The Makings of a Perfect Brownie:
1) A perfect brownie should be crunchy on top that the surface cracks the minute you sink your teeth into it.
2) The texture should be chewy and moist and fudge-like that the act of chewing every morsel of it is equally pleasurable as that of having a foodgasm.
3) A perfect brownie should never contain any leavening agents such as bicarbonate of soda or baking powder (unless you want a cake-like brownie, then I believe one should just eat cake instead). Any brownie recipe that includes these sacrilegious additions is well, a sacrilege!
4) The proper mixing of all the brownie ingredients is also a factor. If you just mix all the ingredients together and dump everything into a baking pan, the brownie top won’t be as crunchy, unlike when you separate the egg whites from the yolks, beating the whites with sugar just until thick and frothy, much like a runny meringue before mixing with the rest of the ingredients is the secret to a crunchy top… I promise!
5) And lastly, of course a perfect brownie should taste like it is blessed by a Mayan god cacao connoisseur. It should be ooh-ing and screaming chocolate. So use the best quality chocolate bar or cocoa powder.
Crunchy Top Fudge Brownies
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup good quality cocoa powder (I use a German brand cocoa powder -Heintz, you can use a Dutch-processed cocoa powder… means it is alkalized)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs (medium), separated
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate chips
*2 cups whole walnuts (optional)
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350’F. Line a 9”x13” rectangle baking pan with baking parchment.
- Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over low heat. When melted, remove from heat and add cocoa powder, mix until smooth.
- Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla, egg yolks and flour. Set Aside.
- Using a hand mixer/wire whisk/stand mixer, beat egg whites until frothy. Then slowly add the granulated sugar until meringue gets into a soft peak stage.
- Fold the meringue mixture into the chocolate mixture. Then mix in the dark chocolate chips and walnuts (optional).
- Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until when toothpick inserted in the center of the brownie comes out with moistened crumbs (not wet brownie batter).
- Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then lift from the baking pan and cut into 24 square pieces. Cool cut brownies on wire racks.
- Store in an air tight container. Laid flat and layers separated by parchment paper.
Makes 2 dozens
I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited.
Amazing Pirate Ship Room. Not exactly a DIY, but there are lots of ideas and details other than the huge boat bed structure that holds 5 bunks and 1 trundle bed. I like how they made a hanging vanity and carried the mast idea over to the curtains. Photo spread of this room from Tidbits from the Tremaynes here. *Also, go look at the header of their blog. It made me smile.
DIY Six Strand Friendship Bracelet. Same blog I posted the Fishtail Friendship Bracelet from here. “Fastest friendship bracelet ever” tutorial from Oh So Pretty here.
Wellington Point (by greenplasticdave)
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