Alice Medrich's Cocoa Brownies

The cocoa makes them quite dark and my poor photography skills didn't help either!

This was a fabulous recipe find. The last time I tried it, it was with castor sugar. This time round I chose to use light and dark brown sugar instead. It turned out less sweet and gooey than before with a defined bittersweet chocolate flavour but still as good. The Toad liked it and I was happy that this tweaked recipe wouldn't increase his blood sugar too much.

Alice Medrich's Cocoa Brownies

Adapted from Alice Medrich and The Wednesday Chef

140g butter

170g light brown sugar

80g dark brown sugar

80g good quality dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

65g plain flour

1. Preheat the oven at about 130 Celsius. Line an 8' x 8' square baking tin with foil overhanging on the sides for easy lift after the brownies have baked and cooled.
2. In a heavy-based saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove pan from the stove.
3. Stir in both sugars, cocoa, salt and vanilla. Mixture will look grainy.
4. Check the sides of the pan. If it's warm to the touch and you can place your palm on the side, the eggs are ready to go in.
5. Add eggs one by one, beating vigorously after each addition. The mixture will come together to look smooth and glossy.
6. Fold flour in gently until it disappears into the mixture.
7. Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin. Smoothen it out in the tin.
8. Bake at 155 Celsius until the top has a 'crackle' effect and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. About 25 - 30 minutes. 

Be careful not to overbake this or the brownies will taste and smell a little burnt. I've changed the method of mixing the brownies to suit my laziness and do it all in the one saucepan. I don't even bother sieving the flour. Sigh. Easy recipes with not too many ingredients and fantastic results are what I like. No slaving over the hot stove for me.

If you'd like to try out the original recipe, you can find it at The Wednesday Chef. Luisa Weiss has posted measurements both in cups and metric.

Oooops... I almost forgot to say that I got the flower and circular shapes, by simply cutting the brownies with pastry cutters. The texture of this brownie makes it easy to cut with the cutters. You'll have scraps to eat up though, which won't be pretty but will still be as delicious!