How to Elevate a Brownie (with help from Anna Bondoc)

This summer, I'm working as an intern for Anna Bondoc, a really swell artist (and my 6th grade English teacher) based in Los Angeles.  Yesterday I made some brownies, and Anna decorated the using a hand-cut paper stencil.  For a tutorial on how to make your own, check out her blog.

Normally you wouldn't serve brownies at a fancy event, but when they're this darling, who could object?

This will work with any favorite brownie recipe, but I used the opportunity as an excuse to try out a recipe I've been reading about: The Baked Brownie.  I already have a go-to brownie recipe, but when I read about this brownie on Brown Eyed Baker, it sounded irresistable.  Having made them, I can say that they ARE pretty special--thick and soft and fudge-y--but I dunno if they'll replace my old stand-by.

I'll let you be the judge: here's the recipe.

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13-inch glass or light-colored baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

Put the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Chip Cookies That Make a Great Second Impression

So here’s a secret:

When I want to make chocolate chip cookies, do you know what recipe I use? I use the one on the back of Tollhouse chocolate chips. It is a solid recipe that has never steered me wrong in all my life.

But for some reason, when I saw this recipe from the New York Times, labeled “Thick-and-Gooey Chocolate-Chip Cookies,” I was overcome by the urge to try it.

The dough (yes, I eat raw cookie dough, salmonella be damned) was delicious, so I had high hopes when I pulled the first tray from the oven. But when I tasted one, I found it bland. Not bad, exactly; just average.

I was all prepared to go back to the good old Tollhouse recipe, but then the next morning…something happened. I ate another cookie, and it was incredible. It was the best second-day cookie I’d ever eaten. It was wonderfully soft, and the flavor was significantly better than it had been the night before. I can’t explain it, I can only say that those cookies were damn good.

Here’s my final verdict on the subject of chocolate chip cookies: if I were making cookies for a lot of people, and knew they were al going to get eaten the very first day, I would use the classic Tollhouse recipe. But if I knew these cookies were going to be sitting around for a couple days, this is the recipe I would use.

The recipe:
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. kosher salt
8 oz (two sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3 c. chopped bittersweet chocolate (chunks and shavings)
2 c. chopped walnuts (optional; I of course chose to forgo the nuts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat (we were out of parchment, so I did without. It didn’t seem to create any problems). Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy, 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once and blend until a dough forms. Fold in the chocolate and walnuts. Chill the dough.

Roll 1/4 -cup lumps of dough into balls (I prefer smaller cookies. Mine were a generous tablespoon, and I cooked them for about 11 minutes), then place on the baking sheet and flatten to 1/2 -inch-thick disks spaced 2 inches apart. Chill the dough between batches. Bake until the edges turn golden, 14 to 17 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a baking rack.

 Oh, and here's a friendly tip: if you take two of these and put some ice cream in the middle, you've got yourself a killer ice cream sandwich.

Enjoy!