Baking Diaries: Brownies Pt 1

I have all too many times experienced a disappointing recipe, and then gone out and tried a different recipe, to achieve an equally disappointing result. Frequently, I have concluded that the best way around it is to stick to one recipe with one component altered at a time so as to see how to improve the final result. But I was lazy. Thus it's a long term project that ends before it can begin.

However, I reckon it's high time I started, with something that everyone likes differently: Brownies. There are so many recipes online, and none of them seem to be The One. All too often, I have had tips, recipes, recommendations, that declare one brownie recipe to be "the Ultimate Best Brownie Recipe, Like, Ever", but it's hardly the case for me. I had yet to find the perfect recipe for my cravings.

The Perfect Brownie, to me, is a.) chewy. Not cakey or too fudgy, but like of those bakery cookies fresh from the oven (yet another thing to be perfected). It also has to b.) have real chocolate in it. Baking cocoa powder does not cut it. It is a weak excuse for real chocolate. And equally important is c.) not be too sweet. I am a finicky person when it comes to taste. Always cut down sugar in baking. No salt on my hot chips. My friend thinks I have an irrational fear of seasoning. It gives me heart attacks when I see that some recipes use twice the sugar to flour. It's also partially due to my mother's constant reminder that American recipes always have too much sugar so every baked good she makes (including non-American recipes) has her omit up to half the sugar required.

Here's the first recipe. It was suggested by a friend who promised it to be so foolproof and easy that "even her dad could do it". And I have tried hers. They are perfect.

I have no photographic evidence as it only occurred to me to do this after it was gone.

Recipe:

225g butter

200g chocolate

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup chopped nuts / chocolate chips / raisins (blegh) etc. (optional)

There's also vanilla extract in there somewhere but I never have it, again due to my mother's insistence that it's neither necessary or healthy. I have learned to live without the taste of vanilla (read, delicious food).

Also, I am not converting the units. Too many times I have read "oz" and having to put in effort for conversions. This is my passive revenge.

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Melt butter and chocolate together, stir in sugar.

Allow chocolate mixture to cool a little and gradually add in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in flour, cocoa powder until combined.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check at 20 minutes. A toothpick should come out with a few moist crumbs, and the residual heat will have it continue to cook out of the oven.

Notes:

Wary of sugar content. Yup, still too high for me.

I have an old oven, which results in my suspicion of it being the reason why nothing I bake ever turns out right. It also has set temperatures, which means I had to choose between 160 or 190 C. Very foolishly, I chose 190 and baked it for 20 minutes, figuring that because it still had moist crumbs it would be fine. I was greatly wrong. It turned out cakey, yet dry (in other words, a brownie nightmare). The only saving grace was that it turned chewy after refrigeration when packed away, though only because it was hard. It was not Perfect-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie Chewy (which from now on will be referred to as PCCCC to save time).

My friend chided me. Then made brownies herself and laughed in my face when hers were expectedly perfect. Sigh.

Conclusion:

Overall mark is 13/23

Will change sugar and temperature next time.

Reminder that I am lazy and this will probably be a failure of a project. But I figured public online declaration of it will force me to continue.