Food!: brownie

Friday, September 02, 2011

A Simple Brownie Recipe (2 Variations)

This one goes out to Charu and Swati.

Here is how I make brownies:

Variation 01 - Brownies with Cocoa Powder

1 Cup - Unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 Cup - Flour
100gm - Butter (I use this measure since I can just run out and get a slab from the nearest shop :) )
1 - Egg (2 if you want moister brownies)

1/2 Cup - Brown Sugar (You can use plain sugar, but I find it a tad bit too sweet)

1.5 tsp - Baking powder

A pinch of salt (Don't add if you are using Amul butter. It is already very salty)
A pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg powder mix (I don't like the artificial smelling vanilla essence that I get here)

I take the butter (I like Mother Dairy butter since it is not as salty as Amul), and microwave it in my Borosil dish till it melts. I then add in in the cocoa powder and incorporate the cocoa with the butter.
(I have tried a variation a very long time back that worked very well... I added a little cocoa butter to the mix and it makes the chocolate much smoother)

By this time the mixture is not so warm so I crack the eggs into the mixture and use a whisk to get everything together.
I mix the baking powder and the flour together and then add that into the mixture.

By now I have a greased tray lined and ready I pour the mix in and dunk it into a preheated oven after sprinkling some walnuts on top.

I still have not started using the thermometers, but I realized that the trick here is not to have the oven on full blast and to get the brownies out while a skewer insert still does not come out clean

Variation 02 - Brownies with Compound Chocolate

1 'slab' - (Varies between 100-200gm. More is good :)) - Compound Chocolate. I prefer Selbourne Extra Dark (Still quite sweet at some 30% cocoa :()

1/2 Cup - Flour

3/4 slab of a 100 gm butter pack

2 - Eggs

1/2 Cup - Brown Sugar (You can use plain sugar, but I find it a tad bit too sweet)

1.5 tsp - Baking powder

A pinch of salt (Don't add if you are using Amul butter. It is already very salty)

A pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg powder mix (I don't like the artificial smelling vanilla essence that I get here)

The chocolate and butter is melted in the microwave and then the eggs and flour are added in turn.

Then it is popped into the oven and baked till it of the consistency required.

If you like some interesting banter and want to ogle at some nice photos, here is a nice site that has a recipe for brownies... http://goo.gl/ic0tC

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Chocolate Cakey Brownie Cupcakes

The Mumbai rains have started the steady staccato beats across the senses. Guru and Subha just had a son and the weekend expected that I go an meet the trio.

I was contemplating what to make and take along when Harini chattered over the phone demanding a birthday cake. This combination sparked the idea of either a cheese cake of some sort of a brownie. The latter was a known devil, so after procrastinating the weekend away I decided that a twist to a know devil would do that trick.

I pulled out a the bake stuff and took a cup of atta (whole wheat), half a teaspoon of baking powder, and less than a cup of sugar. I also got a couple of sachets of instant coffee to substitute the standard spices.

I cracked three 50gm eggs and ...

...dunked the sugar...

...and the coffee into the mixing bowl...

I washed and got the silicone muffins moulds washed and ready before starting work.

I took about 180gm of butter and 160gm of dark compound chocolate out. (Don't worry about the arbit grammage I just made sure I got almost equal quantities of everything and then weighed them to reassure myself that "all is well" :) )