Coy informed me that we are at war with the Kayo Dot forums, hence we have to go over there are and start posting obscene things.
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JohnInDarkness
Hello, my name is Sean.
Oh is that what that text message meant? I assumed it was just some form of drunken ramblings. I guess it all makes sense now.
TheNewChupe
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Heart of Darkness Brownies
Submitted by: paulraphael
Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Chocolate, Chocolate, Brownies/Bars, Brownies/Bars
Servings: 30 as a dessert, 30 as a dessert
These are my favorite, in every way: dense, buttery texture, slightly sour tang, crackly crust, all emerging from the dark depths of high quality bittersweet chocolate.
They're a complete reworking of a longtime favorite brownie recipe that I traced back to Maeda Heatter. When I tried to make the original version with high quality chocolate, the flavor was improved, but the brownies fell apart. A year of exploration into the mysteries of chocolate, and a dozen recipe generations later, I got it to work.
The sour cream adds moisture and a subtle acidity. The cocoa provides a bit of structure without diluting the chocolate, as increased flour would. The dusting of sugar on top allows a nice crust to form; hard to do otherwise in a truly bittersweet recipe.
Note: It is important to use good quality, bittersweet chocolate, with 60 to 72% cocoa solids in this recipe. Please don't use Baker's or Nestle supermarket chocolates. See my food processor variation of the Maeda Heatter recipe if that's all you have. It is not necessary, however, to use the most expensive chocolates. In my experience the subtlety of very high end chocolates doesn't make a big enough difference in brownies to be worth it. Callebaut 70% is an excellent option and was used for testing.
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, at room temperature, chopped into small chunks 336g
12 oz unsalted butter 336g (plus about 2 tsp for greasing pan)
1-1/4 c white sugar (can be adjusted to taste based on bitterness of chocolate) 238g
2 T additional white sugar to dust top 48g
3/4 c all-purpose flour 100g
1/4 c cocoa powder 28g (plus about 2TB for dusting pan)
1 tsp salt 6g
4 large eggs 200g
2/3 c sour cream 140g
1 T vanilla extract 14g
requires small and medium mixing bowls, and a saucepan large enough for all ingredients (2-1/2 qt for whole recipe; 1-1/2 qt for half recipe). if the pan isn't big enough, then you will also need a large mixing bowl.
melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat
whisk in sugar until smooth and thick
thoroughly stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. whisk into the butter/sugar mixture util smooth.
turn heat as low as possible, and stir chocolate into butter/sugar/cocoa mixture until mostly melted. remove from heat, and continue stirring until smooth. allow to cool until just above room temperature; about 80 degrees F. it should become fairly thick. you can speed the cooling process by putting the pan in a water bath and stirring.
while mixture is cooling, preheat oven to 300° with rack in center. grease baking pan and lightly dust with cocoa powder. if you're using a professional pan with square corners, you'll have an easier time removing brownies if you line the bottom and two sides of the pan with a sheet of parchment. grease and dust both the parchment and the two bare edges of the pan.
shortly before chocolate mixture is cooled, combine eggs and sour cream in a medium bowl. whisk until well mixed, pale, and a bit frothy. do not try to incorporate enough air to increase the volume. stir in the vanilla.
stir egg mixture into the other ingredients (if the saucepan is big enough, just do it in the pan). If mixture gets thick and lumpy, it means the chocolate has cooled too much--return it to the stove, and stir over low heat. mixture should get fairly smooth.
If you're incorporating any chopped nuts or chocolate chunks, stir them in.
pour into prepared pan and smooth top. dust a light, even coating of sugar over the top .
bake about 35 to 45 minutes, depending on oven and batch size. batter should rise evenly from center to edge. the top surface should look uniform. a tester should come out of the center dirty, but without any large chunks of batter attached. better undercooked than overcooked.
allow to cool on cooling rack. they can be served room temperature, warm (very soft), or chilled (like fudge). they keep a long time at room temperature or refrigerated, but crust will soften quickly.
These brownies are extremely delicate; be careful cutting and serving. they should be cooled to room temperature (or ideally chilled) before slicing. a palette knife or offset spatula works well. use your fingers to keep crust from breaking up when removing the blade. a pizza wheel also makes good clean cuts (although you'll have to begin and end the cuts with a knife). a thin, flexible metal spatula, like an offset spatula, cookie spatula, or fish spatula, makes it fairly easy to serve them without damage.
(I just learned that there's another recipe, published by a cookbook author, with the same name as this one. There are no other similarities. The other recipe uses a much lower proportion of chocolate and is jammed full of candy. Don't be fooled!)
