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Brownies: Chocolate vs. Cococa


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I don't have much experience with brownies, I've only made a single batch of brownies made with cocoa and 2 batches of brownies made with melted dark chocolate. A lot of recipes seem to be split between these two key chocolatey ingredients. I found that I liked the melted chocolate batch better, they had a better texture in my opinion but it could've just been a difference in recipe strengths.

I wanted to know what everyone else likes better, brownies made with cocoa or with melted chocolate. Another side question is about chocolate brands. What brands are good for baking? Thanks in advance.

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I prefer the ones with melted chocolate, texture-wise and taste-wise. Although, the ideal one for me includes both chocolate and a little cocoa powder - the combination intensifies the chocolate flavor. Here's one of my favorites, which uses both chocolate and cocoa:

Chewy Brownies from Fine Cooking

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes...y_brownies.aspx

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.
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I prefer the ones with melted chocolate, texture-wise and taste-wise. Although, the ideal one for me includes both chocolate and a little cocoa powder - the combination intensifies the chocolate flavor. Here's one of my favorites, which uses both chocolate and cocoa:

Chewy Brownies from Fine Cooking

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes...y_brownies.aspx

That looks greasy from the photo.

Eileen

Eileen Talanian

HowThe Cookie Crumbles.com

HomemadeGourmetMarshmallows.com

As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists. ~Joan Gussow

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I bake brownies a lot. One of the most dependable recipes is the Joy of Cooking Brownies Cockaigne--and I think it's one of the best. If you follow the direx carefully the only thing that can go wrong is if you over or under cook them, which of course isn't the fault of the recipe. The recipe uses melted chocolate, no cocoa. It's old-fashioned bakers chocolate, nothing fancy. I've tried subbing expensive chocolate and like the standard bakers better. The only thing I change routinely is the sugar--I don't like anything too sweet, so I cut back by about 1/3 cup.

I like to use a 9 x 13 pan for "chewy and moist" brownies as the recipe suggests instead of a 9 x 9 pan for "cakey." The texture is very good--I like my brownies dense but not gooey or fudgy. I do mess with the ingredients just a bit when I feel bored: sometimes I add a couple of Tbsp of instant espresso to the hot chocolate/butter mixture. Sometimes I add a handful of cocoa nibs or a half cup or less of chopped high quality chocolate at the end when the nuts go in. I might use Valrhona bittersweet orange or a dark mint chocolate. Other than making sure to cool the chocolate/butter mix before adding and to also cool the brownies well before cutting into them, this is a very forgiving recipe and takes kindly to customizing.

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My favourites so far have been with cocoa. My current favourite is Over-The-Fence Brownies on the King Arthur Flour site. Lots of cocoa with the option of adding chocolate chunks.

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

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I believe you can get a depth of flavor from melted chocolate that you can't get from cocoa. Some of the best, high end cocoa powders can let you come close, but for some reason they're not the same. There are also texture differences. Cocoa powder works like a starch and builds structure in a way that chocolate doesn't, so cocoa brownies tend to be chewy.

I spent several months developing brownie recipes, with the goal of maximizing chocolate and minimizing everything else. In the end what worked best was to use primarily melted chocolate, but to substitute cocoa for some of the flour. This works well, because chocolate is a tenderizing ingredient (because of the cocoa butter), and dark chocolates tend to require more structure building ingredients to keep the brownies from falling apart. Using a bit of cocoa helps minimize the amount of inert ingredients (like flour) and still get the structure you need.

Notes from the underbelly

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I prefer the ones with melted chocolate, texture-wise and taste-wise. Although, the ideal one for me includes both chocolate and a little cocoa powder - the combination intensifies the chocolate flavor. Here's one of my favorites, which uses both chocolate and cocoa:

Chewy Brownies from Fine Cooking

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes...y_brownies.aspx

I'm making these right now. I don't know how they will turn out, but the batter is delicious. How can you go wrong with that much butter and chocolate?

Alan

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I have a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that works really well. They get rave reviews when I bake them for my friends. It uses melted unsweetened chocolate. And cake flour, too. They really seem to strike a good balance between brownies that are like a slab of fudge and brownies that are like a piece of cake.

But I'd like to experiment with brownies made with cocoa powder, especially recipes formulated to use dutched cocoa. I have a good amount of it on hand.

Jeff Meeker, aka "jsmeeker"

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I prefer the ones with melted chocolate, texture-wise and taste-wise. Although, the ideal one for me includes both chocolate and a little cocoa powder - the combination intensifies the chocolate flavor. Here's one of my favorites, which uses both chocolate and cocoa:

Chewy Brownies from Fine Cooking

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes...y_brownies.aspx

I'm making these right now. I don't know how they will turn out, but the batter is delicious. How can you go wrong with that much butter and chocolate?

Alan

Ooh - I hope I'm not too late - I should have added in my notes that the baking time is a little too long on these, and I bake them about 32 minutes in a metal pan. Hope you see this!

Edited by merstar (log)
There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.
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I prefer the ones with melted chocolate, texture-wise and taste-wise. Although, the ideal one for me includes both chocolate and a little cocoa powder - the combination intensifies the chocolate flavor. Here's one of my favorites, which uses both chocolate and cocoa:

Chewy Brownies from Fine Cooking

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes...y_brownies.aspx

I'm making these right now. I don't know how they will turn out, but the batter is delicious. How can you go wrong with that much butter and chocolate?

Alan

Ooh - I hope I'm not too late - I should have added in my notes that the baking time is a little too long on these, and I bake them about 32 minutes in a metal pan. Hope you see this!

Luckily I checked them almost ten minutes early, as they looked pretty much done, and they were. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to taste them.

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I tried the brownie recipe found in Bo Friberg's book. I kinda had to guess a bit with the conversions. You can see a picture of them here. Had to play around with the baking time too since I used a different sized pan than the one specified in the book.

Thanks for the recipes and input, I'm gonna have to have some sort of brownie bake-off at home. More input and recipes are appreciated :smile:.

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