Sunday, November 14, 2010

Fudge Brownies

I don't remember which book this is from, but I suspect I got this recipe from Meena. Anyway, for what it is worth, here it is. It makes the riches, moistest, chewiest brownies I know, and I wish some of the so-called bakeries here would use this recipe.


Ingredients:



Butter 10 1/2 tbsp or 2/3 cup
Chocolate (cocoa powder) 7 1/2 tbsp or 1/2 cup
Eggs 2
pinch of salt
Sugar 7/8 cup
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Flour 1/2 cup
chopped walnuts


Method:



Melt the butter in a heavy bottom saucepan or skillet. Remove from heat, add the cocoa powder and smoothen the mixture. Combine the eggs and salt, in a bowl, and beat with an electric beater till very light and fluffy (this should take about 5 minutes, with short breaks). Add the sugar and beat another two minutes. Add the chocolate mixture and the vanilla and mix gently. Mix the flour in gently with a spoon. This is important. Heavy strokes while mixing will collapse all the bubbles in the beaten eggs and make the brownies hard and heavy. Add the chopped walnuts, pour into a buttered baking dish and bake at 160 degrees for about 30 minutes. Do not overbake so as to dry out the brownies. A knife passed through it should come out almost but not quite clean.
Cover with fudge frosting and refrigerate.


Fudge Frosting


Cream 1/4 cup, sugar 1/3 cup, cocoa powder 1/2 cup, butter 2 1/2 tbsp.

Powder the sugar in a grinder (you can buy confectioners sugar but it is unnecessary). Mix the butter, chocolate and sugar over a low flame. Add the cream. The mixture should be smooth and spreadable. Spread over the brownies before refrigerating.

The fudge frosting should be smooth and glistening after it is set. However it is customary to make a few streaks in the frosting with the back of the tines of a fork.