Best Brownies

Today's title is really intended to make me giggle a little. I'll explain why. Ever so long ago, I picked up a thin, spiral bound cookbook entitled Hershey's Chocolate Cookbook (original name) in the bargain section of a bookstore or something like that, and it became one of the first cookbooks I ever purchased. I don't think it was the first, but I can't be sure. I was aiming so high, I know.

Anyhow, I tried very few recipes from that book, because most of them seemed silly or pretentious, like the cover picture. There was, however, one or two good recipes in there. I recall making the chocolate mousse several times for friends, and I've probably made the basic brownie recipe in there at least 50, if not 100, times. It was called Best Brownies, and I believed the title when I made them. I'd never made brownies from scratch before then, and I pretty much gave up boxes after I tried them. (With the exception, of course, of the Hershey's brownie mix at Costco.)

They were so easy to make, and tasted so buttery and good. Of course, I wasn't as picky then, but it was still a good recipe. It went like this: melt 1/2 c. butter. Stir in 1 c. sugar, 1 t. vanilla, and 2 eggs. Whisk together 1/2 c. flour, 1/3 c. cocoa, 1/4 t. baking powder, and 1/4 t. salt. Stir into butter and sugar. Spray an 8" square pan, pour in the mix, and bake at 350˚ for 20-25 minutes.

How long did it take you to read that? It took slightly longer to toss it together. In fact, I usually turned the oven on and would get the ingredients ready just before the oven was preheated, so the whole process took 35 minutes start to finish. Tops. Not including cleanup. Maybe 5 more minutes for that. It's no wonder I became addicted to brownies, and everyone I knew asked me to make them constantly.

As wonderful as all that sounds, 15 years later, I realize that those brownies were good but not the absolute best brownie ever. I needed to find that. A homemade brownie that is everything I want. The trouble is, I want it all. In searching and testing recipes, I came to understand there are two main categories of real brownie lovers: fudgy and chewy. Not "fudgy and chewy" but "fudgy" and "chewy". I'm in the third, often overlooked camp. "Fudgy and chewy". Is there a reason I have to choose one over the other? Well, that was the question. That was the reason for the research, really, otherwise it would have been easy.

And that's not all. I have more requirements. I wanted a cocoa-based recipe, because I'm going to share it with some kids I'm teaching to cook next month (more on that another time), and most people have cocoa at home in their pantry, but I think most people don't have unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate handy for melting, and I'm giving them this recipe with the hope that they will continue to cook at home. Also, because I am so very demanding, I wanted a nice thick brownie, because I prefer thick brownies, that is excellent in flavor and texture and depth of chocolate all by itself but also is terrific with chunks of dark chocolate or toasted walnuts or pecans in it. I'm a chocolate chunk girl myself, but once in a while I prefer the nuts. But the brownie shouldn't need that.

And one more thing. (I warned you that I am so terribly picky.) It shouldn't have frosting. It should be exquisite enough that frosting would do absolutely nothing (except for maybe bad things) for the brownie should you attempt to add it.

So, here's the list:
1. Fudgy
2. Chewy
3. Cocoa-based
4. Thick
5. Deep chocolate flavor
6. Not too sweet.
7. Delicious. Really, really delicious. Enough that I'd call it the Best Brownie.
8. Great with the addition of chocolate chunks or toasted nuts (or possibly both?).
9. No frosting.

Before I go on, let me stop and thank all of you who contributed your recipes. They were all very good. I think I attempted them all. Even the beloved Zingerman's Magic Brownies (fudgy, chocolatey, delicious, but not chewy). And before you go thinking you should attempt the same kind of intense testing I did, I'll warn you: it temporarily ruins your sweet tooth. I know that sounds like a good thing, but I really want to love a cookie when I bite into it. Still, it was fun. I was very critical and probably ate about 2 brownies from every batch, tops, except the winner. I gave several away, which no one seems to mind. They were, after all, all quite good brownies. And I couldn't have done it without another expert taster: my husband. I don't know, though, that the tasting had the same effect on him — he didn't get tired of trying the brownies.

So, here's the final result. Ooh, I'm so excited to have this recipe at long last! It's like some crazy dream come true, like I just stole the precious ring or something. It might not be far off, really. If we could get world leaders to bake these for each other, there might be world peace after all. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. One thing at a time.

