Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (36 page)

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking to insure even baking. If you bake one sheet at a time, bake it on the upper rack.

With a wide metal spatula transfer the cookies to racks to cool.

Package these carefully, they are fragile. Store them airtight.

NOTE
:
These may be sprinkled before baking with crystal sugar (see page 7), especially appropriate for pretzel shapes. For other shape cookies you might use chopped nuts, or glazed cherries.

Brownies

BROWNIES

WEST COAST BROWNIES

ALL-AMERICAN BROWNIES

BLACK PEPPER BROWNIES

SPICE BROWNIES

DATE-NUT BROWNIES

GINGER BROWNIES

PALM BEACH BROWNIES

CHOCOLATE OATMEAL BROWNIES

WHOLE-WHEAT BROWNIES

CHOCOLATE HONEY BARS

A BROWNIE SUNDAE

Someone once asked, “How can you write a whole book on just cookies?” and without thinking I answered, “1 could write a whole book on just Brownies.” In fact, I have written two other books which have ten Brownie recipes. Two of them are included here and I would have liked to reprint all the others as well.

It is important to time Brownies with the utmost care—two or three minutes can make a huge difference. If they are baked too long they will be dry instead of moist, but if they are not baked long enough they will be too wet. Start to test them a few minutes before the baking time is up. Test them carefully several times in different spots. Perfectly timed Brownies are a great accomplishment!

Here is a list of the additional Brownie recipes in my other books.

Petites Trianons

Greenwich Village Brownies

Cream Cheese Brownies

Fudge Brownies

Chocolate Mint Sticks

Dark Rocky Roads

Butterscotch Brownies

Brownie Crisps

Brownies

24 OR 32
B
ROWNIES

This is from my dessert book. These are the Brownies with which I started my reputation as a pastry chef when I was about ten years old. People who barely knew me, knew my Brownies. Since I always wrapped them individually I usually carried a few to give out. I occasionally meet people I never knew well and haven’t seen in many years, and the first thing they say is, “I remember your Brownies.” Sometimes they have forgotten my name—but they always remember my Brownies.

5 ounces (5 squares) unsweetened chocolate

5⅓ ounces (10⅔ tablespoons) sweet butter

1 tablespoon powdered (not granular) dry instant coffee

½ teaspoon salt

4 eggs (graded large or extra-large)

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

10 ounces (2½ generous cups) walnut halves or large pieces

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Butter a 10½ × 15½ × 1-inch jelly-roll pan. Line the bottom and sides with one long piece of wax paper, butter the paper lightly, dust it with flour, and invert over a piece of paper to tap lightly and shake out excess flour.

Place the chocolate and the butter in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until melted, stirring occasionally with a small wire whisk. Add the powdered dry instant coffee and stir to dissolve. Remove the top of the double boiler and set aside, uncovered, to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in the small bowl of an electric mixer, add the salt to the eggs and beat until slightly fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and beat at medium-high speed for 15 minutes. Transfer to the large bowl of the mixer.

Stir the vanilla and almond extracts into the chocolate mixture. On lowest speed add the chocolate to the eggs, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating
only enough to blend
. Still using lowest speed and the rubber spatula, add the flour, beating
only enough to blend
. Fold in the nuts, handling the mixture as little as possible.

Turn into the prepared pan and spread very evenly.

Place in the oven and
immediately
reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake 21 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick gently inserted in the middle just barely comes out clean. Do not overbake. These should be slightly moist.

Remove from the oven and immediately cover with a large rack or cookie sheet and invert. Remove the pan and wax paper. Cover with a large rack and invert again. After 10 or 15 minutes cover with a rack or cookie sheet and invert only for a moment to be sure that the Brownies are not sticking to the rack.

Cool completely. The cake will cut more neatly if it is chilled first—it is even best if it is partially frozen. (It may be cut in half and partially frozen one piece at a time if you don’t have room in your freezer for the whole thing.)

