BakeHouse Brownies
Let me begin by saying that brownies are my most favorite sweet treat. I love a good brownie, but I am quite particular about what qualifies. There can be no cake-like fluff; nor can there be any sticky caramel or cloying frosting. Rather, a good brownie must be chewy, dense with nuts, rich in chocolate flavor, at least a little bit gooey, and, most importantly, crackly on the top. My friends, these bakehouse brownies fit that bill perfectly.
In truth, this recipe has been in the works for almost as long as I’ve been baking (which is pretty much my whole life). Brownies were one of the first things I ever cooked. I started off with boxed mixes; Ghirardelli was always a fail safe. But by the time I was in middle school and interested in scratch baking, I was on the hunt for the perfect brownie recipe.
For many years I swore by Katherine Hepburn’s brownies. The famous actress was apparently a chocolate genius because her formula was like the Mary Poppins of brownies, practically perfect in every way. EXCEPT… They weren’t quite thick enough. And they needed more salt and some complexity. And worst of all the crust lacked that crackly sheen I desperately craved. So I started to experiment with the recipe. I added some salt and some chocolate chips, I tried different kinds of nuts, and I incorporated baking soda to give the brownies a bit of a lift. For awhile I was pretty satisfied. I didn’t quite achieve the crackly crust I wanted, but my brownies were a raving hit, and I had an easy bake to get my chocolate fix.
Then we moved up out of sea level and into the Rocky Mountains, and the altitude did my brownies in, literally. The crust rose almost to the edge of the baking pan, the center caved in at the middle, and the brownies looked a hot mess.
So, I began to think about eggs. If the baking soda wasn’t working, maybe some well-beaten eggs would do the trick. But I wasn’t sure if I should separate the eggs and whip the whites, like for a French macaron or a chocolate soufflé, or if I should beat the eggs up whole with the rest of the batter. So I did what any sensible baker would do in such a conundrum. I searched the internets.
After reading through a dozen recipes, carefully analyzing descriptions and pictures, and evaluating various techniques, I finally settled on “The Best Brownies” by Tasty. The method was intriguing, especially the extra long egg beating for the batter and the baking pan countertop slam halfway through the bake. Honestly, the brownies looked so good I was tempted to scrap the entire testing process, and just use Tasty’s recipe. But a review of the ingredients convinced me that I couldn’t abandon Hepburn’s formula altogether. Tasty’s recipe uses considerably more flour, and I’m convinced that the higher ratio of butter and cocoa to flour is the reason Hepburn’s recipe is so downright delicious. So instead I settled for a hybrid. I increased the amount of batter in Hepburn’s recipe, added more salt, substituted in brown sugar, and altered the method to incorporate Tasty’s techniques. And thus, a star was born!
Equipment:
Hand held electric mixer
8 x 8 in metal square baking pan
Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup + 2 TBS all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup raw pecans, chopped
1/2 cup raw almonds, chopped
1/2 cup bitter or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Flaky sea salt for topping (optional)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line the baking pan with parchment paper, making sure to leave an overhang on all sides. Butter the bottom and sides of the parchment paper.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a medium low heat. Remove from the heat, and add the cocoa powder. Whisk until the powder is fully incorporated, and the mixture thickens slightly. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the white and browns sugars, eggs, vanilla, and kosher salt. Use the hand held electric mixer to beat the batter on high speed for about 10 minutes. Your goal is to get enough air into the batter to leaven the brownie. By the end of 10 minutes, you should have a fluffy mixture with the consistency of thick pancake batter.
Add the cocoa and butter mixture to the mixing bowl, and mix with the beaters until the chocolate is fully incorporated.
Use a fine mesh sieve to sift the flour on top of the batter. Then use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the flour. Finally fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven, and whack the bottom of the pan a couple of times agains the counter. This will help your batter to settle for an even rise and create that signature crackly top. After you whack it, top the crust evenly with a very light sprinkling of flaky sea salt. Do not go overboard on the salt; a little goes a long way. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 10-20 minutes or until the crust is shiny and solid. The center should not giggle but the brownies will be gooey in the middle. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.
TIP: To get a really clean edge on your brownies, line the pan with 2 sheets of parchment paper. Make sure that each sheet is exactly the width of your pan but longer so that there will be an overhang. Place one sheet in the bottom of the pan with the overhang emerging on two sides. Then place the second sheet overlapping the first in the bottom of the pan but with its two long sides on the opposite sides. You will end up with the bottom and all four sides of your pan covered neatly with parchment.
Recipe adapted from Katherine Hepburn’s Brownies and Tasty’s “The Best Brownies”
