The moment I saw these brownies here I had to forget about the healthy resolution that I made a couple of weeks back.....I mean I was practically living chocolate-less for more than 20 days....and I needed a reward for enduring 20 loooooong chocolate-less days.
Also, I saw a newspaper article about cocoa powder, I quote, " Chocoholics, you can now gorge on your favorite treat without a sense of guilt, for scientists have claimed that it's actually healthier than many fruit. Not only that, but chocolate is being heralded as the latest "super food" by the scientist who carried out a study. They have proved that it is packed with more healthy plant compounds and antioxidants gram-for gram than fruit juice and provides far more nutrition than food experts previously thought. This is based on a comparison of cocoa powder with powders made from fruit"....yay!!! that's good news for all the chocoholics...(so indulge in chocolate guilt free!!)
Also, Valentines day is just around the corner and I had this huge craving to have something chocolatey...no nuts or anything just pure chocolatey.......I came across a brownie recipe from Bon Appétit by Alice Medrich I love brownies....but most recipe calls for cooking chocolate which is very expensive here .....when I read the recipe I found it was made with cocoa powder and melted browned butter....well that looked really appealing to me....that means no need to bring butter to room temp....just take it from fridge and melt them...wow....again the recipe called for walnuts.....which are also very expensive here...and my kids and walnuts do not get along.....they wanted chocolate in every crumb no interference from walnuts or cashewnuts...so I omited them......I made it exactly as the recipe says (I doubled the measurement because I wanted FAT brownies and not thin ones....and guys no need to powder the sugar....just dump them into the melted butter along with the cocoa......
These brownies are soft and gooey inside, chewy on the outside, and PERFECTLY moist. The browned butter is the most unique aspect of the recipe......so ready for that chocolate overdose???
Ingredients:
Butter: 250 gms.
Sugar: 2 1/2 cups.
Unsweetened cocoa powder: 1 1/2 cups (I used Cadbury's cocoa).
Vanilla extrat: 2 tsp.
Water: 4 teaspoons ( I used around 2/3 cup of water as u can see in the pic the batter was crumbly at first so I added more water to make it creamy).
Salt. 1/2 teaspoon.
Eggs: 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
Flour: 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
Method:
1. Preheat oven. Line a baking tray with foil, leaving a slight overhanging on two sides and grease it.
2. Melt 250 gms of butter in a medium pan, over medium heat, once the butter has melted, continue stirring for 5 minutes until the butter has stopped foaming and begins to turn into light golden brown colour. (Keep close eye on it or else it will get burnt quickly....thats why I could not click that browning butter pic Remove from heat and add 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 4 tbsp water, and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir until combined. (I added little more water than mentioned in the recipe to make it smooth). Let the mixture cool for 5 min.
3. Meanwhile lightly beat 4 eggs and keep aside.
4. Add the eggs to the mixture whisking continuously as you add them
5. Lastly stir in 2/3 cup flour + 2tbsp flour and beat for 1 or 2 min ( I used my egg beater and like mentioned I added little more water to make the batter smooth and creamy). Pour into the prepared tray and bake.
6. I baked them for 25 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached , let it sit on the tray to cool, lift the brownie carefully using the foil and cut immediately and serve.
Serve with hot milk.
Tip: Can add walnuts or cahewnuts.
I think the next time I will add expresso powder.
Can be make 2 days ahead.
Linking this to Full plate Thursday, Recipe Swap Thursday, Dessertwars, Made from scratch.
