Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Outrageous Brownies (That I Haven't Tried)

So, we are a day behind on baking this week and brought our brownies in for taste testing today instead of yesterday. We also changed our ballots a little this week to allow for a "comments" section. Our wonderful judges (coworkers) have offered some suggestions to recipes verbally, however, we thought that writing these down so appropriate corrective measures could be taken would be a great idea.

I chose to bake "Outrageous Brownies" by Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network website. They had awesome ratings, but the reason I chose them was because the prep for these brownies was different than any other I had made. I love how the butter and two chocolates were melted together first and then added to the batter, then more chocolate chips were added to the batter later on. Yum! I tasted the batter before adding nuts in and it tasted fudge-y and rich.

The recipe calls for a 12x18x1 pan, but as a warning to all: the batter will completely fill the pan. Completely, to the edge and just shy of overflowing. However, when the batter bakes, it rises perfectly straight up over the pan, so no worries. While the recipe shows melting the chocolates and butter in a bowl over boiling water, I just used a double boiler. This took probably about 30 minutes for everything to completely melt on medium heat. I did adjust the heat setting a few times to avoid chocolate burning. I suggest working on mixing the other ingredients while stirring and melting the butter & chocolate.

Outrageous Brownies
(Copyright 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)

Ingredients:
1 lb. unsalted butter
1 lb. plus 12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 Tbsp. instant coffee granules
2 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 c. chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

2. Butter and flour a 12x18x1 baking sheet.

3. Melt together the butter, 1 lb. of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly.

4. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

5. In a medium bowl, sift together 1 c. of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture.

6. Toss the walnuts and 12 oz. of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 c. flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.

7. Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean (NOTE: I had to bake for an additional 5 minutes, 20 minutes total after releasing air). DO NOT OVERBAKE! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares

NOTE: This made 30 big brownies for me... not sure how big she is cutting the brownies, but the more the merrier :)


Happy Baking!!

XOXO,

Sugar

The way to a man’s heart is undoubtedly through his taste buds.

3 comments:

Hutch said...

My roommates a brownie lover...I've already passed along the recipe :)

Anonymous said...

Ooo!! I love Ina Garten and these brownies are a show stopper for sure. I think you *might* have cinched a win this week! We'll see!

Jennifer Vanderbeek said...

Just wandered over here so if you already know these tips then feel free to disregard:

When melting chocolate you really do need to stir it constantly. The bowl over the simmering water is pretty much the same as a double boiler but you need to make sure the top of the chocolate is below where the bowl meets the edges of the pot. All of this is to prevent scorching (and scorched chocolate cannot be saved... it's very sad). Also, chopping the chocolate helps it melt faster.

When adding the melted chocolate & butter to the eggs, it's best to mix a little bit of the warm chocolate into the egg mixture to bring the egg temperature up a bit, then add the egg stuff to the rest of the chocolate stuff to keep the eggs from cooking/curdling and becoming lumpy bits in your brownies.

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