E's Extraordinarily Eloquent Extravaganza: Brownies!

Gather ‘round, children, and I will tell you all a heroic tale about brownies…

Brownies. They’re orgasmic quite delicious.

I’ve had a love-hate-relationship with brownies for a long, long time. My first (and, until recently, only) try at brownies turned out… Not so good. I’m still not sure what happened, but my batter was almost brick-like. Horribly solid. I got blisters on my hands from trying to stir it, ruined several kitchen-appliances (well, one whisk, actually), and when all ingredients were finally in, I could’ve just cut the whole thing in squares without baking, and no one would’ve noticed the difference. It’s not that they were horrible, far from that. They were quite edible (although the brick-like quality continued in your stomach, and you’d probably get sick if you ate more than one piece. Not that anyone took that risk, though), but the whole painful, tiring, blistering process wasn’t quite how I imagined my first brownie-baking experience.

I imagined it to be more like this. More smiles, less pain.

But then I got a birthday present.

“500 Cookies. The Only Cookie Compendium You’ll Ever Need.”

Apparently, my love for recipes is well known. So is my love for cookies.

Needless to say, I wanted to try a recipe. And because everyone likes brownies (and more importantly: because this time, I wasn’t alone, and therefore had moral support and 6 extra hands to stir), we made brownies. This time, there were no blisters, no tears dripping into the bowl, no urge to throw the whole thing against the wall. Only smiles, giggles and staring at the oven in anticipation. Which is really what baking brownies should be all about…

The recipe:
(slightly adapted from the book mentioned above)

- 115g butter

- 220g pure chocolate

- 200g brown sugar

- A pinch of salt

- 1 teaspoon vanilla-extract, or 1 pack of vanilla sugar

- 2 eggs

- 40g flour

- 150g chopped nuts (whichever ones you prefer)

Preheat the oven to 160°C, and line a square pan with baking parchment (or just line the pan with butter or something. I prefer baking parchment, it’s easier)

Melt the butter and the chocolate. Au bain marie would be awesome, but don’t worry: it won’t explode if you just decide to microwave it. Stir, and add sugar, salt and vanilla(sugar). Add the eggs (one by one), flour, and half of the chopped nuts.

Pour the batter in the pan, sprinkle with the rest of the nuts, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Now, you’re faced with a very difficult choice.
1. Do as the book says and let it cool for 20 minutes; it will be nowhere near solid or brownie-like, so you take a bowl and a spoon, and enjoy some delicious, warm brownie-pudding.
2. Put it in the fridge, and let it cool overnight; cut in squares, and enjoy some delicious, cold brownie-fudge.

Can you get regular brownie-brownies from this recipe? I have no idea. And honestly, I don’t care. Both option 1 and 2 are a wonderful dessert (option 2 is more brownie-like, though).

Unfortunately, no pictures. But obviously, they looked like brownies; just use your imagination.