Outrageous Brownies
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I feel the need to first tell you that while halving the original recipe, I did more math than I have since my freshman year of college. If the US used weight rather than volume in cooking and baking like the rest of the world, halving recipes would be so much easier. And with that said…
The baking blog world as been proclaiming these the best brownies EVER EVER EVER for years now, so I figured it was time I try them for myself. They are super rich, incredibly moist, and have a great texture, but–and I know I’m in the minority here–they’re not my favorite. And they’re definitely not one bowl brownies like my go-to recipe. However, I bagged them up and gave them to friends and I don’t think anyone left even a crumb, so I know other people liked them.
Has anyone else tried these? What did you think?
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
8 ounces plus 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee powder (I omitted this)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/8 cups sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus 1/8 cup, divided
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups diced walnut pieces (I omitted this)
Preparation
- Preheat over 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
- Melt together the butter, 8 ounces chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla, and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.
- Stir together 1/2 cup of the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 6 ounces of the chocolate chips with 1/8 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into squares.
Recipe adapted from Food Network.
POM Velvet Cake
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A few months ago, the nice people at POM sent me a ton of POM juice to try out. Not being a juice fan (I much prefer the fresh seeds), I decided to try one of the many recipes on their site that uses the juice. And as soon as I saw the recipe for this cake, I knew it must be made. Come on, who wouldn’t get excited about “velvet cake” that doesn’t using food coloring?
And it’s good. Unfortunately, aside from a barely noticeable red hue, the POM juice didn’t do much for the color, and the flavor is that of…chocolate cake. I noticed that instead of a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder like most red velvet cakes, this recipe calls for 3/4 cup. No wonder it tastes so chocolately. But fortunately for me, chocolately means good!
Cake Ingredients
juice from 1 large POM Wonderful pomegranate* or 1/2 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup half-and-half
Icing Ingredients
1 cup arils from 1–2 large POM Wonderful pomegranates (Pomegranates aren’t in season, so I skipped this)
12 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 lb. confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cake Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Prepare fresh pomegranate juice.*
- Line the bases of two round 9” x 2” baking pans with either parchment or wax paper. Grease paper but do not line or grease sides of pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in mixing bowl and set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes at medium speed. - To the bowl with the butter mixture, add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Add vanilla extract.
- Pour half-and-half into a large measuring cup and add in vinegar and pomegranate juice; stir.
Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix on low speed, alternating with the half-and-half and ending with flour. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. - Divide batter into cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes test done using a toothpick inserted near the center. The toothpick should be free of wet batter when withdrawn.
- Allow cakes to rest in cake pan for 15 minutes or until pans are cold to the touch.
- Invert cakes onto a cooling rack.
Icing Preparation
- Score 1–2 fresh pomegranates and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranates under water to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl. Reserve 1 cup of the arils from fruit and set aside. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining arils for another use.)
- Blend cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl.
- Add vanilla. Beat at medium speed.
- Add confectioner’s sugar and salt. Beat until fluffy.
- Place one layer of cake on a cake plate and spread with one third of the icing.
- Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of arils.
- Cover with second layer of cake and ice with remaining icing.
- Garnish with remaining arils.
* For 1 cup of juice, cut 2–3 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates in half and juice them with a citrus reamer or juicer. Pour the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined strainer or sieve. Set the juice aside.
Recipe from POM Wonderful.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread
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Hey there! I’m here and still enjoying funemployment (while looking for a job). Since I don’t have my 100+ guinea pigs at an office anymore, I haven’t been trying out new recipes, hence the lack of posts. And in addition to not wanting to eat three dozen cookies by myself, it’s been super hot here and the thought of turning on my oven made me cringe. Fortunately, the weather has cooled down (a tiny bit) and I decided to give a simple recipe a shot.
This shortbread is good, but not spectacular. My favorite is still the brown sugar version I made earlier in the year. Like good shortbread should be, these cookies aren’t very sweet, are chewy, and have crispy ends. However, I feel like they’re missing something–maybe more salt. Disappointing!
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I was out of mini chips so I chopped up regular sized ones)
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in vanilla and add flour and salt.
- Stir in chips.
- Divide dough in half.
- Press each half into an ungreased 8 inch round pan.
- Bake 12 minutes or until edges are golden.
- Score each shortbread with sharp knife into 8 even wedges, but do not cut all the way through.
- Leave in pans and cool on racks for 10 minutes.
- Invert onto racks and cool completely.
- Break into wedges.
Recipe from Recipezaar.
