Ramblings, with a side of brownies

What is your favorite dessert?  You've probably been asked before at some point...Are you able to answer it?  When the question came up, my first inclination was to say there's no way I can pick just one!  We all crave different things at different times and, frankly, there is way too much deliciousness out there to limit anything.

But it does get you thinking...If I really had to pick, what would it be?  My first thought was: ice cream!  If I didn't have to worry about my waistline, I'd eat lots of ice cream each and every day!  Chocolate, mint chocolate chip, with lots of crunchy nuts...

But when I thought more about it, my brain went right to molten chocolate cake, with vanilla ice cream.  There is something truly magical about the liquid pool of warm chocolate that flows from this cake that mixes perfectly with the cold ice cream on your tongue.  I guess I may be cheating by incorporating two desserts into one but they belong together.

Now although the molten cake is well established for me, I got to thinking about my next favorite thing and it dawned on me that it must be...good old-fashioned brownies.  It is an old friend, for sure.  Ideally, the brownie would be warm, served (again) with vanilla ice cream.  I rarely eat vanilla ice cream on its own but it is the perfect partner to chocolate desserts, isn't it?

I have not inhaled a brownie I didn't appreciate, including those that come at the end of a kids' meal.  And I didn't fail to notice that my two favorite picks are very similar.  The brownies and ice cream is almost like the predecessor, more accessible/approachable cousin of the two.  If I'd never met the molten cake, maybe my heart would still belong to the brownie...

Long ago when we were dating, my husband and I used to eat at Uno all the time.  We'd order almost the same things every time: buffalo wings or pizza skins (sometimes both) to start, then, almost invariably, fettucine alfredo with chicken and broccoli for me and chicken spinoccoli or something else for my husband (he was/is the more adventurous of the two of us).  And we would always end the meal by sharing the brownie bowl.  Warm brownie, vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce...you know what I'm talking about!

Don't I wish we could still eat like that on a regular basis!  In fact, we hadn't eaten at Uno (or "Uno's" as we call it) in years - as in at least 7 years since our son was born.  I'm not altogether sure why but what probably got me thinking about all this was we finally ate at Uno again a couple of weeks ago.  Over a long weekend, we took an extended-family trip to an indoor water park.  For dinner that night, we saw an Uno across the street and decided to go.  There were 5 kids in our group, who got to make their own pizzas and get the Uno experience for the first time (it was a hit).  For my husband and I, we marveled that the menu was the same - if anything, the portions seemed even bigger than we remembered - and the buffalo wings were just as good as ever. 

We capped off that meal with mini desserts - for me, the brownie bowl!  I don't know what it is but once I had dessert, my body relaxed and I finally felt satisfied.  Sure, maybe the brownie didn't have a ton of chocolate flavor, but somehow the combination of warm brownie, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce hits the spot no matter what.  (If you ever go to a Houstons, I recommend the warm five-nut brownie that comes with vanilla ice cream.)

I remember fondly making my first pan of brownies at a friend's house when I was barely a teenager.  And I used to make brownies from the box all the time before I started cooking and baking from scratch.  As good as homemade is, I'd forgotten the one great thing about the boxed mix - how chewy the brownies are.  Remember those super chewy edges - the reason why those funny looking brownie edge pans were born?  So this whole walk down memory lane lead me into trying the America's Test Kitchen recipe for chewy brownies.

I won't bore you with all the science behind what they discovered (since I only understand the basics myself) but supposedly, a lower ratio of saturated fat to unsaturated fat is key.  That is, you use more oil as opposed to butter.  There are other nuances but I'll leave the explanations to the experts.  It makes sense when you consider that we never added butter to those supermarket box mixes, just oil and eggs. 

Now, to talk about this recipe, my brownies were not as chewy as I expected or remember the box versions being.  As always, I give my honest experience and takeaway.  Because they're clearly billed as "chewy", I was expecting stick-to-your-teeth kind of chewiness - or something close to it.  Maybe it was me but these were definitely fudgy, with crisp and just slightly chewy edges.  I wouldn't take a bite and say "wow, these are really chewy brownies!"  And I did cool them thoroughly before slicing or tasting them - a good 2 1/2 hours  - as the recipe says is a must.

