Brownie mixes from the store have gotten pretty good. It is hard to beat the ease of a boxed mix when you are craving that chocolaty, gooey, yumminess. I have tried many recipes over the last few years trying to find the perfect brownie recipe and I have finally conquered that mountain. My criteria for a good brownie are as follows:
1. Crackly top when baked, not greasy.
2. Fudge center.
3. I wanted a high rise to fill the depth of the 8x8 pan.
4. Ease of ingredients. Nothing I couldn't find in my local grocery store.
5. They had to have super chocolate flavor. No bland brownies.
I started with a recipe I found online from http:/www.handletheheat.com/ultimate-brownies/
Tessa is the author of this recipe and she has hit a home run. She has balanced the ingredients well and her use of butter rather than cooking oil nets a lovely crumble topping that is nice and crackled when baked. Her addition of an extra egg yolk gives a richness and depth to the batter and provides the lift needed to fill the pan without the brownie becoming cake like. The mixture of chocolate is what gives this recipe an A+. Her use of semi-sweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate gives these brownies their Wow! factor.
The second recipe I tried I have yet to find the author of. I found a copy of it in my recipe book and it has no identifying authorship on it. The claim is, "Never buy boxed brownie mix again!" I am sure that is what caught my eye and why I have this anonymous recipe. It calls for:
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup All-purpose flour
1/3 Cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Combine in a bowl and add all at once
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp Vanilla
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 mins.
This recipe came out flat in the pan and tasted very bland. There wasn't much of a chocolate punch and as the brownies cooled the edges became very hard and difficult to cut and chew. I give it a D.
I decided to play with it a bit and added another egg, bumped up the baking powder to 1/2 tsp, and added 1/4 cup chocolate sauce. I also threw in some chocolate chips for fun.
This bake came out much higher in the pan and was a little more chocolatey tasting but not much. If you didn't bite into a chocolate chip then the chocolate punch just wasn't there. My improvements brought this recipe up to about a B- but they still weren't matching Tessa's recipe.
Both recipes had a greasy look to the top of them too. I have found adding oil to brownies increased its lack of flavor. Butter adds a richness that can't be matched by cooking oil.
Whipping up the sugar and the eggs together is necessary for proper brownie chemistry. I have also found that cocoa powder needs to be dissolved in hot water before adding it to batter in order for the chocolate flavor to come out. This dump it in a bowl recipe is a nice thought but requires some technique to come out better in the end. Even if the texture could be improved the flavor is just too poor for it to be a good brownie.
Brownies need a mixture of chocolate in order to deliver on their chocolate power punch. When cocoa powder is the only type of chocolate brownies just fall flat.
I really wanted something to replace the box mix from the grocery store and the recipe from Handle the Heat has won me over. I can easily make up a box kit from the ingredients and have several brownie mixes on hand for the next big chocolate craving.
