These brownies are greeted with cries of delight anywhere I take them. They look dark and dangerous and taste amazing. Made with brown sugar and whole wheat flour though, you can almost imagine they are healthy. There is a little trick to making the chocolate top shine. One of my favourite recipes from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.

This recipe is quick and fairly easy. The hardest part is leaving the brownies uncut overnight to let the flavour develop. I use a loose bottomed pan and line the pan with parchment paper. There’s a couple of methods for lining; the ‘approved’ collar method which you can see at this link or my super fast ‘loincloth’ method.

The loin cloth method can result in some brownie stuck in the corners but has the benefit of speed and simplicity. Basically, it’s two pieces of parchment that cross over. Cut two pieces of parchment; one slightly wider than the width and one slightly wider than the length. Each piece should be long enough to cover the bottom and come up the sides with extra roughly 3 times width (or length) of the bottom. Lay the ‘wide’ piece in first and crease the bit of overlap in the corners. Then do the ‘length’ piece, doing likewise with the bit of overlap in the corners. Not always perfect coverage but the brownies will still come out easily.

Ingredients

225 grams unsalted butter

425 grams light or dark brown sugar

65 grams Dutch process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon strong instant coffee granules

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs

170 grams whole wheat flour

350 grams chocolate chips – dark chocolate, semi sweet (for Americans traditional Nestle Toll House morsels) or milk chocolate if you’ve got a real sweet tooth

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 170C, 150C if you’re using a fan oven. If you have the option, don’t use the fan in the oven. These brownies do like a more gentle bake.
2. Line your pan or pans. The original recipe calls for 9″ by 13″ (23 cm by 33 cm). I prefer a square pan for this recipe and sometimes make a small square (15 cm by 15 cm) and a medium square (23 cm by 23 cm). If you don’t have exactly the right size pan, do some arithmetic. Here’s how to solve this equation: the area of pan (length times width) is 23 cm x 33 cm = 759 sq cms. My two smaller square pans: 15 x 15 = 225 sq cms and 23 x 23 = 529. 225 + 529 = 754 sq cms.
3. Place the butter in a microwave bowl. Melt the butter, then stir in the brown sugar. Put the butter and sugar back in the microwave and heat it to the point of bubbling. I do this in 30 second bursts to keep in from making a big sticky mess in the microwave. Heating the butter and sugar this second time gives the top it’s beautiful shiny look.
4. Mix the coffee granules with a tiny bit of hot water to make a paste.
5. Add the coffee paste, cocoa, baking powder, salt and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. Whisk together and check the temperature with your finger. It should feel like hot bath water. If (improbably) it’s too hot, leave it for five minutes.
6. Combine the flour and the chocolate chips. Coating the chips in the flour helps to distribute them more evenly in the batter.
7. Whisk in the eggs, then add the flour and chocolate chip mixture. Stir well to combine, scraping up from the bottom of the bowl to make sure all the mixture is incorporated.
8. Put the batter in your pan or pans and place them in oven. Bake about 30 minutes until your cake tester gives you crumbs. The top should look set and start to crack.
9. Leave overnight if you can or at least until completely cooled.

Enjoy.

Can I cook my way through this book?

I have so many interests I’m not expecting to be bored in retirement.  But I’ve decided I need a quest.  Weed free flower beds – although laudable – are not quest worthy.  Neither is the perfectly organised linen closet . (Although also on my personal list of to dos).

My quest is to cook every recipe in my favourite baking cookbook ‘King Arthur Flour Whole Grain’.    I haven’t dared to count the recipes (yet) but it runs to 612 pages including the appendices .  It starts with granola and waffle recipe, runs the gamut of muffins, cakes, breads, scones, pies, rolls and quiches.  Any type of baked good you can imagine is in this book and made with whole grains.

My sister gave me this book several years ago and there are a number of family favourites already;  pumpkin bread, banana chocolate chip muffins, the best damn brownies ever and sunrise muffins.  TBH – I’ve never had an out and out fail using this book.   Some of the recipes require patience.  Not sure I will report every single recipe separately but I will keep a running tally.  And report back on the good, the bad and the ugly.

Cake or death!

Home made bagels, baking that gives you a workout.

I used this recipe from www.justonebiteplease.com and it was amazing.  They freeze really well; remove, microwave for 15-30 seconds and its instant breakfast.

I’m still figuring out having my own website, so be patient with me!

Thanks

Bagels “Old School” – Hand Shaped, Boiled, and Hearth Baked