I love you guys so much: The Brownie Recipe part II
Brownie Recipe Part II: Revenge of Attack of the Brownies Strike Back with Electric Bugaloo
I love you guys all so much. You want to know how much I love you? I love you so much that I am still participating in the brownie auction and not keeping all of these delicious Om Nom Nom brownies for myself and my loyal minions (note to self: get loyal minions).
Now I'd just like to earn your love in return. I'm going to do this through bribery, and I'm telling you because I believe in being upfront about my ulterior motives.
Anyway, since I'd like to give you all a little incentive for some last minute bidding, and because I've wanted to document the latest twists and additions to the brownie recipe, here is a post documenting the experiment into creating Orange Chocolate Brownies of Doom.
The original mint recipe is HERE. Please note that the stuff under the cut in this post is in addition or a variation on that recipe, which is still perfectly fine and good, and which documents the whole process.
So, how did the experiment in Orange Brownies turn out, and what additional brownie making technology would I like to share with you?
Here's a teaser:
And now let's head under the cut for the full details, shall we? Click this way, my darlings.
(pictures link to larger versions, in case you want more details)
The first thing I've changed about the brownie recipe is that I'm not using the bags of dark chocolate chips anymore. No, I find that most of the flavours I want to use in my brownies also exist in high-quality chocolate form. So I'm adding in more layers of flavor right off. I find that the substitution rate is something like two to three good sized bars to a bag of chips.
One group gets chopped up for melting
One group gets chopped up for mixing
(I did not get a picture, but a third group gets chopped up for the ganache. Just take my word for it.)
Also, I'm using more booze in the recipes. I substitute most of the water in the brownie recipe with alcohol at this point. Yum!
This is just more of a general tip, but I find that the post-baking alcohol soaks in a lot better if I stab the hot-from-the-oven brownies with a fork before I pour on the booze. It helps prevent having it all puddle in one area once it's poured on.
See?
Next stage: When applying the icing, IF this is a recipe that includes a glaze layer, it's very helpful to form a little well on top of the brownie. Icing shapes fairly nicely.
If I was any good with a pastry bag I'd pipe it on in a design, but my one experiment with this resulted in the bag exploding in my hands and getting icing on one of the cats, so I'm hesitant to try a repeat.
Now, let's make the glaze:
Ingredients:
A jar of preserves in the flavor you're trying to capture. Pick something of good quality, without high frustose corn syrup (bleah!) and without too many other flavors in it (I do this for the raspberry recipe as well, and have found that preserves with grape tend to taste like, well, grape rather than raspberry).
Fresh (or fresh frozen) fruit of the same variety (I'm using blood oranges here, because I like the color)
Booze (duh)
Empty the jar into a microwave safe container. Add the fresh fruit. Heat it up and stir a lot, until the preserves are liquid.
Add a little booze. Can't hurt.
Strain!
chances are that the preserves have seeds or rind or something else, and the fresh fruit likely does as well. This is why we heat it up, so that it's liquid enough to go through a strainer to remove all that stuff.
Reduce!
Now you need to boil your glaze down until it's thick enough to form a layer when cooled.
I'm sure there's some better way to do this, but I just boil it and stir a lot, and assume it's done when the mixture is thick enough that it parts behind the spoon as I stir.
Let it cool a little before applying it to the brownies. You want it just cool enough that it doesn't run off like water, and still warm enough that it isn't forming clumps. Warm it up a little more if it is clumping.
And hey, add some booze. A lot of it probably cooked off earlier, right?
Now pour it on the brownies, a spoonful at a time. This is why we built those little divots into the icing layer. Pretty, no?
Ganache as usual. The chocolate I used for the ganache in this batch had bits of crystallized orange peel in the chocolate, so the ganache layer is a little lumpier than usual, but I think it adds character.
And just to give an idea of how much booze I used in this: This bottle was full when I started, and I didn't drink any of it myself.
My Con Or Bust auction ends at noon today. If you're going to bid on these, go bid NOW.
