Directly after winning something at the Brooklyn Brownie Bake off, and winning a copy of Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, my friend Emily pointed me towards Baked Sunday Mornings, in which we bake recipes from the book and post them on Sunday mornings.
As you can see, I am late.
I was not able to do the first date, as, I, ahem, ate all my nutella. I am jumping in with the second event, Sweet and Salty Brownies.
If I had read this recipe before entering the bake off, I may have altered my recipe. Reading this recipe, and the description of the winning recipe from the event, these brownies are basically solid chocolate, with a little sugar, eggs, and flour.
There is twice as much chocolate as flour in the recipe. There is slightly more chocolate than sugar. Basically, you take solid chocolate, melt it with butter, add some sugar, flour, and eggs, and bake.
And, as much as I love the idea, I did not like the brownies.
There are two warring factions of brownie eaters. There are the fudgy brownies, those that like brownies almost like fudge, heavy, full of chocolate, and dense. There are cakey brownies, which are like denser cakes, but still lighter and fluffier than fudge. I fall into the latter category, as well as having grown up with this type of brownie.
I loved the idea of the combination of salty caramel sauce and sea salt on the top of the brownies, but I feel that, at least in my execution, the combination of flavors never came out. Knowing me, I would drown the brownies with caramel over the brownies, which I may do next time. Part of my disappointment was that the caramel drizzled in the middle seeps into the bottom of the brownies, which eliminated that from a separate flavor component. It also means I now have some chocolate caked to the bottom of the cake pan. (Parchment? You mean, actually following the directions on how to prepare the pan? Um, no :)
I have learned that I firmly fall into the “cakey” brownie category. I also learned that I probably should not keep homemade caramel sauce around, because I learned that it is far to easy to eat with a spoon. Or without a spoon. Whatever :)
Sandy said
Very funny post and I’m with you about keeping homemade caramel sauce around. I put mine in a squeeze bottle so I can drizzle it on the back of my hand anytime I want !
thetwistedchef said
thanks for sharing your thoughts on the recipe … it’s true – people are either cakey brownie peeps or fudgy ones … i loved this recipe because i love hte fudgy gooey brownie – but I bet that if you adapted the recipe to have the texture you prefer, that the caramel would be more of a layer sandwiched between brownie layers, rather than melting into the base.
and yes … home made caramel … to die for. that was an amazing recipe.
hopefully we’ll see you in a couple of weeks!
Bri said
Yep, if you’re a fan of the cakey brownie, these probably aren’t the brownies for you. At least now you know for sure, right? And now you’ve got leftover caramel, so that’s just a bonus!