by Lori Baltazar
I can never stick to just one brownie recipe. While I actually have a few that I can turn to when I need a no-fail chocolate hit, the lure of trying out a new brownie recipe is just too strong to resist. Some of my baking books have as many as 15 recipes for brownies alone!
Fellow food blogger, Nic, had it right when she said that she’s baked so many brownies that she can no longer identify what she thought she liked in a brownie. I can so relate.
The brownie that I fall in love with has to have no nuts, first and foremost. I adore nuts, but they have no place in my brownie. My Bin, on the other hand, demands nuts in his brownies, so I bake a special “nutty” half batch for him. It’s one of the few food issues we have where we don’t get along.
My brownie also has to strike a balance between fudgy and chewy: Fudgy enough for a memorably moist texture and “bite,” which is where the chew factor comes in. I despise cakey brownies because they are almost always too dry for me.
Given the above criteria, I look for specific techniques in a recipe which will give me the brownie I want:
In short, the brownie I covet uses a lot of chocolate (complexity of flavor), plenty of sugar (for chew), just enough flour for structure (so it’s not too fudgy), gentle beating (to prevent cakiness), and slight underbaking (for density and moistness). A brownie is a bold chocolate statement. It’s not enough for it to be sweet, it’s got to have exceptional texture and lots of flavor.
good for you: brownies and milk
These brownies are made from three kinds of chocolate: cocoa powder, unsweetened, and bittersweet; two kinds of flour: cake flour and all-purpose; and superfine sugar, instead of granulated sugar. How do they taste? They’re creamy (almost too creamy), and dense with crusty edges and soft centers. They’re not too far away from my ideal brownie, but that entire chocolate bar I threw in for kicks brings them close enough.
And speaking of brownies…
… these were made by an 8-year old! Shireen Gopaldas is the daughter of Sanju, a frequent visitor to this site. I mentioned him before, because Sanju’s sister, Roshan, is a celebrated baker. It appears that good baking runs in this family. My god, with this kind of talent, it makes me wonder what I was doing when I was 8 — certainly nothing as spectacular as making brownies!
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You just described my perfect brownie, especially the no nuts part. They ruin the texture.
My perfect brownie sounds very similar to yours. I have tried (and documented some on my blog) quite a few recipes but keep taking breaks in my brownie “research” because I end up eating too many of them!
It’s about time to resurrect the research though….
hi! just came across your website and i’m hooked! your photos are awesome! i’m a foodie and photo junkie myself so i can relate pretty well.
cheers!
hmmm, yummy!
reading your article, my hand is itching to try baking.
I beg to differ, Lori…we made brownies together FROM SCRATCH, as I recall (okay, your mom helped) for a bake sale back when we were 8 or 9-year-olds in Jakarta. Can’t attest to the quality, but at least you can say your obsession with baking started way early in life!
hi, never thought of using 3 types of chocolatel, 2 types of flour. very interesting. your brownie looks amazing, can share your recipe? pretty please
I LOOOVE a fudgy brownie with bite too. I almost-always go for chewier textures in general when it comes to cookies/brownies so your description and the pictures seem to hit the spot for me! 😉
Recipe for your brownie…..pretty please????
i agree with the fudgy and chewy brownies but i like mine with nuts! lots of walnuts and macadamia! yum. i dont exactly have a sweet tooth but whenever i have a batch of becky’s kitchen brownies in front of me i loose it. i also love the chocolate thunder from down under at outback. with the brownie being dense and bittersweet…perfect texture together with loads of vanilla ice cream AND whipped cream. sinful. sinful. but maybe i COULD try baking…
I just discovered your blog and of course I went to the about page… I expected to see a fat middle aged woman and instead I saw a pretty & slim young woman.
Do you just cook all the food and give it away while you eat fruits & vegetables instead?
Tell me your secret ! 🙂
Wonderful essay! It helps to better understand the elements of great brownies. Any suggested recipes?
your brownie looks yummy, recipe please….thanks.