Ping Alex: Hyper-chocolately brownies

Hi, Alex. If vanilla pods aren't available, what's the vanilla extract substitution ratio?

Brownies

14 oz. (1 3/4 cup) dark brown sugar 12 oz. unsweetened chocolate 9 oz. (1 1/8 cup) white bread flour 5 oz. (10 tbsp) unsalted butter 3 large eggs 1 vanilla bean 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Thoroughly grease a 9" * 9" square pan and set in the refrigerator. Break the chocolate into small pieces, melt carefully in a double boiler, remove from heat, and set aside to cool. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise with a knife and scrape the insides in a large bowl along with the sugar and the salt. Mix well, breaking up lumps in the sugar. Cut the butter into small squares. Mix it in to the sugar (a wooden spoon works great for this) until thoroughly blended, minimizing air addition (i.e. do not cream). Stir in the chocolate and mix until fully blended. Add the eggs, one by one, stirring each until it is fully incorporated before adding the next. Blend in the flour slowly - this will take some effort: the mix should have the consistency of firm cookie dough. Spread the mixture into the pan and smooth with a knife. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Cool completely and cut into squares as large as you want when you are ready to serve.

Reply to
Scott
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If they're not available, I suggest just not using any vanilla at all. The full power of real vanilla beans is really the only thing that has much chance of cutting through the power of all that chocolate, until you start adding so much extract that the brownies end up tasting *very* boozy and probably turn out soggy. (They might even catch fire!) The vanilla is a small tweak - it adds "dimension" to the flavour in the same way that salt adds dimension to savoury dishes. So without the vanilla it might taste flat in a way that's hard to place, but that's about it. Not anything that would be the end of the world.

Reply to
Alex Rast

When I made brownies this week, I decided to add one of those little squares of the Cluizel 99% chocolate in with the rest of the chocolate, and not use the fake vanilla extract. The results was WONDERFUL!

Reply to
Davida Chazan - The Chocolate Lady

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