Though my instructions are always lengthy, the steps are quick and easy, and you will probably have the brownies in the pan before the oven is ready. (Oddly enough, the instructions in my notebook state only the following: 350˚ 8" square 30 m.) It's really important to learn how to tell when the brownies are done, though, for just the right consistency, so you'll have to forgive my lengthy treatise on the subject but pay close attention and it should work out for you!

Please, if you like brownies, try this recipe. And if you do make them, let me know if they meet your exacting standards.


To view a printable version of this recipe, click here.

The Best Brownies*
my version, of course

12 T. unsalted butter
1 c. cocoa (I use natural-process, but haven't experimented much with Dutch-process)
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/2 t. table salt
1 1/4 c. bittersweet chocolate chunks (optional)
1 1/4. c. toasted walnuts or pecans (optional

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Spray an 8" square metal or stoneware pan with Pam or whatever you've got on hand (but Pam works best!). Set aside. (Glass pans are not ideal here. If you use one, I have no idea how long the brownies will need to bake, but glass will cause the brownies to bake slower and don't conduct heat evenly.)

Melt the butter in a medium microwave-safe mixing bowl for about 1 minute, until completely warm so that it's quite hot (but not boiling...there's no need to overdo it). Whisk in the cocoa immediately until the cocoa has completely melted and the mixture is smooth. (Not only will this prevent clumpy cocoa, but melting the cocoa makes sure that the full flavor is brought out.)

With a wooden spoon, stir in the sugar until evenly combined, then completely stir in the eggs and vanilla. Set a small sieve over the top of the mixing bowl and add the flour and salt to the sieve and sift in. Completely stir in the flour until there are no white bits left. Stir in any optional ingredients you may be using. If you're going to try chocolate pieces and nuts, you may want to back off to 1 cup each. Use a rubber or silicone spatula and spread the batter evenly (it will be very thick) into the prepared pan.

Bake 32-37 minutes. Brownies are done when they have pulled away from the sides and, more importantly, when they feel slightly firm and crusty when pressed gently in the center. A toothpick in the center will still have crumbs, but a toothpick inserted one inch from the edge should come out clean. And the best sign of all that they're done: you can smell them throughout the house. It's odd, but the smell of baked food is at its peak just as it is finally done, and two minutes before it's overcooked. If they go too long, the edges will turn a darker brown and begin to burn a touch. (They're quite forgiving if this happens, though. Just cut the edges off and no one will know.) Remove to a cooling rack to cool, and cool completely before cutting. For the cleanest edges, chill the brownies completely in the refrigerator or for a short while in the freezer before cutting.

I prefer to eat my brownies a bit cooler than room temperature. You can chill them and remove them from the refrigerator half an hour or so before serving. Or you can serve them warm with ice cream and hot fudge sauce. Store leftovers in the pan, covered with a dishtowel, at room temperature, for up to a day, covered tightly in the refrigerator for about 3 days, or freeze in Ziploc bags and pull them out when needed. (They stay very fresh in the freezer; I highly recommend this method.) Enjoy.

*Note: this recipe can easily be doubled and baked in a 9"x13" pan. The baking time will probably increase a bit, so note the instructions on how to tell when they're done. I also quadrupled the recipe, with no chocolate chunks or nuts, and it fit (though just barely) in a half sheet pan (17.5" x 12.5"). I baked it at 325˚ for 55 minutes, and they were great. And well-received.

Testing, testing...

Over the last 36 hours, I've tested 3 brownie recipes, trying to get a cocoa-based brownie that is just right for me. Chewy, chocolaty, melt-in-your mouth, and just exciting enough with the basic ingredients. Over the last year, I've probably tested 8 or 10 different recipes. What I really want is a base to build off of. I like a thick brownie, loaded with chunks of chocolate and occasionally some nuts, but I need to get the basics right first. And I want a cocoa-based brownie because pretty much everyone has cocoa in their house, but we don't all keep stashes of unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate for melting. So the recipe would be great for sharing. Which is what I love to do with recipes, of course!

So I've tweaked and tweaked, and hopefully I'm on my last tweak. If you see a brownie recipe here in the very near future (oh-hopefully 24 hours!) that will mean this last tweak was just right. I know it sounds like a delicious feat, but it's actually a bit difficult to figure out exactly what's just not quite right with this recipe or that brownie. I think, perhaps, that I am very close.

