Three's Spoon: Playing with Brownie!

One cannot resist the intense chocolatey mixed with buttery fume freshly from the oven.

I can sense the happiness as I wore my polka dots kitchen mitts and pulled the tray off the sturdy oven. Inserting in a toothpick at the center of the cake, my brownie was done. Unlike chiffon or roll cakes, waiting for the chunky brownie to cool down was unnecessary. I used a regular spatula to simply cut them into squares, placed them on a clean plate and topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Ultimately, a bit of cocoa powder for dusking.

Hot brownie + Vanilla ice cream + Whipped cream = Formula from God.

Out of all bakeries, brownie is the safe play:

1. Everyone loves brownie

2. It can be served in almost every occasion- Christmas, V's day, or even birthday- truly a piece of joy.

3. It is easy to bake, unlike maracon, which requires all those miscellaneous steps.

Two things I want to cover in this entry: how to distinguish between awesome brownies and awful ones then how to twist your brownies to be even more delish and creative.

Since it is undeniably everyone's favorite, brownie is served in most bakeries and restaurant. I would not call myself an expert but I often feel disappointed when my order didn't turn out to be what I've expected. Some brownies are too fluffy and light like Betty Cocker's instant chocolate cake mix; some I can barely smell the butter. The only good thing I found from these kinds of brownie is the less calories. But what's the point of eating low fat bakery anyway?! If you already prepare yourself for extra calories, get the best one! For those who cannot imagine how fat a square of 5x5cm brownie can be, I'll simply tell you the main ingredients: butter, sugar, cocoa powder (or chocolate in some cases), eggs, and flour. Brownie is one of the scariest threats for healthy diet.

So, how should good brownies look like?

1. Dense and Moist

Butter is doubled the amount of flour to make it dense and moist. Good brownie adds only a pitch of baking powder.

2. Chewy

Additional chocolate chips engender this magic.

3. Intensely chocolaty

50-70% cocoa powder is very preferable.

4. Light cracked crust

Lots of sugar- around 200 grams- makes the cracked crust. This would be a heaven on earth for ones who love sweet bakeries. However, I usually reduce the sugar to almost half of what the recipe calls for since vanilla ice cream is already too sweet. Thus, the cracked crust is not that necessary for one who prefer less sweet brownie.

For my best cocoa brownie recipe, visit my previous entry

http://threesspoon.blogspot.com/2011/09/reeses-browniesurprise.html

peanut butter walnut pecan cranberry oreo

With this recipe you can always enjoy a little twists, making the classic interesting. After pouring the batter to the baking tray and paddling the spatula from side to side, you can top it with anything that goes well with chocolate. Here are some of my ideas.