Brownie Points

Tis the season to be, well, let’s face it… baking… The chill gloss of a short winter day, the beckoning warmth of a winter kitchen, home for the holidays and all that. Baking, baking, baking. Who couldn’t use a sweet little pick-me-up to get through it all? 

And so, as promised last issue, dear reader, (Digest #10 “Falling for Pecans” for those of you not paying attention), I now serve up the yin to the yang. The venerable brownie. 

Because what’s both oh-so-similar at its core to a browned butter pecan blondie, yet oh-so-different? This silky smooth, dark velvety brownie, that’s what. Yes, it satisfies every yen for chocolate you ever may have had — past, present, and future. No, it does not mean that you have to choose one over the other. Yin and Yang! Yang and Yin!

And because over the course of life, school, work, a chocolate craving here and there (ok, everywhere), a family, two children, various relatives, I have proffered up, let’s just say, many thousands of diminutive chocolate triangles to teachers, colleagues, friends, enemies, in gift tins or simply wrapped in foil with a colorful yarn bow, strewn on trays at dinner parties, work lunches, cocktail hour, a perk after a day on the slopes, a midmorning or midnight treat just because. And because each and every time I bake a batch, in true opposite-yet-interconnected form, they disappear posthaste — after which I am immediately asked for the recipe. Because really, who doesn’t want to sink their teeth through the top translucent, flaky, shiny, crackly sheen of brownie perfection, and into the rich, buttery, dense, intense-with-fragrant-fudgy-cocoa chew that lies below? No one. Not even my kid who claimed not to like chocolate.

This brownie exists somewhere in the bardo: just this side of under-baked, but not gooey, clearly a baked good, but bordering on fudge. Chocolate-forward, but with an ethereal vanilla undertone. Purposely petite, its thinness belies its heft. Warning: I am a purist. No nuts here. Don’t add them. Really, do not. Find another brownie recipe. I’m doing my part to keep a small slice of heaven, a safe haven, from a nutty world. 

Editors’ note: It was one of those weekends in the life of an adult child – a Saturday moving heavy objects and fixing things around my mother’s house. I barged into her kitchen, starving. A jar of chocolate triangles sat on the counter. Each one a perfect little isosceles, two inches at the hypotenuse. I sampled one; it went down too easy. The familiar brownie crust gave way to a fudge adjacent core. It was a decadent chocolate truffle wearing a brownie mask to a baked goods’ Venetian Carnival. My eyes glazed over. I went into a fugue state. Moments later the entire jar of brownies was empty.

I asked my mom who made the brownies. “Suzi brought them over.”  -DP 

CHEWY FUDGE BROWNIES

(Adapted from the recipe inside the iconic orange cardboard Baker’s unsweetened chocolate box.)

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, broken into bits

• 1½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

• 2 cups granulated sugar 

• 3 large eggs, room temperature 

• 1 heaping teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup all-purpose flour 

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF with rack centered.

Line 9-by-13 inch baking pan with foil or parchment, leaving enough overhang to pull the sheet out of the pan when baked and cooled. Butter the foil, or spray with cooking oil (I use coconut oil spray for ease, but use whatever you have on hand).

2. Brown the butter by adding chunks to a saucepan over medium heat. Watch and wait and stir and then watch and wait some more as butter foams up, darkens to the color of ochre, and starts to emit an ambrosial warm, nutty aroma (I know. I said no nuts. This is the closest this recipe gets). Be vigilant, be patient, keep stirring. As butter continues to foam, scrape down sides and bottom of saucepan to be sure to get all the brown bits mixed in. 

3. Take off heat and quickly mix in chocolate until completely melted. 

4. Scrape butter and chocolate into a medium-sized bowl. Add sugar and blend vigorously with silicone spatula. 

5. Mix in eggs and vanilla until smooth and shiny.

6. Add flour and fold in until just incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and smooth and spread batter to edges.

7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cake tester or toothpick inserted into center comes out with just a few crumbs. Be careful not to overbake.

8. Cool completely on a wire rack, then carefully lift by foil or parchment out of pan. You may want to slide the sheet onto a cutting board or cookie sheet so it doesn’t buckle. Then, slide sheet into fridge. This is crucial. This is also when my husband says “Don’t refrigerate them, they’re better at room temperature.” And I say (at least in my head) “Yes, dear, of course.” Refrigerate until the sheet hardens, a few hours or even overnight. Then slice into squares, triangles, bars, use heart-shaped cookie cutters if it’s Valentine’s Day, whatever shape you prefer, but I strongly suggest you keep them small. THEN you can bring them to room temperature if you’d like. Either way, they’ve got the perfect, succulent scent of cocoa, an almost caramel-y bite, and they’ll always melt in your mouth in just the right way.

Yield: Enough for however many people you’re serving them to. They’ll be gone no matter how you slice them. If there are leftovers, you can store them well-wrapped in the fridge. They also freeze incredibly well for a few months, sliced and wrapped in foil or in an airtight container, at the ready for any brownie emergency.

Suzi Schiffer Parrasch is a reformed network television news producer who, when not browning butter, bakes, runs, skis, writes, edits, and consults (even when no one is asking).