Category Archives: Brownies

02Jun / 2015

Brownie #4: Mochi

Soooo it’s been a while. I had decided to be better about posting things this year (failed resolutions, anyone?). Last time I posted was before my Australia trip and now I’m posting this after my Japan trip! I never would’ve thought I’d be traveling internationally again so soon or be going to Japan.

One of the things I get most excited about before traveling is, obviously, the food. And for Japan, there’s so much to look forward to: sushi, ramen, tea, miso, black sesame ice cream, mochi, mochi, and especially mochi! In honor of my trip, here are mochi brownies. I ate my weight in mochi while traveling and I still want some more *sigh*.

Again, this recipe was found on Pinterest. Adapted from Lady and Pup’s:

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Mochi Brownies

Ingredients:
For mochi:
2/3 cup rice flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp flour (for dusting)

For brownies:
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
10 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp + a dash vanilla
3 eggs
1/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup flour

To make the mochi: Mix the rice flour, sugar, and water in a microwave safe bowl. Cover the bowl and microwave on high at one-minute intervals, taking the bowl out each time and stirring with a wooden spoon. Repeat until mixture is sticky, at least 4 to 5 minutes. It should look and feel wet. Add the vegetable oil and stir and fold with a wooden spoon until it’s completely incorporated. Continue to stir and fold with a metal spoon, scraping the dough on the sides, until the dough starts to cool and firm. After your arms become too heavy and the spoon won’t mix any more, set the bowl aside and let the dough cool completely.

For the brownies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9-inch pan with parchment paper (important).

Melt the chocolate and butter (microwave is easiest). Add melted chocolate to the sugars, eggs, vanilla, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Then add the flour and mix until just combined.

Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Dust the mochi dough with the flour and distribute small globs of the mochi on top of the brownie batter. Use a spoon to press and fold the mochi into the batter until they are completely covered.

Bake for 22-28 min. Remember not to overcook! I always check at 20 min.

Let the brownies cool completely (about an hour), remove from the pan and paper and cut into squares.

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I said a couple posts ago that I always double 8×8 brownie recipes but for this one, you don’t want to double! The mochi is hard enough to mix as is. What I did instead is used an 8×8 and a 9×9 pan (all that I had on hand) and doubled the brownie batter only and made the mochi twice (two separate bowls). Then I split the brownie batter between the two and added the mochi and voila! Double the brownies and not too much extra trouble.

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19Jul / 2014

Brownie #3: Ice Cream Bars

It’s July, which is a Very Important Month as it’s National Ice Cream month, my birthday month (you’re welcome, world), and the middle of summer. I absolutely love ice cream. Not as much as brownies, of course, but it’s a close second. I think it was passed down from my mom who despite being lactose-sensitive, frequently bought ice cream bars and fudgsicles. I approved of the fudgsicles but I wasn’t a huge fan of the ice cream bars. I felt that the ice cream to cookie (?) ratio was off. The cookie thing (seriously, what is it called exactly?) is too thin and the ice cream is always a sort of a generic, boring vanilla or a colorful, but still generic Neapolitan. And every time you eat one, you end up with the cookie gunk all over your fingers because it’s so soft. Obviously, I am never ungrateful because, hey, free ice cream, but I’d rather eat a dusty road (ice cream with chocolate sauce and malt).

Fast forward many years and many ice cream bars to this week: I’ve found the perfect ice cream bar. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this because it’s absolutely genius. How do you make the best ever ice cream bar? You combine the best thing in the world with the second best thing in the world and you make a brownie ice cream sandwich. BOOM.

I, of course, came across this idea on Pinterest. I was skeptical at first because brownies are meant to be warm and gooey or chewy and not frozen. But how wrong I was. The brownie is, in fact, chewy and doesn’t stick to your fingers. You can make the ice cream as thick or thin as you want and you get to pick your ice cream flavors. I chose Tillamook Mudslide and Vanilla Bean because I saw it in the store and it made me miss my home state of Oregon. And it just so happened to be on sale.

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Brownie Ice Cream Bars

(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients:
6 oz 100% cacao Ghiradelli bars (or other decent chocolate), broken up into pieces
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
5 to 6 cups ice cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 9×13 inch baking pans with parchment paper, extending it up two sides. (I always skip lining but in this case, you can’t, so resist the temptation to skip this step!) Grease the parchment and exposed sides of the pan.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a microwave in 30 second intervals so the chocolate doesn’t burn. In a mixer, add sugar and melted chocolate. Then add the eggs one at a time and vanilla. Add salt and flour until just combined.

Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake on different racks for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating once top to bottom and front to back, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each pan comes out nearly batter-free. Let cool about 10 or 15 minutes and then transfer to freezer. You can pull out one of the brownies and stack it on top of the other so you don’t have to make room for two 9×13 inch pans. Just be sure to keep the parchment paper between the two brownies. Chill until cold and firm, about 30 minutes.

Remove pan from freezer and, working quickly, cover the first brownie layer with ice cream. If using multiple flavors, alternate them so you get a good mix in each sandwich. Be sure to use small scoops of ice cream so they soften faster. This makes it so you can spread the ice cream more easily and quickly. Add second brownie layer and press down (you can use your hands or the bottom or the empty baking pan). Freeze for a couple hours or overnight.

Run a knife around brownie stack to make sure it’s not stuck, and use the parchment sling to transfer the ice cream sandwich block to a cutting bard. With a large knife, cut into squares and devour before they all melt.

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As I said above, these are amazing. The brownie has the perfect amount of chew and the ice cream complements it nicely. It is hard to cut so be sure to use a large knife and put your weight behind it (with fingers safely out of the way).

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29Jun / 2014

Brownie #2: German Chocolate

I’m ashamed to admit this, but my mom was on Pinterest before me. It’s kind of a funny story, really. A couple years ago, she called to tell me about this amazing, new fangled thing that I would absolutely love because I’m a neurotic organizer who happens to love baking. “You should see the cupcakes!” et cetera, yada, yada. And I flat out refused to see those cupcakes. I was a junior in college. I was preparing for midterms and stressing about internship interviews, all the while participating in resume-building (and fun) club activities. I was even a little miffed about the cupcake comment because I hadn’t had a cupcake in weeks. I hadn’t been able to bake since my life was terrible, horrible, and whine-whine-boo-hoo. It was actually quite sad. I told my mom I was too busy for her shenanigan website. Then my aunt called. Then my friend. At this point, I was just being stubborn.

Finally, I was home for Thanksgiving my senior fall (about 5 months later- apparently the extent of my stubbornness) and my mom shoved me in front of her laptop. Her Pinterest account was open and I swear those cupcakes were singing. Or dancing. Maybe both. I was immediately sucked into the lovely vortex that is Pinterest, created my own account, and stayed up until 3 in the morning (6 am East Coast time, which is where I was coming from) to Pin all the things. And it hasn’t stopped since. Now, I have three accounts. It’s absolutely ridiculous. One account is my personal one that has thousands of Pins and reveals more about my personality than should be allowed on the Internet (in a nutshell: wine, awesomeness, more wine, chocolate, baking, and nerd stuff), another is dedicated to super nerdy things I refuse to put on my own account (this way no one will ever be able to prove how much of a nerd I am), and the last, most recently created account is dedicated to brownies (and other desserts), just like this blog: http://www.pinterest.com/brownietheory

So I thought in celebration of all things Pinterest, I’d share a brownie recipe I found on this most wondrous of sites: German Chocolate Brownies.

Keep in mind, I don’t like German Chocolate Cake. My family loves it, which is why I made these -I am all that is giving and gracious- I’m just not a huge fan of coconut. I actually taste tested coconut water once. The guy who harangued me into trying it to me took one look at my face after my skeptical sip, took back the cup he had given me three seconds earlier, shook his head, and then threw the cup (and remaining filmy water) in the trash. I tried to apologize, but he admitted that he didn’t even like it. SO HA! Anyway- I made these brownies, and although the odds were most decidedly not in their favor, they were delicious. (And everyone else liked them, too. I’d hazard to guess that 68% of my coworkers who tried these brownies have German Chocolate Cake every year for their birthday and they all said they’d be happy to eat these instead.)

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German Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
For Brownies:
1 ½ cups butter, melted and slightly cooled
5 eggs
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
¾ tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour

For Topping:
1 cup evaporated milk (full fat)
3 large egg yolks
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, diced into 4 pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup sweetened, shredded coconut
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
To prepare the brownies: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13 by 9-inch pan with foil, leaving an overhang on two sides. Grease and lightly dust with flour, set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs until frothy and pale, about 1 minute. Add sugars and salt and whisk until well combined. Stir in vanilla. Sift cocoa and flour over top, pour in melted butter, and mix until just combined (it will be slightly lumpy). Pour batter into baking pan and bake until toothpick comes out with a thin coat of batter (these are best gooey), about 30 – 35 minutes. Cool completely.

To prepare the topping: In a medium saucepan, combine evaporated milk, egg yolks, brown sugar and butter. Cook mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla then mix in the coconut and pecans. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. about 30 minutes, then spread over cooled brownies (for cleaner cut brownies cover and chill in freezer, about 15 minutes).