Transfer to a cutting board. To mark portions evenly, measure with a ruler and mark with toothpicks. Use a long, thin, very sharp knife or one with a finely serrated edge. Use a sawing motion when you cut in order not to squash the cake.

Wrap the Brownies individually in clear cellophane or wax paper (not plastic wrap, which is too hard to handle) or package them any way that is airtight—do not let them stand around and dry out.

West Coast Brownies

32
B
ROWNIES

I heard about Brownies called “Brownie Points” that are being sold in leading stores across the country. I was told they are very, very good. They are made in a bakery in Venice, California, by a young man named Richard Melcombe. I was delighted one day recently to open a California newspaper and see both the recipe and a picture of the baker, who calls himself Richmel.

This is my version of “Brownie Points.” Although they are rather thin (only ½ inch thick), they are extra chewy and moist. And the coffee and Kahlua or Cognac give them an unusually delicious and exotic flavor, but one probably more appreciated by adults than by children.

1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate

½ pound (2 sticks) sweet butter

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup dark or light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs (graded large or extra-large)

2 tablespoons Kahlua or Cognac

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ cup dry instant espresso or other powdered (not granular) instant coffee

6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate morsels

3 ounces (⅔ cup) walnut halves or large pieces

3 ounces (⅔ cup) pecan halves or large pieces

Adjust rack to the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 15½ × 10½ × 1-inch jelly-roll pan. Carefully line the pan with one long piece of wax paper. Then butter the paper and set the prepared pan aside.

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Stir occasionally until melted. Remove the top of the double boiler and set it aside, uncovered.

Place the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Cream the butter, add both sugars and beat well, then add the eggs, Kahlua or Cognac, vanilla, and dry instant espresso. Now add the melted chocolate and beat until blended. On low speed mix in the sifted dry ingredients.

Remove the mixture from the mixer and stir in the morsels and nuts.

Turn into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and dry. The cake will feel very soft. Do not overbake.

Cool in the pan, then cover with a large rack or a large cookie sheet. Invert, remove the pan and the
paper, cover with a cookie sheet and invert again, leaving the cake right side up.

Cut the cake into quarters. If the edges need to be trimmed (and they probably will) do it now after cutting the cake into quarters. Then cut each quarter into eighths.

Wrap each Brownie individually in cellophane or wax paper. Or package them in an airtight box with wax paper between the layers.

All-American Brownies

16
S
QUARES
,
OR 12 TO 24
B
ARS

This is from my cookie book. It is a classic recipe for what has to be the most popular of all home-made American cookies.

¼ pound (1 stick) sweet butter, cut into pieces

2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate

1 cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs (graded large or extra-large)

½ cup sifted all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

2 ounces (generous ½ cup) walnuts, broken into medium-size pieces

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8-inch square cake pan as follows: Turn the pan upside down. Tear off a 12-inch square of aluminum foil, center it over the inverted pan, fold down the sides and the corners, and then remove the foil and turn the pan right side up. Place the foil in the pan. In order not to tear the foil, use a pot holder or a folded towel and, pressing with the pot holder or towel, smooth the foil into place. Lightly butter the bottom and halfway up the sides, using soft or melted butter, and spreading it with a pastry brush or crumpled wax paper. Set aside.

Place the butter and the chocolate in a heavy 2- to 3-quart saucepan over the lowest heat. Stir occasionally with a rubber or a wooden spatula until the butter and chocolate are melted and smooth. Set aside to cool for about 3 minutes. Then stir in the sugar and the vanilla, and then the eggs, one at a time, stirring until smooth after each addition. Add the flour and salt and stir until smooth. Mix in the nuts.

Turn into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick gently inserted into the center of the cake barely comes out clean but not dry. Do not overbake. These should be soft and slightly moist.

Set aside to cool until the pan reaches room temperature. Then cover with a rack, invert, and remove the pan and the aluminum foil. The bottom of the cake should look slightly moist in the center. Cover with another rack and invert again, leaving the cake right side up. (It will be about ¾ inch thick.)