Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Recipe scale down


DonnaMarieNJ

Recommended Posts

This is my favorite brownie recipe, and I'd like to know how to cut it in half. There is way too much for me to make at one time. Should I just cut every ingredient in half? And how do I do that? For instance, how do I measure 2 1/2 eggs, or split 3 3/4 cup of sugar and/or 1 2/3 cups flour? I'm not good at the math part.... And what size pan should I use? Should I use the same temp? And how long to bake it? Or do you suggest I make the full batch and freeze them?

I'm not the best baker and any help would be welcomed!

THANK YOU!

Here is the recipe and I know some of you are familiar with it, because I found it on egullet:

Maida Heatter’s Palm Beach Brownies

Woman's Day magazine says:

These are the biggest, thickest, gooiest, chewiest, darkest, sweetest, mostest-of-the-most chocolate bars with an almost wet middle and a crisp-crunchy top. It’s best to bake these a day before—they can’t be cut into bars when too fresh.

8 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

5 large eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 Tbsp instant espresso powder (not granular)

3 3/4 cups sugar

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups walnut halves or pieces

Oven to 425°F

1. Place rack on bottom third of oven. Invert 13 x 9 pan, cover with foil, press foil to cover pan well. Take the foil mold and put it now on the inside of the pan. Coat foil with spray or oil.

2. Melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat; set aside.

3. Combine eggs, vanilla, almond extract, salt, instant coffee and sugar with hand mixer 10 minutes on high. Turn mixer to low and add chocolate mixture; beat only until mixed. Add flour just until blended. Add nuts if desired. Pour into pan.

4. Bake (covering loosely with foil after about 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning) 30 to 35 minutes, reversing pan front to back as necessary to ensure even baking, until a wooden pick inserted in middle comes out wet and covered with chocolate. It’s done. Don’t bake it any more.

5. Allow to stand until room temperature. Invert the pan onto cutting board or cooling rack. Remove pan and foil. Cover with serving platter or cutting board and turn brownie over so it is upright.

6. Chill overnight before cutting. Trim dark edges to have uniform look and clean shape.

7. Cut with a serrated bread knife.

8. Wrap each brownie in plastic wrap. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Modified from Woman's Day magazine, who adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts © 2006 by Maida Heatter. Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Edited by gfron1 (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello DonnamarieNJ,

My suggestions would be to weigh out all those ingredients and write down the weights...then you can split those weights in half for your recipe. You will have the halfed recipe and you will have a more accurate way of making your brownies...

Hope this helps...

Have a great day,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a half recipe, I usually use a 8x8 pan and for a quarter recipe I use a loaf pan which is a nice size batch of brownies for the two of us. I'd probably check it after about 20 minutes. And remember to keep the notes. I keep forgetting :rolleyes: to write down how long I do bake on one of my faves that I split from a loaf into muffins. One quick bread loaf recipe usually makes a nice dozen muffins as well.

Pamela Wilkinson

www.portlandfood.org

Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or you can stand tall, show it your teeth and say "Dish it up, Baby, and don't skimp on the jalapeños."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

about the eggs--what i'd do is use 2, then crack a third, mix it up with a fork and use (an eyeballed) half. save the other half for another use, if you are like that...

(but i'd only do in once...)

Edited by chezcherie (log)

"Laughter is brightest where food is best."

www.chezcherie.com

Author of The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook ,The I Love Trader Joe's Party Cookbook and The I Love Trader Joe's Around the World Cookbook

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And speaking of this recipe, Heatter says that the middle is "almost wet." Well, I do everything exactly as she says and mine is VERY wet. I still love them, but to make them less wet, should I cook them longer (she says no more than 35 minutes at 425)? I've tried that and they burn.... I tried to lower the temp and cook longer, but that didn't work either. Should I try more flour? Put foil on the pan? Will I still get the crunchy top (THE BEST PART)?

As I mentioned above, I am NOT a baker.

Thank you all once again for all of your help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, are you sure you're using large eggs? If the eggs you use are estra large, or Jumbo, the batter will be too moist. Second, to divide the recipe the recipe in half, as far as the egg content goes, I'd use three small eggs rather than try to divide large ones. As you can see by the chart below (courtesy of Steven Shaw's eggscelent article, "All About Eggs", right here on eGullet, the weight will be just about halved. Add a tablespoon of water to make up the additional half ounce, if you feel it needs it.

Jumbo

Carton weight: 30oz.

Egg weight: 2.5oz.

Extra large

Carton weight: 27oz.

Egg weight: 2.25oz.

Large

Carton weight: 24oz.

Egg weight: 2oz.

Medium

Carton weight: 21oz.

Egg weight: 1.75oz.

Small

Carton weight: 18oz.

Egg weight: 1.5oz.

Peewee

Carton weight: 15oz.

Egg weight: 1.25oz.

Sugar would convert to half of 3.75 cups to be 1.875 cups or 1 3/4 plus two tablespoons.

Hope this helps!

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, Judiu!! :biggrin::wub:

Is there a site where I can do that myself so I don't have to bother the forum? I did try to look on the internet to divide the sugar, but became frustrated.....

What about the flour? One-half cup plus one-third cup?

THANK YOU EVERYONE! :wub::wub::wub:

PS - It may very well have been my eggs - they were out of the carton and may have been jumbo. :wacko: I will try again!!!!!

First, are you sure you're using large eggs? If the eggs you use are estra large, or Jumbo, the batter will be too moist. Second, to divide the recipe the recipe in half, as far as the egg content goes, I'd use three small eggs rather than try to divide large ones. As you can see by the chart below (courtesy of Steven Shaw's eggscelent article, "All About Eggs", right here on eGullet, the weight will be just about halved. Add a tablespoon of water to make up the additional half ounce, if you feel it needs it.

Jumbo

Carton weight: 30oz.

Egg weight: 2.5oz.

Extra large

Carton weight: 27oz.

Egg weight: 2.25oz.

Large

Carton weight: 24oz.

Egg weight: 2oz.

Medium

Carton weight: 21oz.

Egg weight: 1.75oz.

Small

Carton weight: 18oz.

Egg weight: 1.5oz.

Peewee

Carton weight: 15oz.

Egg weight: 1.25oz.

Sugar would convert to half of 3.75 cups to be 1.875 cups or 1 3/4  plus two tablespoons.

Hope this helps!

Edited by DonnaMarieNJ (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the flour?  One-half cup plus one-third cup?

My bonehead method:

Measure flour into the 1/2 measuring cup till its half full. Do the same for a 1/3 measuring cup, measuring flour in till its half full.

For splitting eggs: I use powdered whole eggs (from Bob's Red Mill) to measure out the half, or other weird fractions of an egg.

flavor floozy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...