The combination of taste and texture did remind me of a really good box mix brownie though.  Actually, to be fair, it's much better than a brownie mix as far as flavor goes.  But maybe because it was on my mind or because it does have a slightly milder flavor than other brownies I've baked from scratch, it reminded me of those box mixes I proudly whipped up back in the day.

My taste has changed a bit since I baked that first batch of brownies with my school friend long ago.  Now, I look for fudginess with a bit of chew and I want deep chocolate flavor.  If you're the same way, let me point you to this recipe: here (it's in cake form but you could simply bake it in a square pan and forgo the frosting).  That said, however, we had no problems gobbling up this batch of brownies and I most certainly appreciated it.

Scharffen Berger (one bowl) brownies

There are lots of brownie recipes out there.  Much like with chocolate chip cookies, or, for that matter, most popular desserts.  One might call for a little more/less butter, chocolate, or flour and, oftentimes, the differences can be quite minute.  I want to stay faithful to a good recipe (and I certainly have my favorites) but I like to try something new in hopes of stumbling upon a great combination.

I've mentioned before that I've yet to meet a brownie that I didn't like.  We can count these Scharffen Berger brownies among the list.  The recipe is from the late Robert Steinberg, of the American chocolate company Scharffen Berger (now owned by Hershey).  It's a simple, one-bowl recipe, that just requires a little muscle power because you must mix the batter rather vigorously by hand (but it only takes about a minute). 

Normally, I don't think you need to use your best chocolates to make brownies (though it never hurts) but in this case, I thought it appropriate to use Scharffen Berger.  I realize that you really can taste the difference in the end result.  I'm not totally convinced it's necessary for everyday, particularly if you intend to down your brownie in ice cream and chocolate sauce, for example, but you really do taste what you put in.  That's particularly the case here because this recipe is heavy on the chocolate, lighter on the butter and other accompaniments.

The fun part of making this particular batch of brownies were the little helpers I had in the kitchen with me: my 5-year old niece and my little guy!  We'd just gotten home after a five-day road trip together and the next morning, I thought it would be fun to try this simple recipe together and have a little project in the kitchen.  My little niece was an enthusiastic and excellent helper!  She wanted to do each part, watch everything, and would wait patiently for instruction.  And ironically, she does not even like chocolate (sigh...) and most sweets in general.  My little guy was more interested in playing that particularly morning but he also helped and is my very reliable taste-tester.

These brownies came out fudgy in the center and deep in chocolate flavor.  Texturally, I prefer the brownies from Baked, which are just sinfully moist, but these have a more pronounced chocolate flavor.  Next time around, I'd use a smaller, 8-inch, rather than 9-inch, baking pan.  Partly since I didn't use nuts, these brownies were thinner than I like.  Better yet, I'd use some toasted nuts next time (despite the little guy's likely protest) since I think some crunchy nuts would be a great balance against the dark chocolate flavor of these brownies. 

Classic brownies

What do peonies have in common with brownies?

Well, nothing really...Except that when I think of peonies, I call them paper flowers because I remember making these flowers out of different color tissue paper when I was a kid at school.  They were so pretty.  And I'm nostalgic about brownies in a similar way.  I only spent a part of my childhood here in the States, having just arrived here from Hong Kong at eight years old.  But I'll be forever thankful that I met the very awesome, American brownie.

As a chocolate lover, brownies are one of my favorite treats of all time.  I am no snob but I'm generally pretty picky about dessert (and food in general).  But I have rarely met a brownie I didn't like.  To me, even the bad ones are pretty good.  I guess it's the simplicity that I love and the fact that it's all about the chocolate.  I also love that brownie texture, or that chewy bite you get when you sink your teeth into it.  It also helps that whenever you see brownies on the dessert menu - pretty often at one of the restaurant chains - it always comes with a scoop of ice-cream on top and maybe some chocolate sauce too.  Now, who can complain about that... 

I love anything that gives me an excuse to eat ice-cream.  Whenever my son gets a brownie dessert as part of his kids' meal, I can't help but sneak a few bites.