(But I love you even if you don't)
And the auction has ended. Thank you
I love you guys all so much. You want to know how much I love you? I love you so much that I am still participating in the brownie auction and not keeping all of these delicious Om Nom Nom brownies for myself and my loyal minions (note to self: get loyal minions).
Now I'd just like to earn your love in return. I'm going to do this through bribery, and I'm telling you because I believe in being upfront about my ulterior motives.
Anyway, since I'd like to give you all a little incentive for some last minute bidding, and because I've wanted to document the latest twists and additions to the brownie recipe, here is a post documenting the experiment into creating Orange Chocolate Brownies of Doom.
The original mint recipe is HERE. Please note that the stuff under the cut in this post is in addition or a variation on that recipe, which is still perfectly fine and good, and which documents the whole process.
So, how did the experiment in Orange Brownies turn out, and what additional brownie making technology would I like to share with you?
Here's a teaser:
And now let's head under the cut for the full details, shall we? Click this way, my darlings.
(pictures link to larger versions, in case you want more details)
The first thing I've changed about the brownie recipe is that I'm not using the bags of dark chocolate chips anymore. No, I find that most of the flavours I want to use in my brownies also exist in high-quality chocolate form. So I'm adding in more layers of flavor right off. I find that the substitution rate is something like two to three good sized bars to a bag of chips.
One group gets chopped up for melting
One group gets chopped up for mixing
(I did not get a picture, but a third group gets chopped up for the ganache. Just take my word for it.)
Also, I'm using more booze in the recipes. I substitute most of the water in the brownie recipe with alcohol at this point. Yum!
This is just more of a general tip, but I find that the post-baking alcohol soaks in a lot better if I stab the hot-from-the-oven brownies with a fork before I pour on the booze. It helps prevent having it all puddle in one area once it's poured on.
See?
Next stage: When applying the icing, IF this is a recipe that includes a glaze layer, it's very helpful to form a little well on top of the brownie. Icing shapes fairly nicely.
If I was any good with a pastry bag I'd pipe it on in a design, but my one experiment with this resulted in the bag exploding in my hands and getting icing on one of the cats, so I'm hesitant to try a repeat.
Now, let's make the glaze:
Ingredients:
A jar of preserves in the flavor you're trying to capture. Pick something of good quality, without high frustose corn syrup (bleah!) and without too many other flavors in it (I do this for the raspberry recipe as well, and have found that preserves with grape tend to taste like, well, grape rather than raspberry).
Fresh (or fresh frozen) fruit of the same variety (I'm using blood oranges here, because I like the color)
Booze (duh)
Empty the jar into a microwave safe container. Add the fresh fruit. Heat it up and stir a lot, until the preserves are liquid.
Add a little booze. Can't hurt.
Strain!
chances are that the preserves have seeds or rind or something else, and the fresh fruit likely does as well. This is why we heat it up, so that it's liquid enough to go through a strainer to remove all that stuff.
Reduce!
Now you need to boil your glaze down until it's thick enough to form a layer when cooled.
I'm sure there's some better way to do this, but I just boil it and stir a lot, and assume it's done when the mixture is thick enough that it parts behind the spoon as I stir.
Let it cool a little before applying it to the brownies. You want it just cool enough that it doesn't run off like water, and still warm enough that it isn't forming clumps. Warm it up a little more if it is clumping.
And hey, add some booze. A lot of it probably cooked off earlier, right?
Now pour it on the brownies, a spoonful at a time. This is why we built those little divots into the icing layer. Pretty, no?
Ganache as usual. The chocolate I used for the ganache in this batch had bits of crystallized orange peel in the chocolate, so the ganache layer is a little lumpier than usual, but I think it adds character.
And just to give an idea of how much booze I used in this: This bottle was full when I started, and I didn't drink any of it myself.
My Con Or Bust auction ends at noon today. If you're going to bid on these, go bid NOW.
(But I love you even if you don't)
And the auction has ended. Thank you