Baking

Howdy Y’all,

Happy hump day! Who needs a pick-me-up to see them through till Friday? I feel I do this week in particular, after Super Tuesday I think we could all do with a sugary treat. (Who is with me?) I am well aware that I am raising an American daughter and although we try to help her identify with her British culture I do try to learn more about American culture.  One thing I am trying to do is find a recipe to bake the perfect brownie. When home at Christmas a dear friend of ours had us over for lunch and she had the children help make the dessert of brownies and the recipe was called the Best-ever brownies. Could this be the recipe to end all recipe’s which would mean I could serve them to my American friends.  Here is what happened :- 

Prep Notes

• It was in this post where I made delicious Moroccan Orange cake that I wrote about one of my top tips in making caster sugar, it does make a difference to the texture of the bake.
• It was when making my famous carrot cake that I wrote about using a whisk instead of a sieve, it makes much less mess!!!
•  I did not have a 20cm square tin, my tin was nearer 23cm and I rounded up the ingredients but it still worked. If I was looking into investing in a brownie tin – any recommendations?
• I also did not quite enough dark chocolate so I substituted the difference for white chocolate.

Ingredients 

• 185g unsalted butter
• 185g best dark chocolate
• 85g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 50g white chocolate
• 50g milk chocolate
• 3 large egg
• 275g golden caster sugar Cut 185g unsalted butter into smallish cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break 185g best dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl. Fill a small saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top so it rests on the rim of the pan, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them. Now remove the bowl from the pan. Alternatively, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and put in the microwave for 2 minutes on High. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.

1. While you wait for the chocolate to cool, position a shelf in the middle of your oven and turn the oven on to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4 (most ovens take 10-15 minutes to heat up). Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base. Now tip 85g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl, and tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps.
2. With a large sharp knife, chop 50g white chocolate and 50g milk chocolate into chunks on a board. The slabs of chocolate will be quite hard, so the safest way to do this is to hold the knife over the chocolate and press the tip down on the board, then bring the rest of the blade down across the chocolate. Keep on doing this, moving the knife across the chocolate to chop it into pieces, then turn the board round 90 degrees and again work across the chocolate so you end up with rough squares.
3. Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is, so don’t lose heart. You’ll know it’s ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume. Another check is to turn off the mixer, lift out the beaters and wiggle them from side to side. If the mixture that runs off the beaters leaves a trail on the surface of the mixture in the bowl for a second or two, you’re there.
4. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Plunge the spatula in at one side, take it underneath and bring it up the opposite side and in again at the middle. Continue going under and over in a figure of eight, moving the bowl round after each folding so you can get at it from all sides, until the two mixtures are one and the colour is a mottled dark brown. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like – you don’t want to undo all the work you did in step 4.
5. Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly. Gently fold in this powder using the same figure of eight action as before. The mixture will look dry and dusty at first, and a bit unpromising, but if you keep going very gently and patiently, it will end up looking gungy and fudgy. Stop just before you feel you should, as you don’t want to overdo this mixing. Finally, stir in the white and milk chocolate chunks until they’re dotted throughout. Now your mixing is done and the oven can take over.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, scraping every bit out of the bowl with the spatula. Gently ease the mixture into the corners of the tin and paddle the spatula from side to side across the top to level it. Put in the oven and set your timer for 25 minutes. When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin. Take out of the oven.
7. Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold, then, if you’re using the brownie tin, lift up the protruding rim slightly and slide the uncut brownie out on its base. If you’re using a normal tin, lift out the brownie with the foil. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares and finally into triangles. These brownies are so addictive you’ll want to make a second batch before the first is finished, but if you want to make some to hide away for a special occasion, it’s useful to know that they’ll keep in an airtight container for a good two weeks and in the freezer for up to a month.

The amount of ingredients required is relatively few.

TLL quick spin of turning regular sugar into caster sugar

The smaller the lumps of butter and chocolate the quicker it is to melt.

Melting- smells so yummy

All melted and so glossy

This is the sugar and eggs after 7 mins on high in my Kitchen Aid mixer

So hard to resist a little nibble! I love white chocolate

Another LL top tip using a whisk instead of a sieve

Adding the melted choc to the aired mixture, such a marbled beauty

I used the figure of eight method as I did not want to loose air in the mixture, it took a while to mix in but it does come together I promise

The finished mixture so pretty and glossy

The finished brownie served warm with ice-cream. Is there another way??

My cute chief taste tester giving her verdict, what is she thinking?

I think this recipe was a real hit, the brownies are simply delicious. Gooey and fudgy on the inside and crisp and hard on the outside. I loved them and served warm with yummy ice cream. How do you like yours? I urge you to give this a try they are well worth it. I now need to test on an American audience for verdicts. Who wants to volunteer?

Ta ta for now,

TLLx