Tuesday, September 04, 2007

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.

"The Best" Brownies


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.

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