The recipe at the end of this post is nothing particularly unusual; in fact, many of you have probably already seen it and/or made it before. But I can’t help sharing a short but sweet little love story between myself and a most unlikely suitor: cocoa powder.
I have always been insistent upon only chocolate - the unsweetened kind - rather than cocoa in brownies. My experiences with cocoa brownies found them to always run a little too dry and cakey for my taste. Like anyone who loves brownies, I have a decidedly opinionated idea of how the best ones must be: fudgy, dark, and moist (but not downright wet), and, importantly, furnished with that highly desirable chewy crust. After having a major brownie craving last night with no bars of chocolate to be found, I bit the bullet and turned to everyone’s favorite chocolate queen, the lady Alice. And of course, when Alice talks chocolate, we would all do well to listen. She told me (in a soothing and authoritative voice in my head as I read her words in Bittersweet) that it is not chocolate, but cocoa that produces my coveted candylike crust, because the only fat and sugar come from the butter and added sugar rather than the chocolate itself. How on earth did I go so many years without this important knowledge?
Well, I think you can guess how this tale ends…I made the brownies, going all-out and using my fancy Valrhona cocoa powder and organic butter, and of course, she was right. The brownies are downright killer, with hearts so dark and rich they’re nearly black. They are neither dry nor soggy. The texture is, in a word: correct. If you haven’t tried this recipe before, please do, and I can promise you won’t regret it. Oh yeah, and even if you agree that the whole “beat vigorously for 40 strokes” sounds oddly like a Victorian girl’s hair-brushing regimen, just trust that this is part of the magic. Happily ever after, indeed.
Can you believe I had to lighten this photo? These babies are dark.
Best Cocoa Brownies
Adapted from Bittersweet by Alice Medrich
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process is fine)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium metal bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.
Stir in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Spread evenly in the lined pan (the batter will be very thick).
Bake until a toothpick emerges with some moist crumbs sticking to it (but not wet with batter), 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.
Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into squares.
Wow- I am a total brownie addict- always looking for that perfect balance. Those look mouth-watering. I’m there.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:56 pm