and will try it asap.

I have a good recipe also. It goes like this, but I could be off a bit...I can't seem to wake-up.....

1 c. butter
1/4 c. h2o
1 1/2 c. sugar

Heat together to dissolve the sugar. Pour it into

12 oz. semi sweet (chopped)

stir and cool for a minute, then add

3 eggs
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. flour
12 (more) oz. of mini chocolate chips
Nuts, optional

bake in a 9" x 13" greased pan. I line it with foil to remove and cut easier.

In answer to breadster my thoughts are white sugar and semi-sweet chocolate taste the best in chocolate brownies. Bittersweet is to dark for my clients tastes (but you can interchange or 50/50 it with semisweet in all recipes). There are good recipes using unsweetened but I prefer my recipe using semi, (as I recall theres one on the box of unsweetened chocolate, thats good).

I read an article from Marthas' magazine question area where someone asked about brownies. They wanted to know why their brownies formed a light thin crust ontop. The response was: it's due to the large amount of sugar present in brownie recipes and that it is considered very desirable on a good brownie. I never knew that it was the sugar creating this, I thought that was interesting....


The flour amount will vary depending on how big the recipe is...is it for a 9" square or a 9"x13" so you can't compare with-out posting the whole recipe? So long as the flour and soda are minimal for fudgie brownies it will be fine. I also think you must be careful not to over mix you flour, just incorporate and bake and don't over bake either. Sometimes you just have to work the recipe to know if it's good, 1/2 c. flour could be fine depending on the recipe.

Brown sugar...only in blonde brownies not chocolate!

P.S. I add peppermint extract in my brownies at christmas time. Frost them with ganche and cut them into petite fours and decorate...it's a big hit at my work.

[breadster]

thanks A and W. De---

W. De- why so emphatic about the "no brown sugar with chocolate"? - i thought it might aid in the moistness/keeping factor

[W.DeBord]

I don't have to book smarts to explain exactly what I know in my mind, I go on instincts and experience.....which tells me brown sugar isn't right with dark chocolate desserts (unless your playing that angle). I can't think of any chocolate recipes for brownies, chocolate cookies, chocolate cakes, molton cakes, puddings, chocolate pastry creams, etc...that used brown sugar with a mainly chocolate dessert. White sugar lets the chocolate shine through.

Don't the brown sugars contain molasses still? It's totally for cookies like chocolate chip (which is blonde) or blonde brownies.

Also you don't have to worry about shelf life with brownies. They do last in the cooler, on the shelf or in the freezer longer than alot of items but seriously, who ever has them around long enough to think about storage?

[Anneke]

I may be repeating what was already said but the way I see it the difference between brown and white is this:

Brown sugar has a depth of flavour that white sugar does not. This would be lost when using dark chocolate as W mentioned. It also might disrupt the acidity balance of the chocolate I would think (meaning the chocolate wouldn't taste as good to our palate).

Brown sugar does not make a product moist but rather chewy. Brownie recipes are usually pretty soft, so again this would be applicable for cookies.

W, I agree: I've never seen brown sugar and chocolate combined unless it it's a pale product that happens to contain chocolate chips or something...

(sigh! I wish there was some chocolate in the house right now..!)

[momoreg]

(That's a great smiley)

[thebighat]

I've seen Devil's Food Cake recipes, like on the Domino sugar bag, that call for brown sugar. And brown sugar isn't just sugar that still has molasses. It's white sugar the processor puts molasses back into. Kind of a long way to go, but maybe they can control things better. I just read an article in one of my beekeeping magazines on sugar processing and it sounds way complicated.

[momoreg]

TBH, are you a beekeeper?

[thebighat]

Haven't been here in a couple of days. I thought I wanted to be a beekeeper, joined a beekeeping association, but just don't have the time and my yard and neighborhood are just too small and crowded. So, I'm an armchair beekeeper. Plus, I got stung this year and didn't enjoy it. Seems to be going around. The son of a woman at work was up on a ladder spraying a nest prior to working on the roof, got swarmed, fell, smashed his head on the dumpster under him and is just now, a week later, coming out of it. And my kids last night were up on a roof and got buzzed and one of them got stung 5 times.
Back to brownies. Made some today that had brown sugar in them. Gave them a nice butterscotch flavor. I heated 20 oz of eggs with 24 oz of brown sugar and 24 oz of white sugar, then whipped till cool and thick. Folded in 14 oz of chocolate melted with 14 oz butter and then 24 oz cake flour. This was a recipe I copied out of a book in a bookstore. They got a little cakey around the edges, but had no texture in the middle. I baked two half sheet pans. I notice that some of the recipes posted here have either self rising flour or soda in them and I wonder if that's not missing in most brownie recipes. Seems like you might want something to give the batter a little lift. Most brownies have the sugar beaten into the melted butter and chocolate, then the eggs. If you are not whipping the eggs to a foam, where's the leavening? I get frustrated by brownies. I need to make them frequently and have been using Alice Mederich's New Classic Brownies lately. Also made blondies today, using Richard Sax's recipe, which has a little soda in it, and they came out great.

