Chocolate Brownies Recipe
All About Chocolate - Part 2
Yesterday I wrote all about where chocolate comes from, how it is made and the differences between bittersweet chocolate and semi sweet chocolate. I also look at dark chocolate, white chocolate and ask, “Does chocolate really taste sweet?” - See All About Chocolate
Chocolaty Examples
Here are two brownie recipes. The first uses 8 oz. of unsweetened chocolate. Look at all of the sugar that is used to balance that! The second calls for semisweet chocolate. The difference between the two recipes is pretty clear.
Brownies made with unsweetened chocolate (100% chocolate)
Ingredients:
- 8- 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
- 1 cup butter
- 5 eggs
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
Brownies made with semisweet chocolate
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Note that, even though both recipes call for 8 ounces of chocolate, there is a full 2 and 1/4 cup reduction in sugar in the recipe that calls for semisweet chocolate! The semisweet recipe also halves the butter and reduces the number of eggs. This is most likely because there is more cocoa butter in the unsweetened chocolate than there is in the semi-sweet chocolate.
Since the semisweet chocolate also contains less chocolate (maybe as much as 65% less, depending on the semisweet chocolate used), not as many eggs are needed to balance out the drying effect of the cocoa solids contained in the chocolate.
How To Make These Brownies
To make either version of the brownies, melt together the chocolate and butter. Stir until smooth and then cool. Whisk in the sugar by hand, followed by the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and then the flour. You can add toasted nuts as well, if you’d like. Pour into a greased and lined pan (8” x 8” for thicker brownies and 9”x 13” for thinner brownies) and bake at 325F until done.
To Temper or Not to Temper
There is no need to temper chocolate that is going to be used in a recipe. Melting it is sufficient. The goal of tempering is to get the cocoa butter to crystallize in its most stable form, and, since it melts at body temperature anyway, tempering would be a waste of time in a batter that will go in the oven at temperatures well in excess of 98F!
The time to temper is when you want the chocolate to stand on its own—either as a coating for truffles or molded candies or for decoration. Tempering is not difficult, but it can be a little fussy. There are many excellent resources on the web that can walk you through the process.
If you want to make candy but do not want to go through the trouble of tempering the chocolate, you can use chocolate coatings. These can be found in craft stores or grocery stores. In my opinion, these products do not taste very good, partly because of the substitution of other fats for cocoa butter.
You can make your own, good tasting coating chocolate using this simple formula: chocolate and a neutral oil together in a 10 to 1 ratio. So, for ten ounces of chocolate, you’ll need 1 ounce of vegetable oil. For 5 ounces, you’ll need ½ ounce (1 tablespoon). The addition of the vegetable fat will allow the chocolate to firm up and maintain a sheen without needing to be tempered.
Related Topics
on April 18th, 2009 at 9:23 am
I enjoyed reading this and will try your recipes. Being a bit of a health nut, I don’t make cakes very often. Can you let me know if I should stir very lightly or mix thoroughly (how long)?
on October 20th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Delicious recipe. I tried the version with unsweetened chocolate. Do the two result in a similar brownie? If baked in a 9×13 pan, how long do you recommend baking? I baked mine for about 45 minutes and am not sure if I should have taken them out sooner. They are very rich, but more of a fluffy brownie. Can you recommend a variation that would result in a more dense brownie (less fluffy). Thanks for sharing!
on October 23rd, 2009 at 7:47 am
Hi Lauren, great questions so I asked my friend Chef Jenni for some answers and here is what she had to say,
on November 15th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I would like to double this recipe using a 9×13 pan, any suggestions?
on December 15th, 2010 at 9:03 am
You can bake them in a 9X13 pan and just have thinner brownies. If you want to double the recipe, you can certainly do so. Just multiply everything x2. Reduce oven temp by about 25F and increase baking time accordingly. You’ll just have to check for doneness by sticking a toothpick in the center of the cake every few minutes. I wish I could be more specific than that, but baking-until-done is a pretty subjective thing and everybody’s ovens are different. If you find that the top of the brownies are over-browning, simply tent the pan with some aluminum foil.
Thanks Jenni and for those of you who don’t know Chef Jenni, please read my interview with a pastry chef and visit her web site Pastry Chef Online. - RG
on April 12th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Love the recipe! I like the approach, and I like how you are teaching us more about brownie theory here as well as the recipe itself. I like the simple instruction… Thanks again; I’m excited to taste how they turn out!
Hi Kyle, let me know how it works out for you. - RG
on May 9th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
They’re working out great for me… been liking the semi-sweet recipe, and adding a bit of artisan 100% cacao in substitute for some of the semisweet. This recipe is quite a good base for my experimenting. I wanted to ask… do you by chance have a variation of the recipe for 34% (cocoa butter, i think) white chocolate brownies?
Let me see what I can come up with or maybe another visitor may have some ideas - RG
on July 13th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
you know you’ve made them right if they slide out of your mixing bowl into the brownie pan in one gooey lump.