Being married to an Australian whose parents are Americans means I get to celebrate American festivities such as Thanksgiving. One year, I am the delegated the task of making brownies for this occasion. I have to say – the brownie is a dessert placed on a pedestal by the people of the U.S of A. So… I took on this task very seriously and was determined not to screw up. This is a trusty recipe I found in an American cookbook from a library in Singapore. It has proved to be a crowd pleaser… soft, moist, chocolatety and decadent when served with cream.
Makes about 24 squares
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 100 grams dark chocolate
- 1 cup minus 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 and 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg plus 2 large egg whites
- 1 tbsp vanilla essense
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Method:
- Position the rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 180 degrees celsius.
- Lightly oil/butter a square shaped baking pan. (You can also choose to line the pan with baking paper.)
- In a small saucepan, combine the butter and the dark chocolate and set over a very low heat till melted. Stir the mixture and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add the sugar and the cooled butter-chocolate mixture. Beat with an electric mixer.
- Add the egg plus whites, vanilla and water. Beat again with the electric mixer.
- Now, add the flour, baking powder, cocoa, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg to the mixing bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon. (The batter will be quite thick. This is a good sign.)
- When combined, throw in the chocolate chips and fold them into the mixture.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan, smooth the top.
- Bake for 22 minutes. Do not overbake the brownies as it is ideal to have the centre nice and gooey.
- Allow to cool in the pan. Do not cut into squares till completely cooled.
- Cut to reveal the ooey gooey-ness!
- Serve with a dollop of thickened cream and dust with icing sugar.