Submitted by: paulraphael
Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Chocolate, Chocolate, Brownies/Bars, Brownies/Bars
Servings: 30 as a dessert, 30 as a dessert
These are my favorite, in every way: dense, buttery texture, slightly sour tang, crackly crust, all emerging from the dark depths of high quality bittersweet chocolate.
They're a complete reworking of a longtime favorite brownie recipe that I traced back to Maeda Heatter. When I tried to make the original version with high quality chocolate, the flavor was improved, but the brownies fell apart. A year of exploration into the mysteries of chocolate, and a dozen recipe generations later, I got it to work.
The sour cream adds moisture and a subtle acidity. The cocoa provides a bit of structure without diluting the chocolate, as increased flour would. The dusting of sugar on top allows a nice crust to form; hard to do otherwise in a truly bittersweet recipe.
Note: It is important to use good quality, bittersweet chocolate, with 60 to 72% cocoa solids in this recipe. Please don't use Baker's or Nestle supermarket chocolates. See my food processor variation of the Maeda Heatter recipe if that's all you have. It is not necessary, however, to use the most expensive chocolates. In my experience the subtlety of very high end chocolates doesn't make a big enough difference in brownies to be worth it. Callebaut 70% is an excellent option and was used for testing.
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, at room temperature, chopped into small chunks 336g
12 oz unsalted butter 336g (plus about 2 tsp for greasing pan)
1-1/4 c white sugar (can be adjusted to taste based on bitterness of chocolate) 238g
2 T additional white sugar to dust top 48g
3/4 c all-purpose flour 100g
1/4 c cocoa powder 28g (plus about 2TB for dusting pan)
1 tsp salt 6g
4 large eggs 200g
2/3 c sour cream 140g
1 T vanilla extract 14g
requires small and medium mixing bowls, and a saucepan large enough for all ingredients (2-1/2 qt for whole recipe; 1-1/2 qt for half recipe). if the pan isn't big enough, then you will also need a large mixing bowl.
melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat
whisk in sugar until smooth and thick
thoroughly stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. whisk into the butter/sugar mixture util smooth.
turn heat as low as possible, and stir chocolate into butter/sugar/cocoa mixture until mostly melted. remove from heat, and continue stirring until smooth. allow to cool until just above room temperature; about 80 degrees F. it should become fairly thick. you can speed the cooling process by putting the pan in a water bath and stirring.
while mixture is cooling, preheat oven to 300° with rack in center. grease baking pan and lightly dust with cocoa powder. if you're using a professional pan with square corners, you'll have an easier time removing brownies if you line the bottom and two sides of the pan with a sheet of parchment. grease and dust both the parchment and the two bare edges of the pan.
shortly before chocolate mixture is cooled, combine eggs and sour cream in a medium bowl. whisk until well mixed, pale, and a bit frothy. do not try to incorporate enough air to increase the volume. stir in the vanilla.
stir egg mixture into the other ingredients (if the saucepan is big enough, just do it in the pan). If mixture gets thick and lumpy, it means the chocolate has cooled too much--return it to the stove, and stir over low heat. mixture should get fairly smooth.
If you're incorporating any chopped nuts or chocolate chunks, stir them in.
pour into prepared pan and smooth top. dust a light, even coating of sugar over the top .
bake about 35 to 45 minutes, depending on oven and batch size. batter should rise evenly from center to edge. the top surface should look uniform. a tester should come out of the center dirty, but without any large chunks of batter attached. better undercooked than overcooked.
allow to cool on cooling rack. they can be served room temperature, warm (very soft), or chilled (like fudge). they keep a long time at room temperature or refrigerated, but crust will soften quickly.
These brownies are extremely delicate; be careful cutting and serving. they should be cooled to room temperature (or ideally chilled) before slicing. a palette knife or offset spatula works well. use your fingers to keep crust from breaking up when removing the blade. a pizza wheel also makes good clean cuts (although you'll have to begin and end the cuts with a knife). a thin, flexible metal spatula, like an offset spatula, cookie spatula, or fish spatula, makes it fairly easy to serve them without damage.
(I just learned that there's another recipe, published by a cookbook author, with the same name as this one. There are no other similarities. The other recipe uses a much lower proportion of chocolate and is jammed full of candy. Don't be fooled!)
TheNewChupe
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opeth_353
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CladInDarkness
Under A Blackened Sky
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Under A Blackened Sky
circus_brimstone
Forest: Sold Out
Fury of the Storm
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- May 16, 2006
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CladInDarkness
Under A Blackened Sky
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There would be none other, however, we must wait for the appropriate timing.
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