Three Free Thursday Part III: Brown Butter Cocoa Walnut Brownies

Happy Three Free Thursday, Blog Readers!   To recap the process, on the first Thursday, I select three free recipes from sources on Twitter.  On the following Thursday, I report back via blog entry the full results of my adventures in the kitchen and let you know if you should try these recipes at home. Enjoy!

Recipe: Brown Butter Cocoa Walnut Brownies

Source: @bonappetitmag http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/02/cocoa_brownies_with_browned_butter_and_walnuts

What was Betty Crocker thinking when she started making boxed brownie mixes??? Betty brought us her infamous cookbook (aptly titled "Betty Crocker's Cookbook") and followed it up with box after box of blasphemous 'baking mixes'.  Everything from cakes to cupcakes to brownies to cookies and then eventually into the frosting market. But why? Brownie recipes are simple things - eggs, cocoa, sugar, flour, butter, vanilla, salt, etc.  I will agree that some homemade brownies lack the gooey, chocoloate fudge intensity of their boxed brethren.  This recipe demolishes that concern - you can make homemade brownies so fudge-like and delicious that your friends and co-workers will insist they came out of a box. 



 Findings:


This Brown Butter Cocoa Walnut Brownies recipe is sensational.  Clearly written and well detailed as are most Bon Appetit recipes. The final product is intensely rich flavor from the browned butter and hot melted sugar and cocoa.  The only problem with this recipe - it doesn't make more brownies! I suggest making multiple batches of these brownies.  You won't have a problem finding a home for them - my co-workers finished a batch in under 15 minutes... at 10 a.m. ;-) As an engineer, I work on a team of fifteen men and myself - they have no shame when it comes to inhaling baked goods. 

 

Tips:

Luscious batter!

• Be careful not to overcook.  The easiest way to destroy a great brownie recipe is to set your oven timer for 25 minutes and walk out of the kitchen.  Turn the pan halfway through baking time to ensure consist heat and test brownies with a toothpick at the 15 or 20 minute mark.  Best way to know when to toothpick test - the first appearance of surface cracking and color change.
• Never ever buy boxed brownie mix ever again. Seriously, pinkie swear!

Rating: 5 out of 5   

Thanks for reading Part III of this week's Three Free Thursday! Feel free to send in recipe suggestions for Three Free Thursday on Twitter to @RecipEngineer or by e-mail RecipEngineer@gmail.com

Three Free Thursday Part III: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Three Free Thursday, Blog Readers!   To recap the process, on the first Thursday, I select three free recipes from sources on Twitter.  On the following Thursday, I report back via blog entry the full results of my adventures in the kitchen and let you know if you should try these recipes at home. Enjoy!

Recipe: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: @Real_Simple
Link:http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/double-chocolate-chip-cookies-10000001046904/index.html

The best way to describe these Double Chocolate Chip Cookies is to say that they are "the cookies".  These are "the cookies" for when you finally realize that "he's just not that into you".  These are "the cookies" for when your lifelong rival gets married/promoted/pregnant before you. These are "the cookies" for a hot Friday night of Lifetime television movies and sweatpants.  Oh yeah, and I guess boyfriends, best friends and co-workers would like these cookies too (if there were any left to share).

I randomly ended up testing this recipe late on a rainy Friday night when friends and I had finally admitted to ourselves that we were not venturing out in the storm to seek Boston nightlife. Instead, I pulled out my mixing bowl and whipped up these treats as we snarkly discussed former classmates and planned a friend's imaginary wedding - good times.  This Double Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is simple (nice work @Real_Simple), but delicious.  The cookies were quickly and neatly in the oven in mere minutes and engulfed my cozy apartment with warm melting chocolate aromas. I'd say the worst part of this recipe was waiting for the cookies to completely cool... but who would ever do something insane like that?

*** Apologies for the blurry photo - these cookies were disappearing too quickly to get good photo quality.  Think of it as live action shot of deliciousness flying off the plate and into my friends' mouths.

Findings:

This Double Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is sensational. The real question regarding this recipe is... why would anyone ever stop at "double chocolate chips" when there are so many other scrumptious chips available to the modern baker? This recipe calls only for semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips.  Two very fine options in baking chips, but certainly not the far limits of the baking chip galaxy. Toss in some white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, dark chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or even novelty chips like rainbow chips to take these cookies to another level of decadence.

Fortunately, I had lots of willing taste testers or I would have eaten the full batch of cookies myself.  Taste testers described these cookies as "orgasmic", "the best thing that happened to me this winter" and a other few unmentionable raves and noises as they inhaled the full batch of "Triple" Chocolate Chip cookies containing semisweet/milk/white chocolate chips in under 30 minutes.

