The Browniest Cookies
Have you ever read a recipe, thought it would be easy to make, knew it would be tasty, pinned it, aaaaand…… never remembered to do it? Always, right? 😀 To continue the Chocolate Tertulias, I decided to finally make these cookies, which are basically little round brownies!
These are not only delicious, they’re also very easy to make: you don’t need to soften the butter and you only use one pot! I didn’t have unsweetened chocolate, so I used a70% cocoa one. It was very tasty, but next time I’ll use one with 80% cocoa, or stronger. Even if you don’t like bitter chocolate, I don’t think this recipe would work with milk chocolate – it’d be way too sweet!
You’ll need:
115 g (½ cup) unsalted butter
115 g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
190 g (1 cup, packed) dark or light brown sugar
25 g (2 Tbsp) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp fine sea or table salt
45 g (½ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
130 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
115 g (2/3 cup) chocolate chips or chocolate, chopped into chunks
In a pot that fits all ingredients, melt the butter and the chocolate. You can use a water bath, or do what I did and melt everything over the lowest heat on the smallest burner of the stove, stirring constantly and being careful not to let the chocolate burn.
With a silicone spatula, mix the two kinds of sugar into the melted chocolate. Add the eggs, one by one. Mix in the vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Sift the cocoa powder over the batter − yes, I do mean sift it! 😀 − and mix. Sift the flour over the batter and mix just until you don’t see any white specs. Now all you have to do is add the chocolate chips!
Cover the pot with plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge for about half an hour. Use a cookie scoop or make small balls (mine were about 1 Tbsp of dough), place them on a lined baking sheet, leaving plenty of room between them, and bake in a preheated oven. The original recipe said to bake for 11 to 12 minutes, warning that they would be soft. I did this on the first batch, letting them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. This gave the cookies a really brownie-like texture. On the second batch, I baked for 15 minutes, and found the texture to be closer to a normal cookie − and I liked them even better that way!
Freezer: As with most cookies, you can freeze the balls of dough in a plastic wrap-covered baking sheet. When they are fully frozen, transfer them into a Ziploc bag. To bake, take them straight from the freezer to the oven, baking for a couple extra minutes.
Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie
Last year, Sky came to me and said “Ana, I need to bring something to the teacher’s potluck at school….” I understood it to mean “hey, Ana, here’s an excuse to try a new brownie recipe!”
Looking on my favorite websites, I found this recipe on Moldando Afeto and decided to bake it. It was such a hit here (and at the potluck, apparently), that I decided to bake it again for Christmas (the one on the picture!), for carnival, for a cold rainy day…. 😀
You’ll need:
200 g dark chocolate – I used a bar with 70% cocoa. Although my family isn’t a fan of dark chocolate (heathens!), they loved the brownie, so I say go ahead and use the nice dark one!
200 g butter
3 eggs
100 g sugar
100 g hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
140 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
Brownie recipes tend to be very similar. I always cover the pan (this time, an 8-inch square) with aluminum foil, leaving some “handles,” which make it easier to remove the brownies from the pan. Thoroughly butter the aluminum foil, being careful not to tear it, and set aside.
Melt the chocolate with the butter – you can use the microwave (30-second bursts, blah blah blah), you can use a water bath, or you can go rogue like me and just put it on the smallest burner and watch it like a hawk! 😀 Set aside.
In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture gains some volume and a lighter color.
Pour the chopped hazelnuts over the melted chocolate. Add the egg mixture, the flour, and the baking powder, mixing only until you can’t see flour specks anymore.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for roughly 20 minutes – it will be ready when a toothpick inserted into the dough comes out with a few wet crumbs, which is also when you touch the surface of the brownie and it is set, but not as firm as cake… here’s
recipe a picture that shows it!
Cut in squares, dust with some confectioner’s sugar, and serve.
FREEZER: This brownie freezes pretty well. Wrap it carefully with aluminum foil to avoid freezer burns. Let it thaw for a few hours before serving.
Culinary Tertulias 