Brownies are a pastry or cake that ranks among the top three most popular homemade desserts in the USA. It can only be rivaled in popularity by traditional chocolate cake or apple pie. A true brownie has a characteristic brown color, is typically rectangular, and depending on the recipe, can be a cake, cupcake, or cookie.
Traditionally, it is believed that brownies were first baked in Chicago, at the Palmer House hotel, almost 150 years ago. Socialite Bertha Palmer tasked the Palmer House Hotel pastry chefs with creating a dessert that would wow visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The requirements for the dessert were as follows: it had to be compact in size and resemble a chocolate cake, all while fitting easily into a box.
A century later, Palmer House Hotel still bakes brownies according to the original recipe. A moist center and apricot glaze — that’s how a true brownie should be. AdmiGram.com has unearthed absolutely everything about this amazing dessert. Here are the three most authentic ways to make brownies.
Brownie: classic recipes of an American dessert
Classic brownie
© zpzlata via Instagram
A crunchy crust, tender, soft, and chewy center, walnuts — that’s all in a classic brownie. The key to making this dessert is not to overbake it. Otherwise, it will dry out and become inedible. Check the brownies for doneness using a wooden toothpick. Brownies should be removed from the oven when moist crumbs remain on the toothpick.
Ingredients:
- Sugar — 1 ½ cups
- Butter — 6 ounces (170 g)
- Dark chocolate — 5 ounces (140 g)
- All-purpose flour — 2 cups
- Eggs — 4
- Walnuts — 1 cup
How to cook:
Grate chocolate into a small bowl, add butter, and melt over a water bath or in the microwave until you get a viscous, homogeneous mixture. Mix everything thoroughly and gently fold in the flour, one tablespoon at a time. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with sugar. Pour the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. It’s preferable not to break the walnuts, but to grind them in a blender.
Bake the brownies in a preheated oven at 390°F (200°C) for 20-25 minutes on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Before placing the dough on the baking sheet, you can grease it with vegetable oil. After the dessert is baked, let it cool, then cut it into rectangles.
Brownie cookies
© Tamanna Rumee / Unsplash
These cookies differ from cake or pie in that they are baked for a slightly longer time. However, brownie cookies should still be only slightly moist inside. You can use any nuts, but hazelnuts make the cookies tastier. These cookies pair very well with ice cream or milk.
Ingredients:
- Chocolate — 10 ounces (300 g)
- Butter — 6 ounces (170 g)
- Sugar — 1 ½ cups
- Eggs — 4
- All-purpose flour — 2 cups
- Cocoa powder — ¼ cup
- Hazelnuts (filberts), toasted and lightly chopped — 1 cup
- Vanilla powdered sugar — 0.3 ounces (10 g)
How to cook:
Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C). Cover the bottom of the mold with parchment paper. While the oven is heating, melt chocolate and butter in a water bath, stirring occasionally. Let the resulting mixture cool slightly. Then mix sugar and eggs into the melted chocolate (one at a time, stirring well each time).
Add flour and cocoa powder, stirring gently. Add the chopped nuts to the finished dough and spread it into the prepared baking dish. Distribute the dough in portions, as if forming small round cookies. Bake for about 30-35 minutes. When the cookies cool down, sprinkle them with vanilla powdered sugar.
Brownie cupcakes
© Sheelah Brennan / Unsplash
Traditionally, cupcakes are baked in muffin tins. The baking time for cupcakes is short. Cupcakes differ from pies and cookies in that they are very moist and soft.
Ingredients:
- Softened butter — 2 ounces (60 g)
- Chocolate — 2 ounces (60 g)
- Sugar — 1 ½ cups
- Eggs — 2
- Vanilla sugar — 1 tsp
- Cognac — 1 tbsp
- All-purpose flour — 1 cup
- Cocoa powder — ½ cup
- Baking powder — ¼ tsp
- Salt — ¼ tsp
How to cook:
Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). In a bowl, mix butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, cognac, and mix until smooth. Separately, mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add all this to the egg mixture and mix quickly and vigorously. Then add chocolate chunks to the dough.
Spread the dough into small molds for cupcakes, previously greased with vegetable oil. Bake for 15 minutes. The finished cupcakes should be soft, do not overbake them.
Note: To give brownies a moist and dense texture, after they have cooled completely, place the sliced pastries in a container and leave overnight.
image on top: zpzlata via Instagram
