Brownies by Baked Bakery NY

I’ve recently gone on a bit of a brownie craze.

For some reason I’ve started researching brownie recipes from anywhere I can get a hold of them – books, online, magazines, friends/family – and started making tables of ingredients and a list of those which I want to try.  So far I have 20 in my ‘to bake’ list.  I’m not really sure why I’ve begun this but I think it’s partly to do with the fact that I’m looking for a particular taste.  Or maybe a particular sensation.

It’s that intense chocolately hit delivered in a dense and moist morsel.  I think this is my ideal of how a brownie should taste like is, and that is what I’m hoping to find in these recipes I’ve collated. 

I had to make these first as I’d heard so much about them online.  They were really hyped as being one of the best brownies out there and it was also an opportunity to bake something from the book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  A book I’ve had for quite a while but haven’t baked anything from yet.

I would definitely classify these as a more cakey brownie.  The crumb is moist, dense and squidgy but not so much as to be labelled fudgy and certainly not gooey.  It’s not ‘heavy’ as such, but still satisfies any chocolate craving you might have.   It cuts very well, even when slightly warm and the top developed a nice, thin but crisp crust. 

The recipe specifies to add a tsp of instant espresso powder.  I feel that when the use of coffee in a chocolate dessert is there for the purposes of enhancing the chocolate flavour then that is solely what it should do – enhance the chocolatiness and not impart any obvious flavour of its own.  The amount of coffee flavour here unfortunately does more than play the role of intensifying the chocolate taste.  It comes through strongly enough to be classed as a flavour on its own.  I personally feel that this detracts from the enjoyment of consuming the brownie, which should be rich, dense and full of deep dark chocolate flavour. 

Although I receive a good hit of chocolate, there’s definitely a hint of a mocha vibe going on which I’m not too keen on.  I would decrease the amount of espresso flavour down to at least ½ tsp to see if it is needed.  Apart from that it is a very good brownie which delivers on chocolate taste, denseness and richness with a lovely crisp crust.  I baked them for 25 minutes rather than the specified 30, and am glad I did – I think very slightly under baking them saves the texture from being too cakey and ‘done’.

The Baked Brownie

·         190g/1 ¼ cups plain flour

·         1 tsp salt

·         2 tbsp cocoa powder

·         310g/11oz dark chocolate (60-70% cacao), coarsely chopped

·         225g/1 cup unsalted butter

·         1tsp instant espresso powder

·         300g/1 ½ cups granulated sugar

·         100g/½ cup light brown sugar

·         5 eggs, room temperature

·         2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180C, prepare a 9”x13” baking tin.

Combine the flour, salt and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl.  Melt the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder on a bain marie (double boiler) until the chocolate and butter are completely melted.

Turn the heat off and add the sugars while the bowl is still sitting on the hot water and whisk until well combined.  Take the bowl from the heat and leave until room temperature before adding in the 3 eggs.  Add in the vanilla and whisk until well combined but don’t overmix at this stage.

Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture with a spatula until just a wee bit of flour mixture can be seen.

Smooth the batter into the baking tin and bake for 30 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through the baking time.  Do not exceed 30 minutes.

Slice when cooled down.