Cocoa Brownies
If it's time to sift some flour and cocoa powder, it's time to make some of my favorite brownies!
Yes, good brownies usually require you to melt chocolate. But these are a little simpler: just cocoa, in fact. Yet they're dense, fudgy, and a little chewy. If you want them even fudgier, bake them a minute or two less, until a cake tester inserted into the brownie cake comes out with several moist crumbs attached.
Before we begin, two quick things. One: that darn sifting. Yes, it's important--to remove lumps from the flour and the cocoa. The brown lumps can be forced through the wire mesh, but leave any little bits of floury lumpiness in the sifter. We use a fine-mesh strainer for the task. Better still, the sifted flours make for a lighter cake and crumb. In other words, num num num.
Second: cocoa powder. As you know, there are two kinds--Dutch processed (with an alkali that helps it dissolve more quickly) and "natural" (without said alkali). This is not a fussy recipe. Either will work, although the natural kind will produce slightly chewier brownies.
Let's get to it. . . .
First, position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F (175C). Butter and flour a 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33-cm) baking dish, knocking out any excess flour but making sure the corners and seams are well coated.
Now for the part with the fine-mesh strainer. Sift 1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour and 3/4 cup (65 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder into a large bowl. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon (1.25 grams) baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) salt. Set that aside.
In a second large bowl, beat 1/2 pound (2 sticks--or 225 grams) butter and 2 cups (400 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy and pale yellow, about 6 minutes. It's best, as we've discussed before, to start with cool butter, right out of the fridge, just cut into small bits and put in the bowl. Cool butter traps air and makes a more tender crumb. (The picture, by the way, is a midway point, hardly the final moment. There's too much sugar still unincorporated in the butter!)
Beat in 4 large, room-temperature eggs one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Then beat in 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract.
Scrape down and remove the beaters. Dump the flour mixture into the bowl and fold it in with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula just until there are no bits of undissolved white flour in the mix. The batter will be quite thick and sticky. Pour and scrape it evenly into the baking pan.
Bake until set, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 27 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack for 1 hour to cool. The brownies may fall at the center. Then cut the brownies as you will, storing them between sheets of wax paper in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Want to know more about brownies? Check out our own brownie book, full of all the brownies and blondies you could want, plus a lot of "brownie mix doctor recipes." You'll find the book here.
Or click here for a previous post about our classic Brown Sugar Brownies.
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Friday, October 29, 2010 at 4:57PM | in Chocolate, Desserts, Fabulously Empty Calories baking, brownies, butter, cocoa brownies, cocoa powder, desserts
Reader Comments (7)
You darling man, thank you for including metric measurements for those of us who are more comfortable with them. Although your recipes are always worth the effort to convert! :)
What a simple, versatile recipe! I always use dutched cocoa powder, and you're right, sifting is a must (even more so for natural cocoa powder). I read somewhere though that the antioxidant properties of cocoa are lost in the dutching process, which is a great shame, as we far prefer the taste of the dutched.
Celia:
I was dying for someone to notice that I'd gone metric. It's soooo much more accurate to do the flour by weight, not volume.
That said, i've decided to go both ways (ONLY in recipes), and so thanks for noticing.
M.
From me also a big THANK YOU for the metric mesurements!
Greetings from Switzerland,
Stefanie
Thank you for the delicious brownie recipe & my man sends a hearty Thank you too!
Mmmmmmmmmmm
I'm so glad you liked them, Shelby. May I suggest some vanilla ice cream? Just a scoop?
M.
This is the second time I am making these brownies as the first time was such a resounding hit. Our 4-year-old nephew is pretty excited that auntie is bringing him brownies tomorrow. Awesome as usual.
Thanks, my friend. I'm glad you enjoyed these brownies. I think a good, solid, simple recipe like this one is just essential. Essential. What's life without brownies?
M.