I've mentioned in the past that I love the box of Hershey's brownies you can sometimes find at Costco, which is, in fact, Betty Crocker Supreme triple chunk brownies. (I think it's Betty's, but it's definitely from whatever company makes the Supreme line of brownie mixes.) They're very good if you make them with melted butter instead of vegetable oil. One of the best brownies out there, really. But I want my own recipe. Call me vain. Or cheap. Or crazy.

Well, honestly, it is a labor of love. I do love chocolate, and I have no trouble admitting it. Brownies are one of the best forms of chocolate. For proof, I could present at least two, maybe three people that I know who don't like chocolate but will eat a brownie any day and enjoy it. Brownies are definitely one of the world's most beloved treats. At least America's.

Anyhow, when I get all this figured out, I'll pass along the recipe. And by figured out, I mean I'll have a recipe that will be delicious, irresistible, and adaptable to whatever you like adding to your brownie. And delicious plain. (I once had brownies with chunks of peanut butter cups in them. You can probably guess how good they are, and how guilty I felt afterwards!)

Hope you hear from me soon! Happy summer cooking!

Grilled Chicken

I recently discovered the magnificent flavor of grilled whole chicken, butterflied. I'd just been wondering, too, if there was a way to grill chicken without drying it out, but I never considered throwing an entire bird on there until I read about it in Cook's Illustrated's Summer Grilling & Entertaining publication from last summer (which, incidently, I didn't use once last summer but have used twice this month).

With rotisserie chickens available at any store nearly any hour of the day, I'd nearly stopped buying whole chickens to roast at home. (Our favorite, by the way, is Costco's version.) It's been a bit of a letdown for me, actually, since I really like working with whole chickens. It somehow makes me feel like a cook. So I'm thrilled to have this new recipe, and I'll definitely be using this frequently over the summer and into fall.

The beauty of this chicken is that it's so tender, even leftover 3 days. (How it managed to last 3 days I don't know.) It's smoky and delicious, and is probably my favorite way to eat chicken right now. It's wonderful served just the way it is or with a great sauce (I'll be posting one in the next few days), and leftovers are great on sandwiches or as tacos or in soup. I won't pretend it's the easiest item on the menu, but it is worth more than the small effort you'll need to supply. So, if you're thinking of grilling anytime soon, think chicken.


Grilled Butterflied Chicken
adapted from Cook's Illustrated Summer Grilling & Entertaining

1 whole chicken, about 5 lbs. (you can go smaller, but why? leftovers will be treasured!)
1/2 c. Kosher salt
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 lemon

About five hours before you want to grill, prepare the chicken. To do this, you'll need to remove the backbone. With the tail of the chicken facing you, use poultry shears, kitchen shears, or a strong knife (carefully!) to cut completely down one side of the backbone. Turn the chicken around and repeat on the other side of the backbone. (You'll probably still have quite a few bones in the area, but that's fine. These are irrelevant in the cooking.)

Turn the spineless chicken over and flatten it a bit with the heel of your hands. Then cut one small slit on each breast about an inch up and in from the tail. Tuck the drumstick tips in the slits (you can see in the picture above that one leg has stayed in and one has come out). And now for the fun part: use a smooth mallet to pound the chicken to a fairly even thickness. It doesn't need to be thin, just even enough that it will cook evenly.

Dissolve the salt and sugar in a medium to large container (bucket) with a few cups of water. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice in, add the lemons, and add an additional 1 1/2 gallons of cold water and lots of ice. Add the butterflied chicken and let it brine until you're ready to grill it. Make sure you check it frequently to add and be sure there's still ice in there; this will ensure that the chicken is being kept at a safe temperature. (I actually thawed my chicken in the brine, because I didn't really plan on doing this until the day of, and then I butterflied it after it had brined.)

To grill, you'll need a medium fire, which means you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grate for 5-6 seconds before it's too hot. If your fire is hotter than this, it will be difficult to cook the chicken thoroughly without burning it. Remove the chicken from the brine and air dry for a couple of minutes. When the grill is ready and the rack is hot, place the chicken, bone side down, on the rack. Press the chicken by topping it with a baking sheet that has been topped with a couple of large bricks, or several smaller ones. After 15 minutes (12 if your bird is closer to 3 lbs.), remove the press and turn the chicken over.

