Classic Unsweetened-Chocolate Brownies, from Alice Medrich, Bittersweet
This was the week where this whole baking thing veered towards the "are you insane?" side of the spectrum. Monday night I flew to Phoenix (where it was 85 degrees when I landed at 9:30 p.m.), took 2 depos in Phoenix on Tuesday, then flew back to LA; on Wed. morning, I was up at 5:45 to drive to San Diego, where I took two depos before driving back to LA. But the show must go on or whatever, so I had planned ahead and made the biscotti on Sunday night, and made the brownies tonight. And now I want to collapse into a heap.
The biscotti are yummy. As I have mentioned, I have had some hazelnuts sitting around, and originally I was going to experiment with a chocolate hazelnut cookie, but this was a week for relatively simple baking, so biscotti and bars it was. Anyway, I am a fan of the chocolate hazelnut combination, so I hope people like the biscotti.
The brownies are also very good. Maybe one of my favorites. These are dense, gooey brownies, not for the I-like-my-brownies- cakey crowd. These are very thin - there is no rising agent in them at all - and concentrated. They cook on a high temperature - 400 degrees - and tonight I inadvertently cooked them with my oven on the convection setting, so they are a bit dark around the edges, but I think we averted catastrophe. Anyway, I am a big fan of Alice Medrich's recipes, and this one does not disappoint. I have placed a link to the recipe at the top - the recipe is from the Scharffen Berger chocolate web site, which is appropriate since I used Scharffen Berger unsweetened chocolate to make these. And while Alice's book does not call for you to toast the nuts (pecans or walnuts, I used walnuts), the Scharffen Berger site suggests it, and I had done so and agree that it is always much better to toast your nuts before baking.
So chocolate fans, start your salivating....and we'll see you at the Center tomorrow night.
As for now, good night!!!
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