Oh. My. Goodness. I made these brownies to take to a friend's house for a low-key New Year's Eve gathering that involved lots of Scrabble, tv and catching up on life. They are sooooo gooooood. Leave it to Nigella to come up with an amazing brownie recipe. Now, I love a good brownie mix in the box (Ghirardelli is really superior to any others), but I'm going to be hard pressed to go back to the box now that I have this little gem in my arsenal. They took work - mise en place, or setting out all your ingredients ahead of time, will serve you well here - but I cannot emphasize enough just how worth the effort these brownies are. I copied and pasted this recipe from foodnetwork.com, but I have annotated it with a few additional tips/tidbits of information.
Triple Chocolate Brownies - Nigella Lawson (from foodnetwork.com)
3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chips)
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups superfine sugar (LBDelicious note: don't go buying superfine sugar. Put 1 3/4 cups of regular sugar in the blender, and turn it into "superfine" in a few seconds.)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white chocolate buttons, chips, or morsels
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate buttons, chips or morsels (I used Ghirardelli for both white and semi-sweet chocolate; brand loyal, I know, but I swear it makes a difference.)
Approximately 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar, for garnish (totally missed that step and they were still tasty.)
Special equipment: Baking tin (approximately 11 1/4 inches by 9 inches by 2 inches), sides and base lined with baking parchment. (I used my regular old brownie pan, and actually did take the time to line the bottom and sides with parchment, then sprayed them with cooking spray.)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the baking tin.
Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a large heavy based pan over a low heat.
In a bowl, beat the eggs together with the superfine sugar and vanilla extract. (LBDelicious note: I may have added a few tablespoons of leftover coffee at this point because I love coffee and chocolate together.)
Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well. (LBDelicious note: worried I'd end up with chocolatey scrambled eggs, I tempered the egg mixture first by whisking in, very slowly, about a cup of the warm chocolate/butter mixture to bring up the temperature of the egg/sugar mixture. Then I slowly whisked in the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture. Turned out great.) Fold in the flour and salt. (LBDelicious: used a big ol' whisk, added the flour all at once and nearly lost half of it. Add flour gradually!) Then stir in the white chocolate buttons or chips, and the semisweet chocolate buttons or chips. Beat to combine then scrape and pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin. (LBDelicious note: no one will judge you if you purposely don't scrape all the mixture into the pan because you want to eat a good 1/3 cup of the brownie batter.)
Bake for about 25 (LBDelicious note: 30) minutes. You can see when the brownies are ready because the top dries to a slightly paler brown speckle, while the middle remains dark, dense and gooey.
Allow to cool, cut and enjoy.
And, for added fun, after they've cooled, pop one in the microwave for a few seconds, then top it with a scoop of ice cream (we happen to have Edy's Slow-Churned Low-Fat Caramel in the freezer).
Showing posts with label brownies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brownies. Show all posts
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
All this Talk About Adderall Makes Me Crave Caffeine: Espresso Brownies
I love my job. I really do. I get paid to teach, ask questions, answer them, write, and argue with people. This week, I'm writing and answering questions more than usual: it's quals week! I'm 3 down (effects, fem theory, and methods) and 1 (critical/cultural approaches to mass comm) to go. All the stress has pretty much gone away - if I don't know it by now, I'm kind of out of luck- and I feel good about my answers. They're not perfect. Hell, they may not even be exactly right. I'll find out on April 11. But, I'm doing my quals! It's cool.
However, I. Am. So. Freaking. Tired.
As I sit here with my iced latte, trying to stay awake until advertising, and as if I haven't written enough already this week, I feel the need to blog. It's a nice distraction from doing what I need to do - finishing up a conference paper and making a quiz. I'm reflecting on another part of my job - listening to other people make arguments. I just heard a research presentation by one of our Associate Professors (who's unfortunately an Alabama fan... but I won't hold it against him since he's also into critical studies) about the uses and abuses of Adderall on college campuses. His research shocked me; I knew people were using it, but seriously? That much? And there's really no side effects? No dependency? Besides the moral (you're stealing someone else's prescription?) and ethical (it's an FDA level II controlled substance) and general good sense (it's like CRACK) issues to consider, I have to say, right now, some adderall might do me some good. Especially as I think about how antsy I get sitting in a small room for 4 hours at a time writing. I got up to walk around 4 times today during my question. I could not sit still. I think had my parents had better sense raising me, they would have (should have?) put me on some ritalin. But, I hate drugs. I can't take anything stronger than a Tylenol without feeling exceptionally strange. My mom and I still laugh about the last time I was given anesthesia (wisdom teeth removal), because I woke up, crying hysterically, shaking, worried about my dog, Chi-Chi.
Anyway. Back to my point (yes, I have one). I don't think it's so much a problem that kids are taking adderall - kids in my classes, mind you - the problem is with the greater cultural expectations that our kids are learning. That good ol' American value of hard work paying off? "Kids today" are getting a horribly distorted version of what that means, and the consequences of wanting and having it all. My problem with adderall is not its abuse; my problem is that we are socially constructing (co-constructing?) that it is acceptable for people to do drugs in order to "get it all done." When life happens, unexpectedly, as it does, tell me that you didn't have time to do your homework. I'll count of 10% and let you turn it in tomorrow. Don't take an adderall and come to my class sleep deprived and wired. Maybe something else is going on in your life that makes it so you can't write that paper due next week. Talk to me about it! Family problems? I can certainly relate. Let's talk about ways to manage your family along with your own budding life and desire for independence. What happens when you get in the workplace and you have a boss demanding an extra 20 hours a week of your time; are you going to pop an adderall so you can work and spend time with your kids when you get home? Not a good strategy! It catches up with you. Regardless of the absence of side effects, why aren't we enculturating people to live their lives? Dare I say it - be imperfect? Experience raw emotions? Live through the pain and the stress?