[ August 04, 2001: Message edited by: thebighat ]

[breadster]

hi big hat-

when using Alice Medrich's new classic brownies- do you use her "steve ritual"

also wondering if you tried her bittersweet brownie which claims to be more chocolatey
tho' with only 1/4 c. flour.....i wonder

[W.DeBord]

Thebighat I have several really good brownie and blonde recipes if they'd be of help to you I'd gladly post them? My reg. brownies take seconds to assemble can be sized up or down and get pretty good reviews from my clients.....(it's the one mentioned above)

You should check out Debbie Fields books. She has a couple cookie bars that are really GREAT! She's not just a pretty face I have alot of respect for her baking, I've come across many good recipes from her!

[Katherine]

For thebighat:

You need a new recipe.

I've never seen a brownie recipe quite like yours. Most fudgey-type brownie recipes call for melting together the butter and chocolate (it should be barely warm, not hot), then adding sugar and eggs, flour, and add-ins. The cakey method would be to cream the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy, then beat in eggs one at a time, then chocolate, and other ingredients.

I've never seen a recipe that calls for cake flour. Because the amount of flour in a brownie recipe is so low, I think it is better to use a recipe that calls for all-purpose flour. Also, most recipes don't call for leavening. Remember, brownies are supposed to be dense, not like a cake. Even the "fudge cake" ones are supposed to be dense. They just puff a little in the oven from the eggs and moisture. If you put too much leavening in them, you'll end up with something not very brownie-like.

Also, there is no reason to heat the eggs at the beginning, and it might cause problems if they got cooked in the process.

Try another recipe, and do a smaller quantity until you find one you like. There are recipes posted in the "when recipes bomb" thread (including my own favorite). I like brownies very chocolatey but not deadly sweet, so I use 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate and often reduce the sugar by 1/4.

[thebighat]

I'd be very happy to get recipes from you, W. deBord. Katherine- the reason one would heat the eggs, a pretty standard procedure, is to allow the proteins to really get long and elastic when you whip them. Denaturing I think is the term. And yes, I do follow the Steve ritual. The brownies go right from the oven to be placed on a sheet pan in a very cold upright freezer. I have the Malgieri book and will try that one.
I knew there was something else....W. deBord...about that strawberry pie. I tried your recipe with the puree, pectin and cornstarch, and it oozed everywhere. Tasted great, looked good when I left it. Had to make another one today for the general manager with cream cheese on the bottom. I thought the Perfect Puree was a little thick so I used half water, half puree, boiled it with a cup of sugar, tb of surejell, and then added the three tb of cornstarch in 1/4 cup h20. Put it in the refig. till it got thick. Still it didn't seem like it wouldn't ooze, so I tried a couple of gelatin leafs in it. Again, looked beautiful going out the door, but unless he refrigerates it for several hours, I gonna hear on Tuesday, "You know, Baker, your pies **** ." And it wouldn't be the first time. I'm looking for a soft gel consistency, that cuts clean and holds together in a slice. BTW,I'm pretty sure I wasn't using any special low sugar pectin and that probably makes a huge difference doesn't it? Thanks.

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: thebighat ]

This is a wonderful recipe, from Nick Malgieri's "Chocolate" cookbook -

16 T unsalted butter
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 C granulated sugar
1 C dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C all-purpose flour

13X9X2-inch pan, buttered and lined with buttered parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and reduce heat. Combine butter and chocolate in heatproof bowl and place over simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted.

Whisk eggs together, then whisk in salt, sugars, and vanilla. Stir in chocolate/butter mixture, then fold in flour.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly; bake for about 45 minutes until shiny crust forms and batter is moderately firm. Cool in pan on a rack.

The next day (if you can wait!), unmold onto cutting board, remove paper, trim edges and cut into 2" squares.

These are wonderful and fudgy!