Brownies

[cjsmith]

No sooner did the kitchen get cleaned up than I had to go make it dirty again.

I chose to pitch pie number two, which is exactly the kind of thing that happens during futzing with a recipe, but still it never feels good to actually do it. (Pie number one is significantly depleted and won't last much longer.)

So I am assuaging my poor sad little feelings with a recipe I know never disappoints (and which needs absolutely no futzing whatsoever): Alice Medrich's "Bittersweet Brownies". MAN THOSE ARE GOOD.

Oh @#$!. The version of the recipe I just found online is noticeably different from the one in the book. FUTZING ALERT! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! ...I think I can avoid it though. Looking at the ratios, the one in the book -- the one I've done so many times the book has a crease -- looks to me like it'd come out better.

Danger averted.

Brownies imminent.

Comments

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Can you fax some over, please?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Food Transfer Protocol booting right up! :)

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

I hope it supports chocolate...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Chocolate is the only thing worth supporting in a Food Transfer Protocol! (Unless you are feeding nations, in which case you want a much higher-capacity network anyway.)

[layer.livejournal.com]

mmm... brownies... okay the smell anyway.

what is it about this time of year that inspires folks like us to head into the kitchen to try and cook (though i will say we have both been doing remarkably well this year with that).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Free time? A four-day weekend is the one time in the year I'll have me some of that. You should see how much I bake when I'm not holding down a job.

Plus, of course, there's the cultural brainwashing. Nobody can be a Good Person who doesn't cook. Holidays just wouldn't be holidays without an insane amount of kitchen mess, scads of dishes to do, many days of preparation and stress, and piles of reminders to non-cooks that we are second class citizens. It's no wonder we get into the kitchen.

[layer.livejournal.com]

that's so true. add to mine no scheduled house showings so i could actually dirty the kitchen a bit. man i will be happy when the house selling is over.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

No KIDDING. Hey, bake some bread? I hear it does great things for house offers, with the smell tickling the subconscious and all.

[layer.livejournal.com]

i've totally thought about it. the trick is to get the bread baked early enough so there's time to clean the kitchen after, but late enough that the house still smells yummy when folks show up. the recipe i used on friday was pretty quick and easy and may even be quicker and easier now that i've done it once already...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that does make it harder. You can always freeze several loaves of dough before the last rise, then clean up the kitchen. On the morning of the appointed day, pull one out into a clean kitchen as needed ;-)

(If there is a way to cheat, especially in the kitchen, I will find it!)

[apparentparadox]

Making mistakes is just the price of trying things. When I was taking cooking classes, I realized that I just needed to spend money on ingredients to try things out -- either by paying a cooking school or by buying my own groceries.

The brownie recipe in the link looks like the one from "Bitter Sweet". It's meant for bittersweet chocolate that is 66-72% cacao. That means something like Scharffen-Berger or some other premium chocolate. Definitely not Hershey's (and it looks like Ghiradelli is only 60%). She's got different variants of the recipe for different cacao percentages.

I've been making the one from King Arthur Flour, but my favorite is from Nick Malgieri (very fudgy). Let me know if you want any of those recipes.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, making mistakes is definitely the price of trying things. It's just not always pleasant to realize the latest attempt was a big ol' goof. Oh well. At least pumpkin pie ingredients are cheap.

Does the one in "Bitter Sweet" have that much flour? The one I used yesterday, called "Bittersweet Brownies" in her book Cookies and Brownies, has only a quarter cup.

I would love the very fudgy one. :-) :-)

[apparentparadox]

Yep, the one in Bittersweet has 1/2 cup (double the 1/4 cup from the Cookies & Brownies book). Note, however, that the one in Bittersweet has an additional tablespoon of butter (which would require more flour to compensate) and that the one from Cookies & Brownies uses 3 oz of unsweetened chocolate (which probably absorbs some of the moisture, thus needing less flour).

The proportions from the one in Bittersweet also match pretty closely with Nick Malgieri's Pecan Brownie recipe.

[irascignavojo.livejournal.com]

Enjoy the brownies. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-) :-)

[nosrednayduj]

I'm a philistine when it comes to brownies. I just make the ones off the back of the box of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate. I put in a cup of oatmeal instead of nuts, because I don't like nuts, but this gives it texture that nut-lovers like, and fiber to boot! I'm always pretending my cookies are good for you because I often use WW flour.

I made my chocolate chip cookies this evening. Yum. Been fussing with this recipe for about 20 years. Well, OK, I haven't changed it in about 5. But, you know? None of the batches has been BAD :-) Just some not as perfect as others.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

If you've fussed with a chocolate chip recipe for that long, you might enjoy this book. The author did the same. It's a very enjoyable read. Her "perfect" may not be the same as yours or mine, of course, but it's great to see someone else does this stuff!

[layer.livejournal.com]

i love the substituting oatmeal for nuts idea! i'm allergic to most nuts and have been trying to come up with a viable alternative. thanks!

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

ok, one of us is Officially in the Wrong Time Zone.

i'll swap you some of my fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip pan cookies for some of your brownies! *bats eyes innocently*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Heck, any time I'm on "standard" (as opposed to "daylight") time I'm in the Wrong Time Zone. Can we admit yet that the only children who walk to school -- all three of them remaining in the nation, in the one family without an SUV or minivan -- are the ones who are smart enough and independent enough to remember a flashlight if they need one?

Brownies won!

[shoutingboy.livejournal.com]

So which version did you bring tonight--the one in the book, or the one online?

If you went with the one in the book, I surely would appreciate it if you could send me a copy... (I've got a soldier girl I need to bake for! It's your patriotic duty to assist!)

Regardless, they were superlatively nummy!

Re: Brownies won!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The one in the book. The most significant difference is the lack of flour. E-mail on its way, because I'm not at all sure I'm supposed to take a copyrighted recipe and post it.

Re: Brownies won!

[shoutingboy.livejournal.com]

Got it--thanks much! I'll make sure you get credit when I send a batch to alanna_cooper. ('mind me again--which branch of the service were you in? R's in the army, the 10th Mountain division.)

Re: Brownies won!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Army - Signal Corps. Yay for you, making brownies for a care package. When I was in boot camp the best thing any of us could ever get was mail from home. Somebody in the outside world remembered we existed! I would have eaten shoe leather if it were in a care package.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Those are insanely good brownies.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I adore this recipe. Very simple, very easy, and even if you effing BURN it it doesn't come out too badly! Alice Medrich is my hero.