Can a brownie ever have too much chocolate?
Unpopular opinion; I don’t really get the hype around a brownie… wait wait… stay with me ok… let me explain…
How sad and painfully disappointing is a bad brownie? An apologetic little square brown not-quite-cake-not-quite-anything excuse for a brownie. THAT is why I don’t have faith in them, the fear of disappointment is real and I am just not here for it. Why would I do that to myself?
The origin of the brownie is a somewhat debated issue. Some say it was created at the Palmer House Hotel, Chicago, in 1983. The owner’s socialite wife asked the pastry chef to create a sweet treat suitable for an Expo she was hosting - she wanted a “cake like confection, smaller than a piece of cake that could be included in boxed lunches”. However, the first known printed recipe that was titled “brownie” was in the 1896 “Boston Cooking-School Cook Book”. This version didn’t contain chocolate, but rather molasses. There are then several other iterations of recipes that pop up over the coming years - ever more chocolaty, richer, more fudgy.
So my mission is to cook the perfect (however subjective I know that word is when it comes to food)firm, fudgy, melt in the mouth, rich brownie; a so endlessly memorable that your friends insist you make it every single time they come round kind of brownie. It has to taste of chocolate, but not that painfully bitter type of chocolate that tastes like pure raw cocoa powder that you accidentally lick off your finger whilst mixing up cake batter. Dreamy, rich dark and milk chocolate blended, and in an obscene quantity too. Sweet, but not teeth meltingly so. It has to have the dark fudgy inside, but not that sticky raw batter feeling that clings to your gnashers and makes them look like the time my Dad black out one of his teeth to trick my mum into thinking he lost it in a rugby match.
Top left - hazelnut; Top right - peanut butter; Bottom left - Salted popcorn and caramel; Bottom right - The OG chocolate brownie And the next question is what additions? More chocolate? Nuts? A flavour perhaps? The purists I guess would say why ruin the beautiful simplicity of it, and I would agree to a certain extent…I don’t like to go crazy for crazies sake, but for purposeful, flavourful reasons only.
This brownie is a hand me down recipe from my food development mentor (whose signature phrase to me was very often “for the love of god, Becky, use some salt”), who in turn got it from a mentor of her. We affectionately nicknamed it “the chomlette” because it’s main ingredients are chocolate and egg, but don’t let this put you off, I promise it bears no resemblance to an actual chocolate omelette. I played around with the sugar in the recipe I was gifted, dropping it down ever-so slightly, and also upped the milk chocolate and downed the dark chocolate (purely for personal taste preferences). But honestly… it really is pretty special indeed.
My ultimate chocolate brownie
400g milk chocoalte
150g dark chocolate
200g butter
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
30g cornflour
Line a baking tin with parchment paper (I used a 26cm by 17cm tin with about a 2cm lip), and preheat the oven to 175c.
Chop up the milk and dark chocolate into little choccie chip sized chunks. Save half to one side, and melt the other half in a pan over a gentle heat with the butter. Once melted and combined set to one side and allow to cool.
In the meantime mix the eggs and caster sugar together in a bowl, being careful to not add too much air (we don’t want a light fluffy brownie, we want it to be fudgy and dense, we want to add as little air as possible)
Combined the cooled chocolate mix with the egg mix until it creates a rich sticky batter. Add in the reserved chocolate, and cornflour and mix well one last time (add in any extra flavourings you are using at this point).
Tip the mix into your lined tin (add any toppings you are using at this point) and place into your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. You want it to have a thin paper like crackle on the top, and be just firm to the touch.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool COMPLETELY before cutting into as many big or small pieces you like
