Triple-Chocolate Brownies

Today, I will be baking triple-chocolate brownies. This is my second favorite dessert, next to cookies! It has been a fun experience baking during the holidays. A small intro to these goodies is, “These decadent brownies are loaded with two kinds of chocolate chips and plenty of toasted walnuts” (Laidlaw 243). To me personally I don’t like walnuts so I’m just going to leave that out, walnuts are optional in this recipe. Let’s get started! J

The ingredients are:

• 4 Oz Unsweetened Chocolate (chopped)
• ½ Cup Unsalted Butter
• 1 ¼ Cups Sugar
• 1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• ¼ Tsp Kosher Salt
• 3 Large Eggs
• ¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour
• ½ Cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• ½ Cup White Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, warm the unsweetened chocolate and the butter over low heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly.
2. Whisk the sugar, vanilla, and salt into the chocolate mixture. One at a time, whisk in the eggs, mixing well after each addition, then continue to whisk until the mixture is velvety, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the flour and whisk just until blended. Stir in the milk chocolate and white chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
4. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper, allowing the parchment to overhand the sides slightly.
5. Bake until the top is just springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 40 minutes. Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack. Using the parchment, lift the sheet of brownies from the pan. Peel the parchment from the sides, then cut it into squares and serve.
6. Enjoy!  
   

   

   

   This was another simple bake, but it requires a lot of stirring. I have learned throughout this baking process, that using parchment paper is really useful when baking. These techniques have helped me become a better baker! A must for this sweet treat is a glass of milk. Brownies are the perfect choice for a weekday dessert, an after-school treat, or a sweet offering for a casual gathering (Laidlaw 243). Over all, I had a great time baking in the kitchen from my first bake of Cake Pops, to these Triple-Chocolate Brownies. I hope you had fun too during these cold, winter days, while you sit at home relaxing. Just with one bite of these brownies, there is a burst of chocolate in your mouth! I would have to agree with this cookbook that a glass of milk is a must. Anyways, I challenge you to start baking now! J

Would you prefer adding toppings (walnuts, peanuts, etc.) to your brownies or not? What is your favorite part of baking in the kitchen?

Citation: Laidlaw, Kim, and Erin Kunkel. Dessert of the Day. San Francisco, CA: Weldon Owen, 2013. Print.

Alright Brownies

For my second attempt at cooking I decided to bake brownies. I think that I succeeded better at brownies then I did at milkshakes. I think that I learned that following the recipe doesn't always get you exactly what you expected. The recipe called for "2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate" (107) and so I looked up the conversion chart for ounces to tablespoons and it was 4 tablespoons.

First I gathered all my ingredients and then in medium saucepan I melted butter and unsweetened chocolate (107). After that I took it off the heat and then I mixed in eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Then I mixed in the flour and poured it into a pan. I had previously heated the oven to 350. I put the brownies in for 30 minutes and then took them out and let them cool. I think that they tasted good.

Do you like chewy or not chewy brownies?

Darling, Jennifer. Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Des Moines, IA: Meredith, 1989. Print.

Brownies!

The next recipe that i am gonna share with you guys is one of my favorite deserts of all time. I always bake for any special occasion whether its a holiday, birthday, or just whenever i'm bored, i bake. I may not be good at it, but i have a passion for it and always strive myself to be the best baker i can be and brownies are (to me) the easiest thing to make. The reason why its very easy for me is because i would always use a boxed brownie mix. Since this book has a brownie recipe that doesn't need any boxed brownie mix, i wanted to give this a try! Also since the holidays are coming up, why not try these out and make them for a party or a family event! Although, since this recipe only makes around 9-16 brownies, if you were to make these for party's i suggest doubling the recipe.

The ingredients you will need are: 

- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar 

- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 

- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

- 1/4 teaspoon salt 

- 1/2 cup vegetable oil 

- 1/3 cup whole milk 

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

- 1 large egg

Directions: 

1. The first thing you will need to do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit grease a 8 x 8-in
ch metal baking pan. Then line the bottom and two sides of the pan with parchment paper. A tip that the author provides us with says to "Leave an overhang to make it easier to take out o the pan" (Pansino 30). 

2. Next, in a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. If you dont have a whisk (which at that time i couldn't find one),  i read once that a good replacement for a whisk is a fork. 

3. After that is all whisked, add the oil, milk, vanilla extract, and egg and then whisk that util well combined. Then pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. 

4. After it has been put into the pan, wait for the oven to be down pre-heated and then bake the brownies around 20-25 minutes. another way to know when the brownies are done is when you insert a wooden toothpick and it comes out clean with not brownie mix on the toothpick (Pansino 32). 

5. Finally, let the brownies cool in the pan and then cut into squares before serving and if you want, to decorate! 

Final Presentation: 

When i did this recipe, it came out with 11 cookies so again, if you were planning on making these for an occasion that you know has a lot of people, i suggest doubling the recipe. As you can see from the pictures, i decorated them but lets just say that my decorating skills were not the best that day. But if you were to look under the frosting and sprinkles, the brownies looked amazing! Also when you bit into the brownies, it was perfect! it was chewy but not too much and it tasted cooked and marvelous! one thing that was very tricky to pull of was the lining of parchment paper in the pan. If i was to be honest, i suggest you guys not use the parchment paper because its just too much work to get the perfect shape for your pan and if you didn't get the perfect shape, it would seep through and there would be brownie mix under the parchment paper and that would eventually get brunt. So what i would've done was just grease the pan and call it a day. But  besides that, i think this recipe was definitely a win!  Also this wasn't as time consuming as i thought it would be! I started this recipe at 8:30 and ended with the brownies plated around 9:30 so it wasn't a super long time. Overall this recipe was a huge success in my case and i encourage you all to try this out because you wont be mad at the outcome!

Question: What do you like on your brownies and why? 

Citation: Pansino, Rosanna. The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for the Geek in All of Us. New York: Atria, 2015. Print

Brownies

To start off my blog I will be making one of my favorite baked goods, brownies. The cook book I got had a very easy and simple recipe for brownies, so I decided to try it out.

The ingredients include:

• ½ pound unsalted butter
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

The first steps are to preheat the oven to 325 degrees, then butter a pan and set it aside, and melt the sticks of butter for later.

“Beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5-10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow” (Garten, 218). When I made my recipe I did the same thing but when I was done the color I had was a darker yellow not a light yellow like the Garten said, I think this was because I used organic sugar which has a brown color to it instead of pure white regular sugar.

 



When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, lower the speed to low and add the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, and flour. Mix until everything is combined (Garten, 218). I did just as the instruction said and added the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, and flour and mixed on low speed. I mixed until everything was properly combined and I couldn’t see the flour or cocoa powder anymore.

Then add the melted butter to the mixture and combine on low speed. When I usually bake brownies I add chocolate chips for extra flavor, since this recipe didn’t say to add them I thought that I would add them to this recipe to make the brownies more delicious. Lastly pour the batter into the pan and put it into the oven.

The brownies turned out great once they were done baking, I was right about the chocolate chips because they really did add a wonderful chocolate boost to the brownies. If you try this great simple brownie recipe I suggest you add the chocolate chips for they add a delicious chocolate flavor that really enhances the taste.

What’s your favorite baked good? And do you have any special ingredients you like to add to it?

Garten, Ina. Barefoot Contessa Back to the Basics. New York, Clarkson Potter, 2008. Print.