I'm making chocolate brownies

[Merlin5]

In the oven for 40 minutes. Then it'll have to cool for a couple of hours or so before I can remove from the tin. I hope they come out nice, never made them before. Can't wait to try them. The recipe I followed had a magic ingredient, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. That apparently makes it really gooey and fudgy. I'll report back.

Also, I watched some videos of how to line a square tin. Looks too complicated so I just squashed my baking paper in and made sure it sat flat, should be ok.

Ingredients are melted Stork spread, brown sugar (I used a mix of muscavado and golden caster), white caster sugar, veg oil, salt, 4 eggs, vanilla extract flour, cocoa powder, and nearly 3 bars of chopped dark chocolate. Gonna be a ton of yummy choc chunks throughout. The smell coming from the oven is divine. 15 minutes left.

 

[Merlin5]

Did you forget to set the timer ? or the sugar-hit is still working-off

what is the flour to cocoa/choc/sugar ratio ?, looks top-heavy

Hmm, I don't know what the actual ratios are, I just followed this recipe

https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/best-ever-brownies/
https://youtu.be/6bLAIYHOLwA

It seems to have come out well I think? I left it overnight and have just sliced into it. Not had breakfast yet but tried a couple of bites. Definitely gooey inside with a nice crispy top. Very rich with chocolate, I don't think I'll be able to polish this of by myself. There are some parts of the brownie that look moist/wet but I'm not sure are meant to be like that or if it's under baked? Was in the oven for 40 minutes which was the maximum time suggested.

 

[Merlin5]

yes -


150 : 123+270+428 so should take a month to eat @25gsug/day - Gemmas looking svelte on them

Yes, she's nice isn't she
Lol yeah, that some sugar rush. Better give some away before I become diabetic.

So, your 'Yes', is that thumbs up or down, are the wet looking bits meant to look like that?

 

[Merlin5]

Glad you guys are inspired. Something not quite right with mine. It seems the molten bits are meant to look like that as I just watched Jamie Oliver's recipe and his looks the same.

The problem with mine is that, although it's nice and gooey, I'm tasting quite an overpowering chocolate bitterness.

edit: I think there's too much cocoa powder. Compared to some other recipes, hers has 4 times as much cocoa powder. Next time I'll use 30g instead of 123g. I would also prefer them thinner so i'll either make less or buy a 12 x 8 shallower brownie tray.

 

[Merlin5]

Yeah I think mine were cooked right as a blade isn't meant to come out completely clean on brownies, but I think there's too much cocoa powder. Although I followed Gemma's quantities exactly, I've seen other recipes, one is BakeLikeAPro and another is Jamie Olivers, and they use only about 30g cocoa to about 210g to 250g chocolate, which is about 1:7/1:8 ratio. Gemma uses 123g cocoa to 270g chocolate, almost 1:2. I'll try the BakeLikeAPro recipe next time.

I posted on Gemma's brownie youtube page and she replied "It is the natural bitter taste of cocoa that caused this. You can definitely change it up to milk chocolate if you do not enjoy that particular taste."

I'm not so sure I need to change to milk chocolate, or would that be nicer?

I think it's just the cocoa bitterness is overpowering and takes away from the sweetness, which is amazing considering there's more sugar in her recipe than the others.

 

[Merlin5]

My go to recipe originally called for a cooking time of 35-40 mins. I decided to record my efforts to try and get these as perfect for me as I could and ended up doing 7 different versions over a week.

My first attempt was cooked for 34 mins but I felt they were over cooked. Over the next 6 versions I changed the quantities of chocolate and cocoa powder along with the cooking time and eventually discovered 27 mins, at 160 fan, was perfect for me. I even did a gluten free version, as I end up taking these to work as I get 30 brownies from each batch and as much as I love brownies even I have my limits, and one person there is gluten intolerant. They were surprisingly not as bad as I thought they’d be but I doubt I’ll make them gluten free again.

Can you share your recipe? I'd be interested to maybe try it. Not the gluten free one, your regular one.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks ElliorR, might try that or one of the other recipes I mentioned, not sure yet. Is that milk choc chips or dark?

 

[Merlin5]

I cut up most of the rest of my brownies into squares, took them to my gig last night and gave them to the guys in my band. They loved them, one of them said it was perfect, just how he liked it. So I guess they were as they're meant to be. The bitterness has calmed down a bit or my palate has adjusted, but I'll still make my next batch with less cocoa.

 

[Merlin5]

Guys, you have to try this recipe, you won't regret it. It's delicious. I made it last night from the kitchen conundrums channel, with a couple of my own tweaks. I much prefer this to my previous ones, it's sweeter and smoother, no bitterness and I used Bournville chocolate.

170g of dark chocolate. (I used 150g Bournville).
113g butter, room temperature.
200g sugar. (Was quite sweet. Maybe try just 150g if you'd prefer less sweetness).
I decided to use half and half, 100g white caster and 100g dark brown. Brown sugar gives more chewiness.
3 eggs
32g cocoa powder.
80g flour
1/4 teaspoon salt.
I also added teaspoon vanilla extract.

Add broken up chocolate and cubes of room temperature butter to large glass bowl over smaller saucepan with simmering water and melt over medium heat while stirring with silicon spatula.
Take off heat, wipe away condensation from under bowl.
Switch to whisk and stir in sugar.
Add eggs one at a time making sure each egg is mixed in well before adding next.
Add cocoa powder.
Add salt and vanilla extract.

Switch back to silicon spatula. Add flour but only gently fold in, don't stir too much.
I added a handful of optional milk choc chips for some crunch.

Pour into square 8 x 8 tin, even out the batter and bake at 180c for about 30 to 40 minutes. I baked for about 37 minutes. It was moist, chewy, perhaps a little cakey. Exactly how I like it. 30 minutes would make it a bit wetter and fudgier.

 

[Merlin5]

Haven't made any for 3 months so more brownies incoming. The last lot were awesome with Bournville chocolate and bog standard Tesco cocoa powder, but this time I'm using Bournville Dutch processed cocoa as well which should make them..... even MORE awesome.

Ooh yea..

 

[Merlin5]

I'm the slave and Masterchef, all rolled into one.

Yeah I always seem to end up with dozens of ingredient bowls but I washed everything up while the brownies were baking, didn't take long. Nope, didn't leave them in the oven, they were cold and during a commercial break between watching kiss of the vampire I went and grabbed some brownies and ice cream.

They're just right, baked for only 25 minutes, not too gooey but moist and chewy.

 

[Merlin5]

Yeah, the ones I make now aren't bitter since using Bournville. I've not tried making any with more expensive 70% dark chocolate, perhaps they would be a little bitter. But the first ones I ever made several months I used cheapo chocolate which imparted a pretty nasty bitter taste.