Tips:

• Go wild! Add lots of different chocolates! Experiment with various mixes of semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, dark chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or even novelty chips like rainbow chips.
• Make a double batch - your friends will thank you and describe you to everyone they meet on the streets of Boston as the best baker ever! Seriously, your friends will purchase MBTA ads to share their appreciation of your baking skills with their fellow passengers on the Red Line. (For my readers outside of Beantown, this is a good thing... well except for the riding the subway part... just kidding... mostly). 

Rating: 5 out of 5  

Thanks for reading Part III of this week's Three Free Thursday! Feel free to send in recipe suggestions for Three Free Thursday on Twitter to @RecipEngineer or by e-mail RecipEngineer@gmail.com

Three Free Thursday Part II: Chocolate Chickpea Cake

Happy Three Free Thursday, Blog Readers! This is the first entry of my new biweekly "Three Free Thursday" blog entries.  On the first Thursday, I will be selecting three free recipes from sources like @RealSimpleFood, @TestKitchen, @WholeFoods, @SeriousEats, @FineCooking and many more recipe outlets on Twitter. Feel free to send in recipe suggestions for Three Free Thursday on Twitter to @RecipEngineer or by e-mail RecipEngineer@gmail.com . On the following Thursday, I'll report back via blog entry the full results of my adventures in the kitchen and let you know if you should try these recipes at home.  Also I'll try to add helpful suggestions of ways to improve the recipes and/or tips to avoid my pitfalls re-creating these recipes.  Here is Part II of the first ever "Three Free Thursday Results" blog entry.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Chocolate Chickpea Cake

Source: @SeriousEats (requested by @eatingtheweek)

Link: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/01/chocolate-garbanzo-bean-cake-recipe.html

When @eatingtheweek suggested testing the recipe for Chocolate Chickpea Cake, I was both intrigued and terrified.  What kind of person puts chickpeas in a chocolate cake? Would it have a gritty texture? Would a rogue chickpea escape the blender and reveal itself whole when the cake was cut?  Should I have agreed to such a challenge for my first Three Free Thursday blog entry? Will any of my readers trust me again if I actually endorse a chocolate cake made with chickpeas? What have I gotten myself into...



OMC - Oh My Chickpeas!



This recipe requires a blender, a food processor or an immersion blender to puree the chickpeas into the batter.  Using my immersion blender, I agonized over the proper amount of pureeing required to avoid any recognizable chickpea chunks.   Fortunately, the recipe clearly indicates the timing required for each step and I easily prepared the batter without under- or over-blending. The recipe instructs the baker to grease and flour a loaf pan, but surprisingly adds a third step to the traditional process.  After flouring the pan with all-purpose flour, "flour" the pan again with cocoa.  This brillant suggestion prevents the final cake product from having messy white flour streaks and instead leaves the cake with an appealing cocoa dusting.

The entire preparation of this cake batter took less than 15 minutes. It baked for slightly less than hour in a 350* oven and filled my tiny apartment with the delicious aroma of a traditional chocolate cake. The final product was a dense, intensely chocolatey cake with no trace of chickpea flavor or texture. For some taste testers, the chocolate flavor was too intense, but for a chocoholic like myself, it just required an extra-large glass of milk. The inclusion of high fiber, nutrient-filled chickpeas in the batter also gave me the allusion of eating a healthy snack and I admittedly ate it for breakfast the following day.

The recipe suggests sprinkling the cake with confectioners sugar when the cake has cooled completely.  I also experimented with dusting the cake in both cinnamon and cocoa. The perfect combination - an equal mix of confectioners sugar and cinnamon - adds nice contrast to the dense chocolate flavor of the cake.  Fresh whipped cream or a scoop of coffee or vanilla ice cream also pairs nice with this tasty cake.  A final suggestion from the recipe is to refrigerate the cake and re-serve toasted and slathered with butter.  Despite the intense guilt associated with buttering a piece of chocolate cake, it was absolutely delicious and soon I was embracing my inner-Paula Deen. I even confess to spreading raspberry preserves on a slice... or two.

Findings:

This cake is a delightful surprise. I recommend this recipe to everyone to try at least once for its sheer novelty and for the wonderfully baffled looks of family and friends when you attempt to feed them Chocolate Chickpea Cake.  How often do you get such entertainment from a standard cake recipe? You will be hard-pressed to find a taste tester that can blindly identify chickpeas as an ingredient in this cake.  The chickpeas keep the cake moist despite its density and it stores well in the refrigerator. However, it has a short shelf life (maximum three days refrigerated) before the cake's moisture overwhelms it leaving the cake overly dense and gritty. Best to share this cake with lots of friends and family as soon as it cools and save only a piece or two for breakfast the following day.

Tips:

• 

  Chocolate Chickpea Cake!

  Check baking cake with knife or cake tester after approximately 45 minutes baking or when you see cracks in cake start to deepen and widen. 
• Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to three days.
• Toast lightly to warm cake and serve with a little bit of butter and/or raspberry preserves. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Thanks for reading Part II of this week's Three Free Thursday! Send your recipe suggestions for the next Three Free Thursday by Wednesday, February 2nd.

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