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I linked the Pin above, which leads to the original recipe. I changed a few things here because I’m a lazy baker and I have this irrational dislike of using more than 4 eggs in a recipe (except in sponge cakes and custards- a dozen eggs is a necessary and delicious evil for those recipes). I also don’t waste my time with 8×8 brownie pans. I swear, every brownie recipe I see is for an 8×8 pan. Do these people not have friends or big mouths? Also, be sure to watch these. They’re not good if you bake them too long and as these require more effort- don’t let them go to waste! It’s better to be a gooey brownie than a dry one.

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25Jun / 2014

Brownie #1: The Basics

Of course I get sick the week I decide to start a blog about brownies. It also rudely interrupted the fourth week I had been going to the gym consistently- but I’m more upset about the fact that I couldn’t bake anything last week. Yes, I was that sick. But now I’m on the mend and can share with you the best basic brownie recipe. These are tried and true, easy, and amazingly adaptable. What do I mean by adaptable? Well cream cheese is a wonderful addition to any food: bagels, chocolate, frosting, brownies….

–A quick aside: I have shocking news. Apparently, some “chef ” (yes, I’m sarcastically using air quotes, except they’re typed) out there said that brownies aren’t worth making. A coworker guiltily confessed to me that she’d never made brownies because some jerk wannabe cookman said that desserts such as cakes and I-don’t-even-know-what-else require real skill and someone can’t actually tell the difference between a box mix and a made from scratch batch. Excuse me, sir! Well… I probably shouldn’t be so angry. He obviously has never experienced the joy of a melt-in-you-mouth, gooey brownie. Such a sad and lonely existence. Okay, aside over.–

For anything I bake, I don’t mess around with chocolate, especially when they’re in my brownies. I use ScharffenBerger if I really, really like you or you’re my family and I don’t want to hear about how “these are great but they could have been the best.” (That’s an exaggeration: my family knows I would slap those brownies right our of their hands and give them to someone who wasn’t being spoiled and sassy.) Usually, I use Ghirardelli 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Bars. Mostly because they’re great. And partly because it’s often on sale at Safeway so I can stock up on it. Oh, and because Safeway always labels it a “local item” and I find it funny. Google should do that, too. If you pop up Google and you’re in the Bay Area, it should say, “Thanks for supporting a local business!”

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Basic Brownie Recipe:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9×13 inch pan.

Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave. Add the melted chocolate to the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Then add the flour, eggs, and vanilla and stir until combined. Spread the mixture into a pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out slightly gooey. (I like my brownies a little gooey in the middle.)

And the promised adaptation of cream cheese:

8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp flour

Place the cream cheese in a bowl and whip the cream cheese until smooth. Unless you’re Rosie the Riveter or haven’t been to the gym since forever, use an electric mixer. Add the sugar, egg, and flour and, again, mix until smooth.

Drop dollops of the cream cheese batter on top of the brownie batter and incorporate the cream cheese and brownie with a toothpick. (Just drag the tooth pick lengthwise a few times.) Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cream cheese is golden-brown (not brownie brown).

And that’s it!

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Not so hard, right? I’m almost embarrassed to admit how easy these are since I make them all the time and people really like them. “What’s your secret?” they ask. “Love,” I whisper, creepily. Then everyone just laughs and laughs because they all know that for me, love = chocolate.

 

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12Jun / 2014

The Brownie Theory of Life

The Brownie Theory of Life started with my mom and then was passed down to me. I have, of course, tweaked it a bit for the modern age and my snarkier personality, but the gist is the same and it goes something like this:

“A brownie by itself is awesome. A brownie with frosting can be even better, but it’s not guaranteed. Life is a lot like a brownie. Each person is their own awesome brownie and any additions to your awesome self (whether it’s a significant other, a friend, etc.) can either enhance your brownie, detract from it, or not make a difference. The ideal brownie, and best life, is to find and keep the frosting(s) that make your brownie even more awesome and scrape off the frostings that don’t.”

(My mom doesn’t say awesome as much as I do and we differ on the scraping off the frosting part.)

Now that I’ve shared with you the theory of my life, I can comfortably give you context about this blog. I bake a lot. Too much, probably (pfft- not possible). And while I’m 100% certain my mom shared that theory with me so I wouldn’t date terrible men and I’d then successfully find my One True Brownie, I have instead made it my life goal to find the perfect brownie recipes (there, of course, must be more than one), with and without frosting. Seems much more worthwhile to me.

So, this is my blog of brownies (and other recipes I couldn’t resist).

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