Well, I have passed another milestone. I recently made my first batch of brownies from scratch. That's right, will all the things I've cooked, all the items I've refused to buy premade and instead made myself, I'd always relied upon a box for brownies. No More, I say! This recipe is easy and Very tasty. It's also rather robust, since it took to my alterations with gusto.
First, the original recipe:
1 stick (4 oz) butter
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 cup sugar (all white sugar, or half white/half brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 350.
Melt butter and chocolate together.
Stir in sugar, vanilla, and salt.
Beat in the pre-mixed eggs.
Add the flour and cocoa powder.
Put into a 8x8ish greased pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the top is shiny and dry-looking.
And this is what I actually baked:
1 Stick Butter
1 Mashed Banana
8 Oz. Bittersweet chocolate
2 cup sugar (all white sugar, or half white/half brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
1 Vanilla bean
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
The procedure is the same as above, just put the mashed banana in after the sugar's mixed in. This went into a 9x13 greased pan for ~30 minutes at 350. I used both the knife-method and the look of the top to check done-ness. I used giradelli cocoa powder and chocolate for this. The chocolate was 60% cacao.
So, how do they taste? Wonderful. They are literally Great. The banana worked out particularly well, complimenting the rich chocolate flavor and cutting the butter in half, all in one fell swoop. The texture of these brownies is damn near perfect. They're moderately chewy with a slightly cruchy crust on top. The edges are chewier, but not much crunchier. These have kept well for all of 3 days so far, and I don't think the last one will make it much longer.
What other variations am I going to try?
I'll put in creamy peanut butter instead of some of the normal butter. I might go half and half, or figure something else out, since peanut butter is very fatty also.
I'm going to try and find some sort of way to fit some Khalua into the recipe, which might be challenging with the lack of liquids. Perhaps remove a bit of the sugar.
I may try and come up with a method to put some mint flavor in also. Either staight up julienned mint leaves, or melt some peppermint patties into the chocolate, or something.
Speaking of chocolate, I want to try some other kinds of chocolate, after I use up the rest of the bag of giradelli chips. I think I'll go with a 72% dark next time, or maybe 77%. This may be more chocolately goodness than any one man can handle.
Until next time, happy cooking.
2 comments:
So, using the full amount of butter/replacing half the butter with another form of fat (ie. peanutbutter) makes the brownies have a texture I don't like nearly as much.
Just so ya know.
Another update:
I've been using whole-wheat flour instead of white, and it works just fine, and you can even use the choice as an excuse to call these delights 'health food.'
Also, to be clear, I've been using chocolate bought from the local Whole Foods/Harvest Co-Op. The brand is called "Chocolate Love" or something similar, and is price effective without sacrificing quality. Also, the cocoa I've been using is the Ghiradelli dark.
Post a Comment