Baking tutorial:The BEST brownies ever!!!

Hi. I like brownies. ^___^

Brown, chocolatey goodness that feels like it's melting in your mouth!!! Don't we all? If you don't..... what's wrong with you?!



But the problem I find with most brownies purchased outside is that:

1) It's wayyyy too sweet

2) It's too fudgey. More like a chocolate block than a brownie.. I like slightly cakier types.

3) It's got nuts in it. I hate nuts in my food.

4) It's hard / stale / dry / just tastes like shit. (Hence why it usually tastes better with ice cream)



So some time last week, I woke up with a MAJOR craving for brownies. I got out of bed and I was like omfggg want to eat brownies omgg must eat or I'll die... e_e -googles recipes- .....But the recipes found online were not really to my liking, so I decided to come up with my own.

And IT WAS SO GOOD, I decided it was a bigger sin not sharing it with you guys than if I had the whole 8" sized brownie chunk all to myself. I took one bite out of it when it was freshly baked and I was like "OMFG BEST brownie I am a freaking genius." Then Janice (my bro's gf who lives with us) was like, "Oooh smells good can I have some? :)".... 5 minutes later: "Omggg I don't even like brownies in the first place. Last time my ex-bf bought me brownies and I scolded him. But this is VERY GOOD!! :o"

SO!!!!



I'm going to show you guys how to make your boyfriend / girlfriend think you're a gem in the kitchen even if you're really an idiot in the kitchen. No previous experience required! This will impress ANY chocolate lover. And even people who don't normally eat chocolate, like me. (I swear by white chocolate and vanilla flavored stuff, but yummeh hot brownies are one true exception)

Honestly. Monkey see monkey do, just follow my recipe exactly and you can't go wrong. It's not as difficult or cumbersome as it looks. I even give you permission to lie to whoever you're baking this for and say you were the genius who came up with this recipe on your own. *cough*


Let's get started.







YOU WILL NEED:


An 8" circle baking tin for baking the brownies in

Non-stick cooking spray


♥ -- 2 eggs
♥ -- 1/2 cup butter (melted, salted. if you do not have salted butter, use 1/2 teaspoon salt)
♥ -- 3/4 cup white sugar
♥ -- 3/4 cup self-raising flour
♥ -- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
♥ -- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
♥ -- 3 tablespoons chocolate milk (or only 2 tablespoons if you like it fudgey!)
♥ -- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

The last part is optional. You can add milk chocolate chips, or dark choc, or white choc, or nuts (yuck!) whatever floats your boat. I chose to use just milk choc chips and they turned out nommilicious. If you use something else and they don't turn out as good, that's not my fault. :P



Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Spray your non-stick cooking spray over your 8" baking tin, or if you don't have cooking spray, grease it lightly with butter.






Step 2: Combine the vanilla extract, sugar, and butter in a big bowl. Mix well.






Step 3: Add the eggs in, one by one while mixing thoroughly.








Your mixture should look something like this now!







Step 4: Carefully combine the cocoa powder and flour to your previous mixture. This will thicken up the batter a lot, so don't freak out if it's really dry, we'll be adding milk in a bit.








Step 5: Pour in 3 tablespoons of chocolate milk and lightly stir in the chocolate chips. It will take a minute or two of constant slow stirring for your batter to absorb the chocolate milk in, but once it does..

You will get the wonderfully rich and gooey batter as seen above! ^.^ If your batter is still too stiff (due to incorrect measurements of previous ingredients?), you can try adding more chocolate milk, bit by bit, till you get a batter consistency you're truly satisfied with. At this point you can taste-test the sweetness to see how you like it too! You can always adjust or tweak this recipe to your own liking. But don't do it if you're a total noob coz then you might screw it up, lul.

♥ Note - If you like heavier, fudgey brownies (which is what is served outside most of the time), 2 tablespoons will do. Or if you want like a block of chocolate, use 1. LOL. I prefer slightly lighter texture so I used 3.







Step 6: Pour the batter evenly into your greased baking pan and set the timer for 40-50 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick / chopstick and it comes out clean.



....Now THIS is the tricky part, and I advise to read carefully. This is what other baking recipes don't tell you.

If you use a different shaped or sized pan, cooking time will be different, and I can't tell you how long it'll take because I don't know what size you'll use. I strongly suggest using an 8" circle pan like I did. If you use a bigger baking pan and your batter is thinner, reduce cooking time, and vice versa.


Everyone's oven also works differently, so cooking time for your brownies may differ even if you do use an 8" pan. My oven is old and battered, from the hundreds of cupcakes and cakes I do on a daily basis, so I don't think it's working as well as it used to anymore. Stuff that used to take 20 minutes to bake, now takes about 30.

So my timing of 40-50 minutes is a rough estimate for you guys.. mine actually took almost 50 mins, but your new swanky oven may take only 40. If your oven is even older and in worse condition than mine, perhaps it takes 50+ minutes. I advise to start checking on your brownies when you're nearing the 40 minute mark. Check back on it every now and then, and poke a toothpick through. Once it comes out clean, you can leave it in for another few minutes for a slightly crispy top if it hasn't already formed yet!!! :)

Just don't overcook it, or your brownies will be hard / too crispy / dry instead of moist and gooey / fudgey like it's supposed to be. Once you're sure your brownies have cooked perfectly, take it out of the oven, let it cool for awhile and then remove from the pan.


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Hopefully, yours will turn out to look something like....





THIS!!

Ok hahaha I know that doesn't look quite right sitting there like that because 1) It's circle shaped, and brownies are meant to be square-ish. That's not a big deal to me, but if it is to you, feel free to use a square shaped tin of a similar size instead.

And 2) It has a lot of wholes on the top. I used fat chopsticks to poke it instead of toothpicks so they're kinda obvious.


But other than that, can we please focus on....







HOW GLORIOUSLY CHOCOLATEY AND MOIST IT IS??? ♥ ♥ ♥

And look at the perfectly crispy top!!! :')






The bottom part sorta melts in your mouth (you'll never find a softer brownie that is still quite fudgey and rich) while the crispy part gives it a nice bite! It is very dark brown in color because the chocolate explosion in your mouth is like omggg.

Obviously not for diet-watchers haha. YOUR LOSS!!








Sam and I reckon they're the best brownies we've ever had, and we're crazy dessert lovers. I won't be surprised if he marries me for culinary skills alone LOL.










Cut into squares / rectangles to serve, and always remember to serve warm!! Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Told you anyone could do it.

Tastes the best on it's own so no ice cream required. When you pop them into the mirowave for just a bit, the chocolate bits melt all over again and it tastes like a chocolate lava cake of sorts. :D



....So that's the end of tummy-growling-inducing pictures!!!! If you do try them, let me know how they turned out for you! I'll be damned if it's not fantastic, hurrr.


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Happy nomming!!!

If you have a request for another type of cooking or baking tutorial, let me know and I'll see if I can come up with a good one for you :)


xoxo,
Jess