27.10.09

15 minute emergency brownies



I don´t want to start with a tiresome cliché about how brownies are the little black dress of chocolate puddings, so I won´t.  I will say, though, that they´re an endlessly useful recipe, because everyone seems to love brownies, and they go with everything, and they can be served just as is for a picnic or dolled up with hot fudge and ice cream for your best dinner party.

Or so I think, anyway.

They can also be frozen, so that when you make a big batch and have leftovers you can remove temptation, a little. Once they´re frozen they don´t even have to be thawed; just slice them thinly  and you won´t miss any Swiss bonbon.

If they have one shortcoming it´s the  impromptu chocolate binge. From start to finish, including baking time and cooling time, it´s at least an hour before you can be biting into your brownie. Not bad, but sometimes not quick enough.

For these moments we have the wonder brownie, also known as the brownie-cookie (no, I won´t say brookie).

This is simply a scaled down recipe, made with just one egg, and baked in dollops, cookiewise, for just five or six minutes.

The result are about fifteen wodgy disks, chewy at the rim, fudgy in the middle, perfect for scoffing right out of the oven, or to serve any way you would a brownie, in case of a brownie emergency.


I made them on Sunday and it took me eighteen minutes from start to finish, but that included doing the sums, never my forte. Since you have it done already, count on fifteen minutes, tops.


Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Melt 65 grams of chopped chocolate and 65 of butter in a bowl in the mircowave, on medium, for a minute. Once out, stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon so it mixes really well. Add one egg, beat, add 65 grams of sugar, and 40 of flour. Pinch of salt, stir well and spoon onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for six or seven minutes. 

In this time you can lick the bowl and spoon, wash them for real, make coffee and prepare a pretty tray.

A palette knife might be good to take the things out, as they´ll be still sticky in the middle.

Serve and astound friends and family. You´re gonna love me for these, I bet.


Oh, and if you want to make a proper tray, the recipe I use is Nigella Lawson´s from How to be a domestic goddess, minus 100 gr. of sugar. It´s here.

8 comentarios:

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) dijo...

I love the notion of an emergency brownie! Sometimes you just have to have one, and at those times, it doesn't matter if the brownie is square or rectangular or just a blob on the plate.

LE BLOG dijo...

uhmmmm!!! Yo los he probado y están de muerte natural!!!

delicooks dijo...

I love the idea of frozen some brownies for any emergency!!!

Abra dijo...

I tried these and my husband fell in love with them immediately!

Dinners & Dreams dijo...

I need emergency brownies right now! I should make some for when I'm feeling exhausted again at the end of next week. Thank you for sharing.

Nisrine

lulu dijo...

wow. i really did not know that brownies were this simple to make! thanks for the inspiration. i also love the idea of freezing a batch!

shayma dijo...

the painting you drew for Kitchen Musings's blog (duck confit) was so amazing. i followed the link from her page to your blog. very, very lovely.

lobstersquad dijo...

Lydia: best kind of emergency, I should think
Le blog: ay sí. malegro
delicooks: they taste great frozen
Abra: I´m so glad you made them! thanks for saying you liked it
Dinners...: they always come in handy, so go ahead
Lulu: oh yes, they´re real kids´ stuff
Shayma: thank you, I´m very glad you foung hte blog

Share