For years I have collected brownie recipes -- copied out of cookbooks, cut from newspapers, and so on, in search of the perfect brownie. Every brownie I make is too dry, or too cakey. In despair, I have purchased brownie mixes. My friend Jennifer expressed her disdain -- how could I, the queen of home baking, use a brownie mix? So sometimes I make Texas Brownies (Sue Kearney's recipe, with sour cream), very yummy, but that's a different treat entirely. (I'll post the recipe next time I make it -- great for a crowd. Requires corn syrup for the icing, though!)
Then last year I was at my sister's house and she had baked brownies for her husband's birthday. O my god. They were delicious!! And she said: "Why haven't you been making Foster's Brownies?"
I would have, really, if I had known they existed!
The recipe makes A LOT of brownies, so it's good to cut it in half. The key, though, is to manage the baking time. If you bake them too long, they are delicious, but too dry. If you manage just right, then someone in your family might say, like my son did yesterday: "There have been far too many cookies in this house over the years, and not nearly enough brownies."
Here's the "modified" version (i.e. approximately a half recipe, but with my own tweaks).
Foster's Brownies
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*
1/2 t. salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar (reduced)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 T. vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325.
Lightly grease and flour a 9 x 13" pan (glass is fine). Set aside.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl and stir to mix. Set aside.
Cream together the eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla in a separate bowl with an electric mixer until well blended.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until all the dry ingredients are moist and blended. Do not overmix.
Fold in the walnuts (if using) and chocolate chips and stir to blend. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Bake 25-30 minutes. They should be slightly soft in the center when tested with a toothpick. Remove from oven and cool 30 minutes before cutting.
Cut into 2 1/2 by 3 inch bars (for a smaller brownie, cut the bar in half down the center or on the diagonal.)
* I usually use Ghirardelli's chocolate or Ah!laska brand, but I was lured at the Freshgrocer (which had neither of my preferred brands) to purchase Hershey's "Special Dark Blend of Natural and Dutched Cocoas." Yum. It really is darker than most cocoas, and the contrast with the Ghirardelli chips was awesome. (I admit, I used twice as many chips as the original recipe called for. But at least I left out the walnuts!)
Then last year I was at my sister's house and she had baked brownies for her husband's birthday. O my god. They were delicious!! And she said: "Why haven't you been making Foster's Brownies?"
I would have, really, if I had known they existed!
The recipe makes A LOT of brownies, so it's good to cut it in half. The key, though, is to manage the baking time. If you bake them too long, they are delicious, but too dry. If you manage just right, then someone in your family might say, like my son did yesterday: "There have been far too many cookies in this house over the years, and not nearly enough brownies."
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| Even a little piece deserves its own plate. |
Here's the "modified" version (i.e. approximately a half recipe, but with my own tweaks).
Foster's Brownies
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*
1/2 t. salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar (reduced)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 T. vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325.
Lightly grease and flour a 9 x 13" pan (glass is fine). Set aside.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl and stir to mix. Set aside.
Cream together the eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla in a separate bowl with an electric mixer until well blended.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until all the dry ingredients are moist and blended. Do not overmix.
Fold in the walnuts (if using) and chocolate chips and stir to blend. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Bake 25-30 minutes. They should be slightly soft in the center when tested with a toothpick. Remove from oven and cool 30 minutes before cutting.
Cut into 2 1/2 by 3 inch bars (for a smaller brownie, cut the bar in half down the center or on the diagonal.)
* I usually use Ghirardelli's chocolate or Ah!laska brand, but I was lured at the Freshgrocer (which had neither of my preferred brands) to purchase Hershey's "Special Dark Blend of Natural and Dutched Cocoas." Yum. It really is darker than most cocoas, and the contrast with the Ghirardelli chips was awesome. (I admit, I used twice as many chips as the original recipe called for. But at least I left out the walnuts!)
Of course, AH!LASKA is organic, fat free, and kosher, the first such cocoa on the market. See all about it here.
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