The search continues! So far, I've made my way through two hyped and popular brownie recipes with really great results - The Baked Brownie and Nick Malgieri's Supernatural Brownie.For this round, I've selected a brownie recipe from King Arthur Flour. If you haven't already visited the KA site and blog, I most definitely recommend it. Both are fantastic resources for recipes and baking techniques, whether you're a baking neophyte or an experienced baker.
The folks at King Arthur have gone as far to say that their Fudge Brownies are "KAF GUARANTEED"...so, what does that mean? This is what they said:
"These brownies, deep chocolate brown inside with a lighter-colored top crust, will be about 3/4" to 1" tall when cut. They'll be ultra-moist without crossing the line into gooey / underbaked."
This definitely sounds like recipe for all of you fudgy brownie lovers!
The KA recipe gets its chocolatey goodness from cocoa powder. Also, it employs a technique of melting butter and sugar and heating this mixture until the sugar dissolves. This is supposed to contributed to a shiny top crust on the brownies.
I used Callebaut cocoa powder and ScharffenBerger semi-sweet chocolate chunks. As chocolate is the star in any brownie recipe, I always strive to use the best that I can afford. I followed the instructions to a tee, and allowed the batter to cool before adding the chips (the chocolate chips/chunks will melt if you add them too soon). My brownies took a bit longer to bake thru. At the 30 minute mark, the brownies still looked undercooked (mine took approx 38 minutes to completely bake).
After baking, the brownies definitely had a delicately thin and wonderfully shiny crust on top. You have to hand it to the pros at King Arthur- the size and texture was just as KA promised ---about 3/4 inch thick and perfectly dense and fudgy. My only issue with this recipe was the sweetness --- it's a personal preference thing, but I thought this was a bit too sweet. It's perhaps due to the chocolate chunks (maybe I should have gone the bittersweet route) or using all white granulated sugar. Again, this is a matter of personal taste, as this batch was happily devoured by my hubby's colleagues at work.
Nancy of The Dog Eat The Crumbs steered me to this recipe --- Nancy, thank you for the great recipe suggestion!!!
Before I sign off, I wanted to thank all of you lovely people in the blogosphere for e-mailing and commenting with brownie recipe suggestions! With all of the fantastic looking recipes that I've been accummulated to date, it looks like I will be doing brownie research for many moons to come...and this is one project that I will happily continue!
25 comments:
Have you been steered to Alton Brown's "Plain ol' Brownies?
Fabulous brownies.
Linda, these look fantastic. I don't know if there are many of us out there...but I love the cakey brownie. Did you get any suggestions for them? (You could be the Brownie recipe keeper! :)
Ohh those chocolate chunks look wonderful. I must visit the KA site.
I'm so glad you made those! I saw that recipe a while back.. and loved how they explained how to get the crackly top. Those look amazing! The coworkers were soo lucky!
these look fantastic to me! i was wondering if the chocolate chunks would make it too sweet and then i got to your thoughts on the sweetness level. do you think they would be good without the added chocolate chunks?
I am so interested in your brownie recipe search. These look wonderful. I also dislike overly sweet brownies, and have been trying to find the perfect recipe. There is a nice recipe in the cookbook "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest". If you like chcocolate chip cookies, Serena Bass has a good recipe in her book. If you want either recipe, e-mail me as I have both books.
Is this the recipe on the back of the flour bag? I love this brownie recipe. It's one of the few I've made more than once.
Your brownies look perfect!
This is my all time favorite brownie recipe. Everyone I share them with are totally enthralled! I, personally, don't think they are too sweet but, then again, I don't think I taste sweet like a normal person. lol
I'm guess this isn't a hardship baking and testing brownie recipes. They look and sound good though I don't mind the occasion brownie that crosses over to the gooey side. :)
~ingrid
I'm so picky about my brownies but these look good. I think I'd make them without the chunk added, because I like them plain.
I've also heard really good things about Martha's Fudgy Brownies- in her baking handbook.
Wow, these brownies are delectable! And I'm so glad you tested this recipe for me!!! More and more I realize that what I want in a brownie is deep and dark and rich rather than sweet per se. I loved the Baked brownies so much! I also made Sweet Melissa's brownies but it was in Lent and they went straight into the freezer. I'm planning to do a from-the-freezer taste-off between them and the Baked brownies. I might add in a third recipe - will have look at my brownie recipe bookmarks to see which one...
Nancy
The Dogs Eat the Crumbs
Mmmmmm! I'm seriously considering making brownies for breakfast now :) These look delicious!
I myself am a fudgey brownie person- I have yet to try the Baked brownie, the Supernatural, and this particular recipe... I always just use the recipe on the back of the Fry's cocoa container- best brownie ever (in my humble opinion). Would be happy to share the recipe with you.
My search for the perfect brownies stopped with this recipe. I *love* these! They're also fantastic with a few Andes mint chips thrown in! ;-) Yours look to die for - maybe I should go make these again!
-Amy
www.singforyoursupperblog.com
These brownies look perfect! I'll have to try this recipe and see if it beats the Baked brownie. I'll be sure to use bittersweet chocolate chunks so they're not overly sweet. Thanks Linda!
Your photos are really phenomenal! I tried this recipe recently too and thought they were delicious. I didn't get a good photo so they never made it to my blog which gives me a good excuse to make them again :)
Oh! yeah... that's what I call a BROWNIE! YUM!
They look fantastic, Linda! I'm keeping this one in a special file!
I, too, have been searching for the ideal brownie. However, I think I found it! From Slow Like Honey, here's the link:
http://slowlikehoney.net/2009/02/11/love/
They use 70% bittersweet chocolate, so they aren't too sweet. They are a bit more cakey than fudgey, but I think they are simply perfect.
I made those awhile back, and they were great!
In fact, I'm plotting my next brownie recipe as we speak. So many I can't wait to try!
Your photos are amazing, these look terrific. I love you and Megan's brownie adventures. Keep em coming.
Thanks for the terrific review! My family cannot get enough of these brownies. Your oictures are great. Molly@KAF
If you are still in the mood to look at new brownie recipes, my favorite is still Alice Medrich's "Walnut Squares" from her book, Cocolat.
Technically, I suppose it's a torte, but it bakes up like a brownie. And since it uses so little flour -- and since we have to be wheat-free in our house -- it's easy to substitute non-wheat-based flours (rice and sorghum have worked well for me), and still get great results.
This recipe has been posted online in an interview with Alice Medrich here:
http://www.sallybernstein.com/studio/medrich.htm
I loved the Baked brownies, but these look good too--I will have to give them a try. I can't wait to see which recipe you decide is the best!
I loved this post...I cant' wait to see what brownie recipe you try next...I visited King Arthur flour in Vermont last fall...not to be disrespectful to any pious people out there but it was the culinary equivalent of visiting a great cathedral :).
Linda, thanks so much for trying our brownie recipe. I'm psyched - love your blog, and feel privileged to be on it. On behalf of my 167 fellow employee-owners - and chocolate lovers everywhere - I tip my hat to you. Good luck opening your own shop someday - PJ Hamel, King Arthur Flour baker/blogger. P.S. I'm tweeting this post right now!
Your brownie's are seriously heavenly! I'm adding you to my roll now....
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