Okay, so it's winter, and nobody likes to go out. What to do, what to do? I have a solution! Make these delicious Milk Chocolate Brownies, from the Feb 2007 issue of Gourmet
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
8 oz fine-quality milk chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
Melt butter and half of chocolate in a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is glossy and smooth.
Whisk together remaining ingredients, then stir into chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining chocolate.
Spread batter in pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs adhering, 25 to 30 minutes.
Makes 16 brownies.
I used Ghiradelli milk chocolate, bought at Trader Joes in a big chunk. I got to use my kitchen scale to measure the 8oz of chocolate, and took great pleasure in taking out exactly half--yes, I am a geek! But one with good brownies!
I baked them for 25 minutes--the top got very crispy, but the inside was quite gooey--I did not, however, move the oven rack down to the middle position. So perhaps the top will get less done looking if you do so. However, my roommate and I are not picky about how done brownies are, and gooey is always good, so we were happy. I didn't skewer them to check for doneness (I thought one wasn't supposed to do that with brownies anyway?) but all was well. I highly recommend them to anyone!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Mmm...chocolate!!!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Very Cherry Brownies - an experiment
I got all excited in the grocery store earlier this week when I saw a huge bag of cherries at some ridiculously low price. After eating quite a few of them as-is, I realized I'd have to do something with the rest before they went bad, and gorging myself on a half pound of cherries wasn't an option. I really kind of wanted to make something cheesecake-y, but we had neither cream cheese nor sour cream on hand, so I just made some brownies instead.
I pitted and halved the cherries (about 3 1/2 cups total) during the 4th-6th innings of Sunday's Red Sox game, about an hour total. Not bad given that I was just using a paring knife - played around with technique a bit and determined it was easiest to slice around the pit, twist the halves apart, and then twist the pit out of the half it stuck with.
After pitting, I coated the cherries with about 1/4 cup of sugar and let them sit for more or less the remainder of the game - which went to 19 innings, so almost 3 hours - stirring occasionally. This got a lot of liquid out of the cherries, which I later drained into a saucepan, and reduced to a syrup (boiled on medium heat until thick) to drizzle on top of the brownies.
I doubled a basic brownie recipe from a Cooking Light cookbook [normally I'd go with a richer brownie, but I've been making a lot of sweet/fatty foods lately]; spread half the batter into our new-ish quarter sheet pan (13"x9"), layered on the cherries, spread the rest of the brownie batter over them, topped with the cherry syrup, and then baked.
I was kind of skeptical of the Cooking Light brownies. They came out chocolatey, fudgy and moist, but I'm sure the moistness was at least partly due to all the cherries and cherry juice. I wouldn't say I absolutely *love* these brownies, but I haven't had much of a problem eating them. I like the idea of them, though, and am curious to try it (or something similar) with a different brownie batter. Anyone out there got an AMAZING brownie recipe they're willing to share?
[this is the doubled recipe, can be halved to make an 8"x8" pan of brownies]
2 egg whites
1/2 c. margarine [I used butter]
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 Tbsp. water [this is why I was skeptical of the recipe]
4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. AP flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
Beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside in a separate bowl. [folding the egg whites into the batter at the end of the recipe gives you a lighter texture... a little odd for a "fudgy" brownie recipe?]
Cream together margarine and sugar, add water, vanilla and eggs (one at a time) and beat until fluffy.
Sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl (this is especially important for the cocoa, which tends to clump quite a bit) and stir loosely into the egg mixture. Fold in the egg whites.
Transfer the batter into a 13"x9" buttered and floured pan and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.
One last note: While looking for something to do with the cherries, I came across a couple really, er, interesting recipes. I almost want to make this Cher-Rhuba-Chini Pie (cherries, rhubarb and zucchini mixed together in a gelatin base, with a brown rice pie crust) out of morbid curiosity. Shrimp and Cherry Quinoa, on the other hand, looks unique but still tasty, very sort of Iron Chef.
