Best Brownies? Or is there one better?
Continuing my search for my ideal brownie I tried out another recipe, this time for Allrecipes' Best Brownies. I often turn to the site when looking for a new recipe because I find the reader reviews and ratings to be helpful. But are they always accurate? I'm not so sure they are. Ever the chocolate lover, how did these brownies turn out? Well, for over 1,000 allrecipes members they are pretty fantastic, racking up a whopping 4 1/2 stars. The important question, how did these brownies rate with me? The recipe was easy enough and by all accounts a success. Still they are not my ideal brownie. The batter was nice and thick like a brownie batter should be, but the brownies themself were very thin. I also thought they were pretty sweet, which I'm not so much complaining about, but they weren't chocolatey enough for me. When I think of brownies I think of deep rich chocolate flavor, with a fudgy texture. This recipe falls somewhere nicely in the middle of cakey and fudgy, which was fine by me, but I definitely need a richer chocolate flavor. I generally don't add icing to my brownies, and since these were so thin I skipped icing. I'll likely give this recipe a shot again since the batter was mixed up and in the oven in less than 15 minutes, but next time I'll double the amount of batter used for the pan size and I'll use dutch process cocoa powder in place of regular cocoa powder. Reviews: 1,611 Rating: 4 1/2 stars Best Brownies 1/2 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 3 tablespoons butter, softened 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup confectioners' sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook. To Make Frosting: Combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup confectioners' sugar. Frost brownies while they are still warm. |
posted by Culinarily Obsessed at 3:33 PM
Comments on "Best Brownies? Or is there one better?"
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Anonymous said ... (3:59 PM) :
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Anonymous said ... (11:33 PM) :
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Abby said ... (2:25 PM) :
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Melanie B said ... (3:01 PM) :
post a commentHave you considered making Nigella's brownies, they are ever so fudgy and chocolatey. They can be a bit tricky b/c you have to make sure and follow her directions exactly on the baking. My first batch I took out just a minute or two early and they were extremely fudgy, but very yummy!
I love these brownies. This is an absolutely fool proof recipe. I make these very often and always get so many compliments for them! :)
I've tried to brownie recipes to great success - but they were both fudgy. One was Martha Stewart's for plain brownies, and the other was either epicurious/gourmet for cheesecake marbled. MAHVELOUS. SEriously.
If you're a brownie connoisseur, I'd be wary of any brownie recipe that calls for cocoa powder, regardless of how it's processed. I'm still in search of the perfect homemade brownie, and every recipe I've tried thus far that calls for cocoa powder to provide the chocolate flavor (regardless of the varieties I've used) tasted ..well.. artificial, for lack of a better word, and usually dry textured.
Of course, I'm convinced that 75% of the people at Allrecipes have no taste buds. The posters there do tend to make a lot of modifications to recipes though, so the yummy 4 1/2 star goodness might have just been due to the 3 cups of chocolate chips they added to the batter prior to baking. ;)
Good luck in your search for the best brownie!