Posts tagged ‘bittersweet’

I know Danielle will disagree with me on this point because she hates to bake, but one of my big pet peeves is the general population’s reliance on boxed cake, brownie, and cookie mixes. I just don’t see why people settle for these and why the prevailing school of thought is that it’s so much harder to pull together a dessert from scratch.

So to disprove the haters, I decided to do a head-to-head test of my favorite homemade brownie recipe (a very easy one; no chopping chocolate involved) and what I consider to be a decent-tasting boxed mix, Cherrybrook Kitchen’s Fudge Brownie Mix with Chocolate Chips.

First up, the Cherrybrook Kitchen box, in addition to the mix, called for:

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 2 tsp vegetable oil

It took me 2 minutes to melt the butter – this would have been quicker and easier if I had known exactly how many tablespoons of butter melted down to 1/3 cup, but I had to keep chunking butter and melting in the microwave until I got the right amount (it’s about 5 tbsp, for future reference).

It took another 5 minutes to stir all the ingredients together, and another 5 minutes for the oven to heat up to 350 degrees. Although the package said it would take 16-18 minutes to get a cakey brownie, it took 20 minutes with the homemade brownies baking alongside.
Total time: 32 minutes

Next, the homemade brownies, adapted from the Best Cocoa Brownies recipe in Bittersweet by Alice Medrich.

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cold large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

I made my ad hoc double boiler by bringing a small pan of water up to a simmer (5 minutes) and put the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a heatproof bowl while the water was heating up. I placed the bowl over the simmering water and stirred the mixture occasionally for another 5 minutes until the butter was melted and the mixture became warm and shiny but still a little granular. When I wasn’t stirring the cocoa mixture, I measured out the flour and vanilla extract, and cracked the eggs into a cup.

When I took the mixture off the heat, I stirred in the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time until it looked shiny and well-blended. Finally, I added the flour and beat well for about 30 seconds until it was all incorporated.

All in all, to get the ingredients together and into the pan took 13 minutes (during which time the oven can preheat to 350 degrees, so no extra time tacked on for that), and 23 minutes to bake.
Total time: 36 minutes

Note that for both recipes, I used a greased and floured 9-inch square glass pan and did the toothpick test, removing the brownies from the oven when a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan came out with moist cakey chunks on it.

Final verdict:
In a shocking conclusion, the mix brownies were overwhelmingly embraced by all and even I will admit that they were actually very, very good. The homemade recipe was intensely fudge-like and smooth, almost like a flourless chocolate cake, while the boxed mix was cakier and really did benefit from the inclusion of chocolate chips. The general consensus was neck and neck, but some were turned off by the homemade brownie’s richness.

After a few days (hey, I’ve been testing them on various friends and co-workers!), the homemade brownies started to get a little stale, but creepily enough, the boxed mix still tasted fresh. I don’t know if this is a pro or a con, to be honest.

I’ll definitely continue to make the homemade recipe if I need a base for a brownie sundae or am craving the fudgy texture over cakey, and being me, I’ll also try out a few more homemade brownie recipes for the hell of it. However, if you can’t abide baking (ahem, Danielle), it’s probably worth it to find a smaller purveyor’s boxed mix. You won’t save that much time by doing so, but you won’t lose that much in taste either.