The World's Best Brownies

 With all the stress of SATs and College Apps, I needed something extremely chocolatey and sinful to drown my anxiety in. Something easy to make, but still delicious. I came across this recipe and was so happy with the results. Seriously, I don't think anyone could not like these brownies. I know everyone has their ''best brownie'' recipe, and I did too, until I tried this one. Now, this is my go-to brownie recipe. I've made these at least 4 times in the past two weeks. I first made these brownies for the excursion my class went on, to Ooty and Masanagudi, and they were a big hit. I promise you won't be disappointed. I'm writing my SAT tomorrow, and I'm super nervous. So obviously, I baked to ease the nerves. And what did I bake? These brownies! And how many did I eat? Let's not even go there. :P These brownies are to die for!! Rich, decadent, chocolatey goodness...That's what these brownies are. I'm kind of on this brownie craze right now, so I apologize for the number of brownie recipes I've been posting. I'll post something new next time :D But until then, enjoy these sinfully rich brownies. :) This recipe, from the King Arthur Flour website, makes about 24 brownies.

Ingredients:


1 cup unsalted butter
2  1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1  1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips (optional, but I highly recommend adding them!)


Method:


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit (about 180 degrees celcius). Line or grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, and then add the sugar to it, stirring to combine. Alternatively, combine the butter and sugar and stir on low heat until butter is melted. If you want a shiny crackly crust, reheat the butter and sugar mixture until the mixture is hot, but not bubbling. This dissolves the sugar even more and yields a shiny crust.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the eggs, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, espresso powder and vanilla extract.
4. Add the butter-sugar mixture, stirring continuously.

5. Stir in the flour until smooth, and then stir in the chocolate chips. If you do not want the chocolate chips to melt while baking, let the batter cool for 15-20 minutes before stirring them in. 
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool before cutting. 

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Cocoa Brownies

     The cakey brownies vs fudgey brownies battle is ongoing. I don't think it will ever end. As long as people have different tastes, opinions and preferences, the ''Brownie War'' will always exist. Personally, I prefer fudgey brownies. If I wanted cakey brownies, I would just eat cake. One can argue and say ''But if you want fudgey brownies, why not just eat fudge?'', which is true, but I think the most notable feature of a brownie is its deep, rich, fudgey-ness. My favorite brownies are those with the thin, shiny, crackly crust. These brownies don't have that crust I love so much, but the taste makes up for that. I'm actually not quite sure whether to call these brownies or fudge. The batter is so thick, it's almost like cookie dough. The 'brownie dough' itself is sure to be an indication of how fudgey these brownies are! This recipe has been circulating the internet, jumping from blog to blog, for quite some time now, so I figured it must be worth trying out. Yes, these brownies are made from cocoa, not chocolate, but I assure you, it does not compromise on taste at all! These brownies aren't my favorite, but they are super easy to whip up, and taste pretty darn good! I'm sorry I don't have any photos of the brownies. They were devoured before I could take pictures of them!!

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1  1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
1/2 cup all purpose flour


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Farenheit (160 degrees Celcius). Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan, or line with foil or parchment paper.
2. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water. Alternatively, microwave butter sugar cocoa and salt until butter is melted and mixture is smooth and warm.
3. Stir in the vanilla essence.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after the addition of each egg.
5. Mix in flour into the batter/brownie dough.

6. Pour batter/brownie dough into the pan.

7. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out moist with a few crumbs.
8. Cool completely before cutting.

Fudge Brownies

    Today was my 17th birthday. It was one of the best birthdays ever! School was fun (shocking, I know!), and then some family friends came over for dinner. There's going to be a party at home tomorrow. But today was a happy, fun day. One of my family friends baked me a delicious chocolate cake. Dinner was a lot of fun. It consisted more of laughter and sharing old memories and funny stories rather than actually eating. Now I'm looking forward to the party tomorrow!
     A lot of people asked me if I was going to bake my birthday cake. I said no. I bake for everyone else's birthdays. Why should I bake for my own? But you know me, I can't pass up an opportunity to bake! So, I baked myself birthday brownies! I came across this recipe from Diving Baking and I knew at once, that this was the recipe I was going to try out. I love fudgy brownies with a crackly crust. This recipe makes the perfect dense fudgy brownies. And the crust....Oh, I could go on forever about how wonderful the crust is! What I'm trying to say is, this recipe is a must try! You won't be disappointed, I promise!!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1 pound (16 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 cups brown sugar*

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla 

*It's hard to get brown sugar here in India, so I use one tablespoon of honey and one cup of white sugar for every cup of brown sugar required, and it comes out perfectly!

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish, or line with parchment paper or foil.

2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. 

3. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Set aside to cool. 

4. Sift the flour into a small mixing bowl. 

5. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture thickens and becomes pale in color, about 4 to 5 minutes. 

6. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture. 

7. Add the flour and fold it in quickly but gently with the rubber spatula so that you don’t deflate the air that’s been incorporated into the eggs.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared dish. 

9. Bake until the top looks slightly cracked and feels soft to the touch, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.