Chocolate is... I am literally speechless. It embodies so many things and emotions. It’s an aphrodisiac. It’s a source of happiness. It’s mystical (almost). It’s a health food (again, almost). It’s just plain fabulous. Okay, I understand if you want to question my sanity right now.
What scares some people about chocolate (apart from its amount of calories) is that chocolate can be temperamental and difficult to get right in baking. We are not taking attempting to temper chocolate. It took me a few attempts just to melt chocolate without burning it.
Different types of chocolate:
Dark chocolate: usually contains 45% or more cocoa content, therefore richer in antioxidants and all the other good stuff.
Milk chocolate: usually contains around 20%-30% cocoa content.
White chocolate: does not contain cocoa and is technically not chocolate. Instead it contains cocoa butter rather than cocoa solids.
The less cocoa, the more quickly the chocolate will melt and burn. When making chocolate ganache or truffles, the proportion of cream to chocolate will also differ. More on this later.
Melting chocolate:
The easiest way is to melt chocolate in a microwave. The most reliable way is in a double boiler. This is because chocolate burns easily and unlike mayonnaise, can’t be retrieved once overheated.
Double boiler: where the chocolate is placed in a bowl perched on a saucepan/pot with simmering water, but the base of the bowl must not touch the water. This way, the temperature will unlikely be high enough to burn the chocolate.
Saucepan: Make sure the flame is low and you are stirring consistently to ensure even heating. Take it off the heat once most of the chocolate has melted but is still lumpy and stir. The residual heat should melt the remaining chocolate. Return to heat briefly if not fully melted.
Microwave: uneven heat distribution makes this a dangerous choice, but hey, sometimes you need to live dangerously. For 200g of dark chocolate, melt it on medium for 2 minutes. Stir briefly after 1 minute. For chocolate with less cocoa content, just decrease the amount of time required.
Okay, yes I know, you are getting impatient. Why is there still no recipe? Well, look below.
MY FAVOURITE BROWNIES
I have yet to meet someone who can truly resist a piece of perfectly cooked brownie; unless that person is on a strict diet, but you know they are still thinking about eating one. The problem with most commercial brownies I’ve had is that they are too dry. Real disappointing.
Like most of the best things in life, brownies were “invented” by serendipity. An American housewife accidentally made brownies after forgetting to add baking powder to her mud cake. And the culinary world rejoiced and was forever grateful for her mistake.
This is a recipe which I have relied on for many occasions. It’s easy and fabulous even if I do say so myself J Its texture is something between fudge and cake. And my mind is beginning to get distracted just at the thought of it...
The recipe is one I have made up after trying numerous published recipes. And it works for me.
Go make these for your friends, colleagues, anyone else you want to plant a smile on. Be the star today.
Ingredients (all ingredients at room temperature)
200g best quality dark chocolate
175g unsalted butter (yes I know it’s a lot, but you know this is not diet food...)
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup plain flour
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (REAL not imitation)
Optional:
100g Chopped nuts eg walnuts, hazelnuts
100g chocolate chips – any kind
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 170 degree (less 10 degrees for fan forced). Line a 25 x 15cm (approx.) baking pan with baking paper.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat stirring constantly until smooth. Either that or use a double boiler or microwave. But this is a one pan recipe, so why create more washing up?
Add flour and sugar and whisk till smooth. Add the vanilla. The batter should be quite thick and grainy... no panic! The eggs will make it fudgy and shiny. See next step.
Whisk eggs in a separate bowl until the whites and yolks are combined (do not whisk too much air into the eggs), and whisk it into the chocolate batter.
Fold in nuts or chocolate chips if using.
Pour batter into the prepared tray and bake in the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes.
I would start to poke at it using a toothpick (or other cake tester) around 20 minutes as ovens do vary quite a bit. If liquid fudgy batter remains on the toothpick, it requires more time. Brownies are ready when a few sticky crumbs cling to the toothpick when inserted. But if you are not sure, you would rather undercook than overcook them.
I can usually get about 30 bitesize pieces out of these, but you have license to be as generous as you like.
Recipe source: Lisa original.
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