Chocolate-buttery, but not too sweet. A soft, moist and airy crumb with a walnut chew. A glossy, crackling crust - and always leaving you crave for just one more: MY PERFECT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES.
The first time I had Brownies was many years ago when I was still in Austria. A friend's sister had brought a large tray to a party. "Home-made", she said, "American Brownies"! At that time, they were a complete novelty and so different from all other cakes I knew. They felt our generation: quick, uncomplicated, easy and approachable - a recipe with cup measures? Needless to say, I was hooked!
I left the party, recipe in my pocket and in Brownie-Heaven. It was destination… we were meant to meet and spend the rest of our lives together…!
I baked a large tray the very next morning. Within two hours, they had vanished. Turned out, they were everyone's new heaven.
But then, that love-affair, destined to last forever, came to a sad and sudden end:
I LOST THE RCEIPE!!!
And over the years, also my cravings for those Brownies - out of sight, out of mind!
Until I moved to England, where all of a sudden I was surrounded by Brownies. Every bar and restaurant seemed to serve them. But, as many as I tried, I was disappointed… chocolatey, yes, buttery, maybe... but too sweet, too fudgey, too dense; one piece, and you had enough; they were nothing like the light, fluffy, decadent, chocolatey treasures that we couldn’t get enough of.
So, I embarked on a journey to discover MY IDEAL CHOCOLATE BROWNIES.
Easy, I thought, especially as meanwhile the internet and cookbooks were full of them. The problem is, there isn't one ‘Perfect Chocolate Brownie’, there are millions of them! And they come in all kinds of disguises: there's fudgey, gooey, dense, cakey, fluffy, and soft; there's bitter-sweet, sticky-sweet, with marshmallows, pumpkin puree, peanut butter, and glossed. There’s every version of mixing and making, flavouring and baking - some even require jumping over a black cat at midnight (no, just kidding!). What they all have in common is that they are perfect for those who love them! I just couldn't find mine. None of them could come anywhere near my beloved perfect first Brownie!
Until I came across a Delia Smith recipe. Delia and her team spend months on trials and testing, and her recipes are usually reliable and failsafe. There was hope! Indeed, they came extremely close, but were still not 100% right. Clearly, these were Delia's perfect Brownies, not mine.
By then, I had read a lot about the importance of the Brownies' components, so I googled more on ingredients, and their effect on texture, moisture, crumb, crust and all. I made several modificationss to Dalia's recipe, did more trials and tasting; then more adjustments, more tasting - E VOILÀ!
I found my: MY PERFECT BROWNIES!
Remember, this is my take on perfect Brownies, it might not be yours - although I am 99% sure you will be converted. You won't know until you try them!
The recipe is super-easy and fast: the butter and chocolate are melted; the eggs and sugar beaten by hand for three minutes, then the vanilla and melted chocolate added, followed by the dry ingredients, before everything is mixed into a thick batter. The Brownies are baked for 30 minutes, until they come away from the edgees, with a crackling, glossy crust, while remaining soft and moist inside.
You can thank me later! ;-)
Eva oxoxo
How to make
MY PERFECT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
Recipe adjusted from: 'American Brownies', from 'Delia Smith: Complete Illustrated Cookery Course'
INGREDIENTS:
Makes 16 Brownies:
110 g butter
100 g good quality chocolate (around 60% cocoa content), cut into smaller pieces
2 eggs, size L
200 g granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
110 g walnuts, coarsely chopped
vegetable oil for greasing
Equipment needed: a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches) baking tin
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C top&bottom heat. Do not use fan assisted. If no other option, reduce the temperature to 160°C.
Grease the bottom and sides of the baking tin with a little vegetable oil, then line the bottom with a square of baking paper.
Melt 110 g butter and 100 g chocolate in a bain-marie (= suspend a heat-proof bowl over gently simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). Alternatively you can do this in the microwave at a medium setting, in which case remove and stir every 20 seconds to make sure the chocolate does not crystallise. Leave on the side to cool.
Beat 2 eggs with 200 g granulated white sugar by hand for 3 minutes with a wire whisk (do not over-beat!).
Add 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract to the egg mix and stir well. Then add the melted chocolate and stir under.
Into a large sieve, add 100 g flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt, mix well, then sift the mixture on top of the chocolate-egg mix. Stir in gently.
Add 110 g chopped walnuts and stir under. Pour the mixture into the prepared oven dish and spread it out evenly.
Bake the Brownies in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until the mixture starts to shrink away from the sides and the centre feels springy. Do not open the oven door during baking. A toothpick inserted into the centre should come out rather clean, but with a couple of moist cake crumbs attached - the brownies will firm up as they cool! Don't be tempted to wait until the wooden stick comes out perfectly clean, as the Brownies will be over-baked!
