“Not So Nutella” Brownies | A Craving

I woke up on valentines day with my ears still ringing from my alarm and a utter craving for something chocolaty and baked. The simple answer to that craving? Chocolate cake. But then again it was five thirty and in the morning and the possibility getting any chocolate cake was near impossible, so I rushed off getting myself ready for school, and for the whole week kept this chocolate craving at bay.

Finally on Thursday, I had time. We had a four day weekend ahead, which meant a lot of time to bake, do home work and anything else I fancied at that moment.

After I got off the bus that afternoon, I walked up the icy driveway, fiddling the the worn edges of my scarf and trying to remember where I had kept my go-to chocolate cake recipe. I was quite sure I had either stashed it in one of my desks drawers or I had book marked it. I rushed into the house, pulled off my coat, and scarf and dashed into the study.

After a frustrating ten of searching through dozens of recipes, papers, and a menagerie of my sisters art utensils with no results, I finally set off to sort through my book marks, a scarier prospect, considering I had hundreds of recipes bookmarked. I went through at least two dozen links before finding some: a recipe for Nutella brownies.

I love nutella, and I love brownies, and then finding these two combined while having a craving for something chocolate and baked? It was like finding gold.

With much zest I scribbled down the recipe and rushed off to the kitchen to bake them. A jar of nutella and fifteen minutes later, I had these in the oven. Another half an hour later I had these out of the oven, with one excited sister watching them like a hawk.

After they cooled, I cut into them, and finally tried one. But I was slightly dissapointed. They tasted excellent. But not like nutella, just like really good brownies. The hazelnut taste seemed to have completely vanished and all was left was the chocolate taste.

My sister insisted they did taste a little like nutella but I didn’t see it at all.

You’re probably wondering why I bothered sharing this recipe with you even though it was a dissapointment.

Well, because: Even though they didn’t taste like Nutella they tasted rich and chocolaty, and have the most amazing crinkly  crust on top(which you  saw in the pictures above) with a perfect dense, fudge-y inside, which is my vision of a perfect brownie.

Take a closer look at the inside:

Doesn’t it look absolutely and completely moist and delicious?

“Nutella” Brownies

Adapted From: ricardocuisine.com

• 1/2 a cup of all-purpose flour(unbleached)
• 1/4 a tsp of salt
• 1/2 a cup of butter(melted and cooled slightly)
• 1 1/3 a cup of nutella
• 1/2 a cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 2 eggs(large)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. Sift together the salt and the flour in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Then in a different bowl, beat the nutella, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs together until completely smooth.
4. Then add one third of the flour mixture and one third of the butter to the nutella mixture and blend until smooth.
5. Repeat step three until all the flour and butter is used up.
6. Pour the batter into a eight by eight baking pan lined with either foil or parchment paper.
7. Bake until you can put a tooth pick and it comes out with only a couple of crumbs.
8. Cool for a hour, and then cut and enjoy :)

~Dee D.

Brownies & Mother’s Day

Today, as May 9th came around, I realized a difficult task was at hand: a mother’s day present. Usually, I bake something for her, take for example last year I made a tiramisu (though I have to admit, that was partially for me :D). So this year, I decided that I should make something fully for her, and her favorite desert was brownies, so brownies was what I made. It was actually quite fast, and easy, and I got it done under an hour( minus the baking time, but that doesn’t really count to me so…).

Outrageous Brownies

adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Ingredients

• Three and a half sticks of (chopped up) butter(the 1/4 of a pound kind)
• A little bit less than 1 pound(or two cups) of chocolate chips(semi sweet)
• 9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips(make sure you keep these seperate! Don’t mix it in with the other chocolate chips.
• 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• Eight medium eggs(or 6 extra large eggs or seven large eggs)
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee granules or powder(but if you’re using powder, make sure it’s a little bit less, because the coffee taste becomes overpowering if you add too much)
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups sugar(maybe a little less)
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• For walnuts: if you want very sparse walnuts add a cup of them. However if you want a walnut or two or three in every bite, add in 3 cups. Or you can add how much ever you want!

First you may want to preheat the over to 350 degrees(I myself don’t, but if you’re one of those people who like the oven ready ahead of time, go ahead). Okay, so after that: mix together the chopped butter, the unsweetened chocolate and the minimized pound of semisweet chocolate, in a bowl(you don’t need a big one yet so, just make sure you have enough space for the chocolate and butter) in a pan of simmering water. Eventually you’ll come out with a bowl of warm chocolate and butter that you will probably want stick your fingers in and eat( it looks and smells soooo good). Don’t do anything with it yet, just set it to the side, and let it cool. Next, in a large bowl combine the coffee, the eggs, the sugar and lastly the vanilla(make sure you don’t beat it, just stir). How ever unlike the previous mixture, it won’t look or taste as wonderful(don’t go and taste it either, remember that it has raw egg). Then stir in the the chocolate/butter, and the result will be a delectible looking, russet colored batter, and then sift in the salt, baking powder, and only one cup of flour. Then lastly combine the remaining nine ounces of chocolate chips, the walnuts, and the remaining one/fourth a cup of flour.

Next, butter and flour(basically just smear a bit of flower and bit of butter all around the pan, it works insanely well!) the pan you’re going to bake it in( I suggest a pan that creates a very thin sort of brownie, but that’s just the way I like it), and bake it at 350 degrees, until you can stick a toothpick in it and have it come out clean. Don’t over bake them, or you’ll come out with square chocolate flavored jaw breakers instead of brownies(a very, very, bad experience!).

So when I did deliver these to my mother freshly baked and all, she smiled her little smile, and went all motherly on me with the hug, and kiss, and thank you :D. And after lunch we had these for desert :)

Happy mother’s day to all mother’s out there :D

~D.D