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Down Memory Lane
With my move to Bologna, I forgot to count the Wednesdays in the month. I had a KD tradition of doing a bonus recipe in a month of five Wednesdays. I had meant to include this recipe for some time, but other interesting topics – the secret language of eggs or my Thanksgiving Pumpkin Roll, for example – always intruded. Clearly though, with all the scary headlines both in the New World and the Old, it is time for a milk and cookies break.
Not thinking of a flat cookie here, but one of the great American contributions to Earth’s lexicon of treats – the Brownie. I actually developed this recipe over several summers at the beach in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. I had to check to make sure Emerald Isle was still there after the horrific damage caused by Hurricane Helene. It was hit hard but survived to become a relief distribution hub for western North Carolina.
I
learned early on that if I were going to spend seven days at the ocean, I wanted a beach-front rental that was no more than a few years old. The architecture was always spiffier (and probably a bit more spindly), the appliances newer (and worked better), the bedrooms usually roomier, and a newer Great Room would always have cooler couches for lounging and watching rented movies at 2am. Also, there would have to be some nifty balcony facing the surf where I could read and pretend to watch the children.
And there had to be air conditioning. I was emotionally scarred by my childhood vacations in Rehoboth where the houses we usually rented were at least ten blocks away from the sea, and never had AC. This omission meant we had to have windows open for ventilation, so our bedrooms were always sticky with humidity and salt air. The Rehoboth general store, however, with its ceiling fans and huge comic and movie magazine section was a wonderful haven, as were the movie theater, where you could go by yourself, and of course the boardwalk, with its typical carnival treats.
Nevertheless, I always made brownies at the beach, once I learned how to open a cake mix box – and while Betty Crocker and Pillsbury are both certainly synonymous with cake and cookie mixes, Duncan Hines was clearly superior. As an adult on vacation, however, I graduated to earmarking recipes and making brownies many times during our week’s seaside sojourn.
But I digress. Why anyone wants a brownie to be “cakelike” is one of those mysteries in life that I have explored, so I can say with authority that they are a definite no. They might serve as a base to Baked Alaska (a recipe I will share in another post) but as a treat with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee – a fudgy brownie is what you require.
An American Invention
Unlike Chicken Parm, the unwanted stepchild of Italian cooking in the US, the brownie is a full- blooded American invention. Brownies are made with blocks of unsweetened chocolate, a unique American baking product. It is never used in European baking. According to my valued source, Wikipedia, the first manufacturers of unsweetened chocolate were a Dr. James Baker and John Hannon, who in the 17th century, brought in cocoa beans from the West Indies. Their unsweetened chocolate produced in Dorchester, Massachusetts was used to make a hot drink.
The Baker family inherited the company, and an unsweetened baking chocolate was developed and
heavily advertised in the 19th century. In fact before the Civil War, the company promoted three types of their unsweetened chocolate: “Best Chocolate”, “Common Chocolate”, and “Inferior Chocolate” – the last was sold to American and West Indian slaves. The first recorded recipe for a Brownie is from the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago. during the 1893 World Exposition. Interestingly, the brownie was commissioned by Bertha Palmer, a remarkable woman in many respects, as a treat for ladies visiting this famous fair. It featured walnuts and an apricot glaze, and it is still on their menu today.
Although in this recipe I started out using the unsweetened Baker’s squares of my childhood, I have since graduated to using a 100% chocolate from Valrhona, and from a few Italian chocolate manufacturers. The flavor is a bit more “chocolatey” and the aroma too. But any unsweetened chocolate will give you very good results. I use unsalted butter, as the water content is higher in salted butter than in unsalted. This mixture will fit a 9×13 inch pan, and you can use either a ceramic, glass, or metal pan – the latter will give you crisper edges than ceramic or glass. Aluminum or tinned steel will give you better baking results than stainless steel. I grease the pan and sprinkle powdered almonds (also called almond flour) on the bottom – but this last addition is optional. It’s as close as my family will allow me to get to making the brownies with actual nuts. I fear I wait in vain for them to outgrow their aversion .
- 6oz or 175gr unsweetened chocolate
- 1 cup (227gr) unsalted butter
- 2 cups (400gr) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (120gr) all purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 2 pinches of fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons best quality vanilla extract or the contents of one small vanilla bean
- Preaheat the oven to 350F (175C) - I don't use the convection option.
- Butter the interior of a 9x13 inch (23x33cm) glass or metal pan.
- Optional - sprinkle the bottom interior with powdered almonds.
- In a medium sized saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate together..
- Mix thoroughly. and allow it to stand at room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients.
- In a stand mixer (or a glass or stainless steal bowl with a hand mixer) with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs with sugar until the mixture has tripled in volume, is fluffy and forms a ribbon - start on medium speed and then increase speed.
- Add the chocolate and butter mixture to the eggs and sugar, still using the whisk attachment on medium low speed.
- Add the vanilla, mix and then fold in the flour thoroughly.
- At this point you can add chopped pecans or walnuts and fold them into the batter if desired, if you’re lucky enough to have a family that will let you.
- Scrape the batter into the pan and even out the batter
- Place on middle rack in the oven and bake for about 28 minutes.
- Allow to cool thoroughly before cutting into desired squares or rectangles.
- The right time in the oven for brownies is tough to figure out. You don't want to overbake them and get cake-like brownies.
- On the other hand you don't want a goopy center, so a bit of trial and error with your oven is in order!
After owning one of the best cooking stores in the US for 47 years, Nancy Pollard writes a blog about food in all its aspects – recipes, film, books, travel, superior sources and food related issues.