Problems for another day. Let's bake something with my favorite stimulant - caffeine. Giada's Espresso Brownies. They are my favorite brownies. The frosting is sooooo goooood. I would make my usual suggestions and alterations, but like most everything Giada does, it's perfect, just as she writes it.
Now. Back to work. Adderall free!
However, I. Am. So. Freaking. Tired.
As I sit here with my iced latte, trying to stay awake until advertising, and as if I haven't written enough already this week, I feel the need to blog. It's a nice distraction from doing what I need to do - finishing up a conference paper and making a quiz. I'm reflecting on another part of my job - listening to other people make arguments. I just heard a research presentation by one of our Associate Professors (who's unfortunately an Alabama fan... but I won't hold it against him since he's also into critical studies) about the uses and abuses of Adderall on college campuses. His research shocked me; I knew people were using it, but seriously? That much? And there's really no side effects? No dependency? Besides the moral (you're stealing someone else's prescription?) and ethical (it's an FDA level II controlled substance) and general good sense (it's like CRACK) issues to consider, I have to say, right now, some adderall might do me some good. Especially as I think about how antsy I get sitting in a small room for 4 hours at a time writing. I got up to walk around 4 times today during my question. I could not sit still. I think had my parents had better sense raising me, they would have (should have?) put me on some ritalin. But, I hate drugs. I can't take anything stronger than a Tylenol without feeling exceptionally strange. My mom and I still laugh about the last time I was given anesthesia (wisdom teeth removal), because I woke up, crying hysterically, shaking, worried about my dog, Chi-Chi.
Anyway. Back to my point (yes, I have one). I don't think it's so much a problem that kids are taking adderall - kids in my classes, mind you - the problem is with the greater cultural expectations that our kids are learning. That good ol' American value of hard work paying off? "Kids today" are getting a horribly distorted version of what that means, and the consequences of wanting and having it all. My problem with adderall is not its abuse; my problem is that we are socially constructing (co-constructing?) that it is acceptable for people to do drugs in order to "get it all done." When life happens, unexpectedly, as it does, tell me that you didn't have time to do your homework. I'll count of 10% and let you turn it in tomorrow. Don't take an adderall and come to my class sleep deprived and wired. Maybe something else is going on in your life that makes it so you can't write that paper due next week. Talk to me about it! Family problems? I can certainly relate. Let's talk about ways to manage your family along with your own budding life and desire for independence. What happens when you get in the workplace and you have a boss demanding an extra 20 hours a week of your time; are you going to pop an adderall so you can work and spend time with your kids when you get home? Not a good strategy! It catches up with you. Regardless of the absence of side effects, why aren't we enculturating people to live their lives? Dare I say it - be imperfect? Experience raw emotions? Live through the pain and the stress?
Problems for another day. Let's bake something with my favorite stimulant - caffeine. Giada's Espresso Brownies. They are my favorite brownies. The frosting is sooooo goooood. I would make my usual suggestions and alterations, but like most everything Giada does, it's perfect, just as she writes it.
Now. Back to work. Adderall free!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
S'mores Brownies
I somehow persuaded everyone to go eat lunch with me today at Bangkok House, my new favorite Thai place in Lexvegas. It is birthday week, after all, so that's really all the excuse we needed to get out of the office, not work, and not eat whatever else we brought for lunch today. Anyway, right after I showed him how to personalize ring tones, John "gently reminded" me that I should blog more, especially since he thinks he's hot stuff now that he has his own blog. I'm not one to get in a "blog-off," but just because I'm still in procrastination mode, and becuase I made something really good this week, here is a new recipe and a blog update for y'all.
S'mores Brownies
adapted from Food Network
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, finely processed
1/2 stick melted butter
1 box Ghirardelli brownie mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 egg
almost a whole bag of marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350. In a 9 x 13" pan, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press down into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven to cool.
Meanwhile, make brownies according to package directions (mine called for oil/water/egg - yours may be different - but I highly recommend using Ghirardelli brand). Pour batter over the graham cracker crust. Bake until almost done, taking brownies out of the oven with about 5 minutes left to cook. Then, pour marshmallows all over the top of the almost-done brownies and stick them back in the oven to melt/get golden brown on top, about 5-7 minutes depending on the oven. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!
The Food Network version tells you how to make the brownie part from scratch. This weekend, though, there just wasn't time for "made from scratch" brownies. So I used a box, and everyone here thought they were just fine. No complaints from broke and hungry grad students! These were seriously the bomb for me. I loved them. And I don't even care for s'mores all that much.
Happy Birthday Week to us all!
S'mores Brownies
adapted from Food Network
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, finely processed
1/2 stick melted butter
1 box Ghirardelli brownie mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 egg
almost a whole bag of marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350. In a 9 x 13" pan, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press down into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven to cool.
Meanwhile, make brownies according to package directions (mine called for oil/water/egg - yours may be different - but I highly recommend using Ghirardelli brand). Pour batter over the graham cracker crust. Bake until almost done, taking brownies out of the oven with about 5 minutes left to cook. Then, pour marshmallows all over the top of the almost-done brownies and stick them back in the oven to melt/get golden brown on top, about 5-7 minutes depending on the oven. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!
The Food Network version tells you how to make the brownie part from scratch. This weekend, though, there just wasn't time for "made from scratch" brownies. So I used a box, and everyone here thought they were just fine. No complaints from broke and hungry grad students! These were seriously the bomb for me. I loved them. And I don't even care for s'mores all that much.
Happy Birthday Week to us all!
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