Generalismo

I’m tempted to say “a month of chocolate goodies” instead of “a month of cooking” because chocolate things sound much more appetizing! I’ll try to make bread or something next. I need some whole wheat seed bread anyhow.

Here are the brownies! First off, have you ever taken a good look at sugar close up? Have a look:

I thought this reflection of the recipe book shelf was cool This is just before the mixing of the wet ingredients listed at the end of this post.

Mmm…at some point you mix in cocoa powder. This stuff is great in a shake: blend up 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with 3-4 dates that have been soaked in warm water (check for pits) and either a scoop of protein powder, a generous 1/4 cup of cottage cheese, OR a handful of walnuts. Blend up with 8 ounces of water and ice. Yum yum! But back to brownies!

The batter for brownies should be a lot thicker than cake batter. Another, richer recipe I have for brownies won’t pour out of the bowl. Those would be the Man Catcher Brownies from Leigh Lambert at the Washington Post. I turned the bowl with the batter upside down, even, and it just sat there without moving at all. But that’s another recipe (and one, I might add, due to the ingredients, doesn’t get repeated that often in our family. I’ve only made it once!)

If you’re like me, you have some family members who like nuts and others who positively don’t like them. So I usually press walnuts in one end of the batter to avoid putting nuts in the whole thing (while satisfying our nut likers).

And here’s the finished brownie. Nowadays I have the patience to wait to cut them until they cool - most of the time. I used to wonder why my brownies always fell apart and never looked like the ones at church dinners. WELL, it’s because I insisted on eating them as soon as they came out of the oven! If you’re eating brownies at home, that’s fine, but if you’re taking them out somewhere on a dish wait till they cool to cut them and remove them from the pan. I usually take a spoon and scoop out a little corner - just to make sure it’s edible!

And another closeup.

Don’t overcook your brownies. Usually a toothpick inserted in the middle that comes out clean indicates a done pan of brownies. If it has a shiny top and it’s not terribly soft in the middle, it’s probably done. Poke a knife in there if you must, but remember that they’re supposed to be a little soft. Don’t be looking for a cake like texture. I think, sadly, that this batch was a tad overdone. Ok, a lot overdone! But not too bad. Here’s the pan a few hours later:

And of course, cooking doesn’t have to be messy! Here’s the stuff I had to clean up, plus the pan.

And lastly, here is a note I put on this recipe. (I somehow clipped off the smiley face there that you were supposed to see!) It’s clipped from Taste of Home and I knew it’d be hard to find again in the many brownie recipes there are floating around here. I think you should have a recipe around that’s both for cocoa powder and for unsweetened chocolate. You never know which one you’re going to get a deal on and have a surplus of around This one, to date, is the best one (Outside of Man Catcher brownies, formerly blogged about and mentioned above) with cocoa powder.

Here’s the recipe. Half it to make one 8×8″ pan (this makes one 13×9″)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 sticks butter melted (I cut down to 1.5 sometimes, doesn’t taste the same. Your call.)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add butter, mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients. Mix well. Pour into greased 13×9″ pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Posted by Bonnie under food, recipe