Remove the Brownies from the oven and leave them to cool for about 10 minutes inside the oven dish, placed on a wire-rack. Run a sharp knife along all four sides of the rim of the dish to detach the brownies from the sides, then cut them into 16 pieces.
Leave the Brownies to cool completely inside the dish. Once cold, remove them from the baking dish and store them in a biscuit tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. The Brownies can be a bit stuck on the baking paper, and are quite crackly on the top, so the best way to get them out is to remove the first Brownie (eat immediately!), then insert the knife behind the next Brownie, and push it inside the empty space (like in a sliding puzzle - if you are my age, you will know what I mean). Once dislodged, you can lift it out easily without damaging the soft crumb or fragile crust. But not to worry: Brownies are supposed to look rustic, cool, and home-made - that's the whole point! Proceed in the same way with all other pieces.
Storage: The Brownies can be stored for up to one week (hahaha, or so I've heard) in a cookie tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid.
TIPS FOR MY PERFECT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES :
If you want your Brownies to be identical to mine, then best follow my exact recipe - it took me a long time of trial and tasting to perfect them.
The main flavour of Brownies is, of course, chocolate, and some recipes say to use a high-quality chocolate (I'd rather eat that instead...). I use a 57% no-name chocolate that tastes rather nice, or whatever decent chocolate I have at home, and it works well.
The salt and vanilla really bring out the chocolate flavour, so make sure not to leave them out.
I don't use cake flower, but all-purpose flour instead. It has a higher gluten content and seems to work better.
Make sure to use an oven dish that conducts heat well. A ceramic or glass dish takes too long to heat up. Also, the dish should be more or less identical to my size. For a different size tin, baking times may vary and quantities may have to be adjusted.
I use only the top&bottom heat setting on my oven, rather than fan-assisted, and it seems to work best. In case you only have a fan-assisted oven, then make sure to reduce the temperature by 20 degrees.
If you make these brownies often, it is well worth investing in one of those anodised baking tins. Mine is 20x20x7.5 cm. I bought it a long time ago in a shop in Brussels, but you can also find them online. https://www.amazon.it/-/en/gp/product/B011CZNZ9Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2YWRX04XWYKA9&th=1
And last but not least: fight the temptation to eat your Brownies while still warm - I know, that sounds 100% counter-intuitive! Trust, me, they get even better in flavour and texture once fully cooled, so it's worth the wait.
In case of a walnut allergy, you could use pecan nuts instead, or just omit the nuts.
TEXT-ONLY RECIPE
MY PERFECT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
See also:
INGREDIENTS:
Makes 16 Brownies:
110 g butter
100 g good quality chocolate (around 60% cocoa content), cut into smaller pieces
2 eggs, size L
200 g granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
110 g walnuts, coarsely chopped
vegetable oil for greasing
This quantity is for a Baking dish: 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches)
DIRECTIONS:
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C top&bottom heat (do not use fan assisted. If no other option, reduce the temperature to 160°C).
Grease & line the baking dish: Grease the bottom and sides of the baking dish with a little vegetable oil, then line the bottom with a square of baking paper.
Melt the butter and chocolate: Melt 110 g butter and 100 g chocolate in a bain-marie (= suspend a heat-proof bowl over gently simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). Alternatively you can do this in the microwave at a medium setting, in which case remove and stir every 20 seconds to make sure the chocolate does not crystallise. Leave on the side to cool.
Beat the eggs with the sugar: Beat 2 eggs with 200 g granulated white sugar by hand for 3 minutes with a wire whisk (do not over-beat!).
Add the vanilla and chocolate: Add 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract to the egg mix and stir well. Then add the melted chocolate and stir under.
Add the dry ingredients: Into a large sieve, add 100 g flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt, mix well, then sift the mixture on top the chocolate-egg mix. Stir in gently.
Add the nuts: Add 110 g coarsley chopped walnuts and stir under.
Pour the mixture into the prepared oven dish: Pour the mixture into the prepared oven dish and spread it out evenly.
Bake for 30 minutes: Bake the brownies in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, or until the mixture starts to shrink away from the sides and the centre feels springy. Do not open the oven door during baking. A toothpick inserted into the centre should come out rather clean, but with a couple of moist cake crumbs attached - the brownies will firm up as they cool! Don't be tempted to wait until the wooden stick comes out perfectly clean, as the Brownies will be over-baked!
Cool, cut and store: Remove the Brownies from the oven and leave them to cool for about 10 minutes inside the oven dish, placed on a wire-rack. Run a sharp knife along all four sides of the dish to detach the Brownies from the sides, then cut them into 16 pieces. Leave the Brownies to cool completely inside the dish. Once cold, remove them from the baking dish and store them in a biscuit tin or plastic box with a tight-fitting lid.
The Brownies can be stored for up to one week in a cookie tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid.
Comments