Brownie Bake Off!

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

In the paste several weeks, among certain social circles in my
hometown, I have become semi-famous for my baking skills. (she says
humbly).

I have been bestowing homemade baked goods to our local minor league
baseball team. They guys aren't really playing any better, but they
know someone loves them and they certainly are enjoying the goodies!!!
And they love me for it :-)

It started with banana bread. With and without chocolate chips.
(Because one of the guys told me that's how his mom made it and that's
how he liked it. He was just so sweet I couldn't resist.)

I've also made them oatmeal raisin cookies and brownies. They won two
in a row the day I gave them the brownies and the day after....so they
will definitely get them again. (Gotta respect the streak).

This has sparked discussions among my friends and colleagues. Cocoa vs.
melted chocolate? Unsweetened chocolate vs. semi-or bitter-sweet?
Butter vs. margarine (I use both in combination)? And then there is
the ultimate question: Would these guys really know the difference if I
used a mix vs. made them from scratch?

Here's my recipe (with hats off to Barb S. for the original recipe from
which this one evolved:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 stick (1/4 lb) Butter
1 Stick (1/4 lb) margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
chopped walnuts (optional)

A brownie bake off! Gee, what a great idea! Sheryl, your recipe makes me
curious about something. Why have you decided to go with half of the fat
being butter and the other half margarine? Why not all butter or all
margarine? Going with two sticks of margarine would certainly be the
cheaper option, but what would you give up by doing so, if anything?

Stan Horwitz at [email hidden] wrote on 8/19/05 9:41 PM:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

In the paste several weeks, among certain social circles in my
hometown, I have become semi-famous for my baking skills. (she says
humbly).

I have been bestowing homemade baked goods to our local minor league
baseball team. They guys aren't really playing any better, but they
know someone loves them and they certainly are enjoying the goodies!!!
And they love me for it :-)

It started with banana bread. With and without chocolate chips.
(Because one of the guys told me that's how his mom made it and that's
how he liked it. He was just so sweet I couldn't resist.)

I've also made them oatmeal raisin cookies and brownies. They won two
in a row the day I gave them the brownies and the day after....so they
will definitely get them again. (Gotta respect the streak).

This has sparked discussions among my friends and colleagues. Cocoa vs.
melted chocolate? Unsweetened chocolate vs. semi-or bitter-sweet?
Butter vs. margarine (I use both in combination)? And then there is
the ultimate question: Would these guys really know the difference if I
used a mix vs. made them from scratch?

Here's my recipe (with hats off to Barb S. for the original recipe from
which this one evolved:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 stick (1/4 lb) Butter
1 Stick (1/4 lb) margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
chopped walnuts (optional)

A brownie bake off! Gee, what a great idea! Sheryl, your recipe makes me
curious about something. Why have you decided to go with half of the fat
being butter and the other half margarine? Why not all butter or all
margarine? Going with two sticks of margarine would certainly be the
cheaper option, but what would you give up by doing so, if anything?

I'm making these, basically, wholesale. (often--and plenty of 'em)
I wanted the best of both worlds...the savings of using margarine but the
flavor and goodness of butter. So half and half is the answer.
I would be afraid to use all margarine, afraid the flavor and texture would
suffer. This way, a pound of butter goes further--and i realize some
savings. And the flavor and texture doesn't suffer.

And right now--when I make brownies, they win. So since this is the recipe
that I made the first time they won, and the recipe I made each successive
time they won....I am respecting the streak and making them the exact same
way. I'm using the same BRANDS of everything, too!!!!

I know it wasn't an original idea to have a brownie bakeoff......but heck,
thought I'd open it up to everyone. So far, no one seems to be interested,
so, whatever.

I'm having a good time. If no one else from RFC wants to play, that's fine
with me.

--
---
Love like you've never been hurt
Live like there's no tomorrow
And dance like there's nobody watching

Quoted message said:

In the paste several weeks, among certain social circles in my
hometown, I have become semi-famous for my baking skills. (she says
humbly).

I have been bestowing homemade baked goods to our local minor league
baseball team. They guys aren't really playing any better, but they
know someone loves them and they certainly are enjoying the goodies!!!
And they love me for it :-)

It started with banana bread. With and without chocolate chips.
(Because one of the guys told me that's how his mom made it and that's
how he liked it. He was just so sweet I couldn't resist.)

I've also made them oatmeal raisin cookies and brownies. They won two
in a row the day I gave them the brownies and the day after....so they
will definitely get them again. (Gotta respect the streak).

This has sparked discussions among my friends and colleagues. Cocoa vs.
melted chocolate? Unsweetened chocolate vs. semi-or bitter-sweet?
Butter vs. margarine (I use both in combination)? And then there is
the ultimate question: Would these guys really know the difference if I
used a mix vs. made them from scratch?

Here's my recipe (with hats off to Barb S. for the original recipe from
which this one evolved:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 stick (1/4 lb) Butter
1 Stick (1/4 lb) margarine
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
chopped walnuts (optional)

Line 2 9x9 inch pans with foil, letting it hang over the edges. Spray
with non-stick spray (or grease with shortening). Preheat oven to 350
degrees.

Put the butter, margarine and chocolate into a medium bowl. Microwave
for 1 minute on high power, stir....then microwave another minute and
stir until all chocolate is melted.

Mix in sugar. Stir well with a wooden spoon. With a flat wisk, beat in
one egg at a time until well incorporated. Add the vanilla and stir.
Sift together the flour and salt. With a wooden spoon, fold in the
flour and salt and stir just until all traces of flour have
disappeared. Do not over mix. Fold in the nuts.

Pour into prepared pans and bake 30-33 minutes, until just set.
Do not overbake.

I like to do this in 2 smaller pans rather than one large, so I can do
half with nuts half without. I also find they work better, but that
might just be my oven. The 9 x 13" pans, the edges get overdone by the
time the middle is done.
---
We are going to have to do a scientific experiment, you know that
right?

We should have a brownie bake off.

Get about 20-25 people, everyone bakes a pan of brownies. Mails off a
square, along with the recipe, to everyone participating. 20-25 people
get 20-25 brownies in the mail...we do a tasting, post the results.
That should be a big enough sample to get some real scientific
results!!! (or a huge bellyache! LOL)

Pass the milk!!!!

Who's in?

I hate advertisting something I haven't actuaaly treid makin,g but this
recipe has to be a winner:

White chocolate chilli brownies by Jill Dupleix

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/whitechocolatechilli_72899.shtml

Makes 25 small or 12 medium

Ingredients
200g/7oz butter
300g/10½oz quality white chocolate, chopped
3 medium eggs
150g/5oz caster sugar
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
200g/7oz plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
icing sugar for serving
For the chillies
1 large fresh red chilli, de-seeded
1 large fresh green chilli, de-seeded
100g/3½oz caster sugar
150ml/5fl oz water

Method
1. Heat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.
2. Lightly butter a 20cm x 30cm/8in x 12in straight-sided baking tin and
line the base with greaseproof paper.
3. Finely slice the chillies on the diagonal.
4. Combine the sugar, water and chillies and bring to the boil,
stirring. Simmer for five minutes.
5. In a heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, melt
the butter with 150g/5oz of the white chocolate, whisking well until
smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
6. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until
pale. Beat in the melted white chocolate mixture.
7. Fold in the sifted flour and salt, then the remaining chopped white
chocolate. Drain the chillies and add most of them to the batter.
8. Pour into the baking pan, strew the remaining chillies on top, and
bake for 25 minutes or until the top is firm and lightly golden. Remove
and cool in the pan.
9. Cut into small or large squares, dust with icing sugar and serve.