The chicken no longer needs the press at this point, as it has been smashed as far as it will go and will just lose juice if pressed further. Cook for about 15 minutes on this side, until the temperature of the breast meat is 165˚ and the thigh is 185˚. Remove to a platter, cover with foil, and rest for 10 minutes. Serve.

And yes, this chicken does look like it's got excessively large legs. They've just been turned from their original grilling position, though, and were really quite normal.

Dark Chocolate Cream Pie

It is with great pleasure I announce that my most recent pre-baked pie shell was successful. As I've mentioned previously, blind baking has never been my forte. Making pies, however, is one of my favorite kitchen tasks, so I have welcomed the challenge. Since I last posted, I've studied up, listened to advice, and experimented. And, as you can see above, I did pretty well. There was just a touch of shrinkage, but I'm still calling this a success.

So, here's the first step to this great pie:


Blind-Baked Pie Shell

First, make the pie dough (recipe here), roll it out, and shape it in a pie dish. Then refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. This gives the elastic properties in the dough time to relax in the shape you've set it in, so it doesn't want to spring back. Next, place the pie dish in the freezer. I used my deep freezer and had it in there 20 minutes. If you're using a kitchen freezer, go for 30. Line the pie with aluminum foil (this takes two regular-width sheets, perpendicular), then fill the pie one-fourth of the way up with pie weights or dry beans. Don't add more weights than this, or the crust will not bake quickly enough, as they'll pull heat away from the crust. Also, the weights are a benefit to the bottom crust and won't hold up the sides, really, so you don't need a ton of them to do the job. (By the way, I use beans.)

Bake the pie crust in a 450˚ oven for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and foil from the crust, reduce the oven temperature to 375˚, and bake about 15 minutes more, checking after 10, until the crust is perfectly baked. Remove from the oven and cool completely before filling.

Sherry Yard, pastry chef to Wolfgang Puck and author of The Secrets of Baking, says that it's necessary to start the pastry baking at a very high temperature to encourage steaming between the layers of fat and starch right away; otherwise you're just melting the butter first, which will slacken the dough. Because the dough is frozen before baking, I increased the temperature from the usual 425˚ to 450˚, especially since my previous attempt to start at 425˚ didn't work well. Also, I baked it at this higher temperature for a full 20 minutes. It certainly wasn't going to burn, and I wanted the sides to set up really well. I definitely wouldn't go less than 20 minutes unless you're baking in a thin metal pan, and then you might stop at 17 or 18.


Now, onto the reason I was doing this in the first place. Chocolate.

Of all the cream pies, chocolate has to be my favorite. I think. They're all good, actually. Especially banana. But chocolate tops them all when the chocolate filling is just right: decadent, smooth, and firm when set up. You should already know I don't like wimpy chocolate, so trust me on the depth of flavor here. And if you're not sure how dark you like your chocolate, just add more whipped cream to the top of the pie. Or you could substitute bittersweet chocolate for the small amount of unsweetened chocolate. But please don't. Just make the pie like it is, and enjoy it. But leave some leftovers. Like all chocolate desserts, it's even better the next day.


Chocolate Cream Pie
ever so slightly modified from a Bon Appétit recipe, Black-bottom Chocolate Pie


Filling:
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch salt
6 large egg yolks
2 c. milk
1/2 c. heavy or whipping cream
5 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
2 T. unsalted butter

one baked, cooled 9" pie shell

Topping:
1 1/2 c. chilled heavy or whipping cream
3-4 T. granulated sugar
1 t. vanilla extract

chocolate curls, for garnish

For the filling, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt in a heavy medium saucepan. Stir in the yolks until evenly combined. Whisk in the milk, then the cream. Set the saucepan over medium to medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it starts to get pretty warm. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue whisking until the mixture thickens and simmers (a full boil isn't necessary) for one minute.

Remove from heat. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Stir in the butter and vanilla until the butter is melted. Pour into a medium bowl. Set the bowl inside another bowl made into an ice bath (ice and water) and stir frequently for about 20 minutes to cool.

Pour the filling into the prebaked pie shell and chill for at least 2 hours, preferably 4.

Whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla until medium to firm peaks form. Top the chocolate pie and garnish with chocolate curls. Keep chilled when not serving.

When I served this the first day, I was anxious, so it wasn't a really solid filling, but by the next day it cut nicely and held its shape well. Even if you ice bath the filling for 30 or 40 minutes, it will still need a couple of hours to chill completely in the refrigerator before serving.