Saturday, October 10, 2009

Cocoa Brownies

I made brownies again. This time round I used cocoa powder instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips for my brownies batter. The recipe is taken from Lily Ng's food blog where the original source is adapted from Alton Brown's recipe from Food Network. 


This is how the brownies looked like after being removed from the oven. Note: this is the back of the brownies.

These brownies are meant for a picnic outing at the Singapore Botanic Gardens on Sunday. My friends and I are going to watch a free movie screening in the park. The event is called 'Great Classics under the stars'. Sounds romantic, yeah? =) And the movie is .... 'The Last Emperor'. Uhmm... still romantic I think. ;)I enjoys watching open air movie screening or plays at the park. My last experience at the park was at Fort Canning Park 2 years ago where I watched Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. If only I have a nice picnic basket to put my sandwiches, cakes, fruits etc, it will be fantastic! Oh well, Glad containers work just fine as well... haha...


I just can't get enough of having ganache on my brownies. =)
         
I didn't include chopped walnuts for cocoa brownies, I simply topped them with a piece of walnut for decorative purpose.



                                     






Recipe:
Chocolate ganache:- (optional)
- 100ml whipping cream
- 100g semi sweet baking chocolate (I use those from Phoon Huat)
Method:
- Heat the whipping cream. Turn off heat and add the baking chocolate. Keep on stirring till the chocolate melted and becomes glossy. Let aside to cool.

Brownies batter:
- 250g butter (I use golden churn brand), melted
-3/4 cup granulated sugar, sifted
-3/4 tightly packed brown sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/2 cup plain flour/ all-purpose flour, sifted
-1 cup cocoa powder, sifted ( I use cocoa powder from Phoon Huat)
- 4 eggs


Method:
-Pre heat the oven to 150 degree celsius.Grease the 23cm by 23 cm baking tray.
- Beat the eggs till pale yellow and foamy. Add both sugars, plain flour, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, melted butter and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into the baking tray and place inside the oven for 45mins. Insert a toothpick or a fork inside the brownies. If it comes out clean, it means the brownies are baked thoroughly.
- Remove the tray from the oven and leave the brownies to cool completely.
- Place the brownies inside the fridge for 2 hours. Remove from the fridge and pour the chocolate ganache over the brownies, spread evenly and put inside the fridge for 2-3 hours to set the chocolate ganache.
- Cut the brownies into any shape you desire and serve! :))

Notes: There is no necessity to buy expensive brands of cocoa powder or baking chocolate chips. Just get the ones you can afford. Cocoa powder and chocolate powder are two different items. As I reside in Singapore, I get most of my baking ingredients from Phoon Huat:  http://www.phoonhuat.com/ .

Enjoy!

6 comments:

shumin said...

Thanks for the brownies, they are yummy :p

Corine said...

Boey: Thanks babe, glad u enjoyed them. =)

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed your brownies at the CUTS!!! Thank you for baking them!
Chris

Corine said...

You're welcome, Chris. =)

Anonymous said...

How do you get your cocoa brownies so dense and chewy? Do you add more egg,or less flour?? Mine always turns out to be very cake-like. which is the exact opposite of what a good brownie should be :(
Please share some of your secrets! :o)

Corine said...

Hi Anonymous,

Using cocoa powder instead of baking chocolates will result a more dense and moist brownies. I always stick to golden churn butter for brownies only. I tried other brands but Golden Churn is the best. Melt the butter instead of creaming them helps too in creating a more dense texture. Let me know how it turns out for u. Have fun baking! :)