Cocoa and Walnut Brownies
Valentine's Day Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Desserts
Classic American brownies. This version uses cocoa instead of chocolate and turns out great if you use quality cocoa powder (I used 1/2 Schmidt and 1/2 Valrhona). The recipe belongs to Alice Medrich, I just adapted the quantities for my pan, reduced the sugar a bit and added coffee extract.
Ingredients
210g butter (82% fat)
120g cocoa powder (20% fat)
300g sugar
3 cold eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1 packet vanilla sugar)
1 teaspoon coffee extract (or 1 teaspoon instant coffee)
100g all-purpose flour (type 550 or BL55)
100g chopped walnuts
1 pinch of salt
How to prepare cocoa and walnut brownies
- Melt the butter over low heat, without letting it get too hot. Add the sugar and mix until combined. Add the cocoa, extracts and salt and mix well. Remove the pot from heat and if it's hot, let it cool down.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon after each one. At the end, the mixture will be glossy.
- Add the flour and mix with a spatula using folding motions until no longer visible, then mix a few more times until the batter pulls away slightly from the sides of the bowl.
- Fold in the chopped walnuts. The final mixture will be dense and sticky.
- Put the batter in a 28 x 18 cm pan (well-buttered or lined with parchment paper) and level it well with the back of a spoon.
- Bake at 165°C (330°F) for about 35 minutes (after 30 minutes I started checking with a toothpick in the center until no soft batter remained on it).
- Remove from oven and after it cools, cut into squares. The brownie is not very tall, up to 3 cm.
Brownie batter
Batter leveled in the pan
