Brownie love

I didn't know what a brownie was until about four years ago. In Greece, they had just become popular, along with cupcakes, but it wasn't until I moved to Holland that I experienced the real brownie, when one of my neighbors who is American, offered me a freshly baked one.






I became aware of their importance in the American food culture when I started this blog and discovered fellow bloggers from the United States who posted brownie recipes one after the other, raving about their fudginess. chewiness. awesomeness. I had to find out more; plus, chocolate was involved, so how could I not?






For any of you who don't know exactly what a brownie is, like I didn't some years ago, allow me to explain. Brownies are like cake but denser and heavier, and are usually made without a leavening agent. They consist of only a few basic ingredients and are generally made in one bowl. They're served in cut squares or bars and are often accompanied by milk (my favorite combination) or coffee.






There are three basic types of brownies, depending on their texture: a) fudgy brownies, that are dense, b) cake-like brownies, that resemble the texture of cake, and c) chewy brownies, a cross between fudgy and cakey. The ones I'm sharing with you, fall into the third category. There is also a fourth type of brownie, called a blondie, made without chocolate but with the addition of brown sugar.
The texture of brownies largely depends on the ratio of flour, butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate in the batter, as well as the method of mixing those ingredients together.
Brownies can also be made with a variety of nuts, chocolate chips, fruits and other ingredients.






The first time I made brownies myself, was a couple of years ago, when Deb of smitten kitchen—a fantastic cook, baker and food blogger—posted her cocoa brownies, that she had adapted from a recipe by Alice Medrich. It was lust at first bite, and that brownie promptly became my favorite kind of cocoa treat. But after a while, I became antsy, as it oftentimes happens with me, and I wanted to find something else. There were a lot of promising recipes which I did follow; recipes for fudgy brownies, recipes for cakey brownies, for chewy brownies. Some of them were flops, some of them were "blah", others delightful. Most of them contained too much sugar or too little chocolate, while others were too cake-like, too sticky, too chewy.






Last summer, I thought I've found the one; the best chocolate brownie ever. I had been meaning to share it with you ever since, but a few days ago, everything changed, as I ran into this recipe by Ruth Reichl in Gilt Taste. Ms. Reichl's chocolate brownie recipe is a vamped up one, as her goal is to make a better brownie, one that uses quality ingredients to boost up its flavor and texture and essentially, make the regular brownie extraordinary.






I was hooked and luckily, as I read through the recipe, I realized I had everything at hand to make the brownies. The verdict? They were the best brownies I have ever made, or better yet, sampled. They were chewy and fudgy, but not too fudgy that they stick to your teeth, the chocolate flavor was present but not overpowering, they were dense yet they retained that elusive lightness, they were soft and moist in the middle and crackly and crispy on top, they were, in a nutshell, the perfect brownie. S, who is famously anti-brownie, said to me, and I quote, "These are the best brownies I have ever tasted".






However, I have to mention the fact that they were slightly too sweet for my liking, that is why I used less sugar the second time I made them. Furthermore, Ruth Reichl suggests that you beat the eggs and sugar very well in a stand mixer, having as a result a taller brownie but instead, I opted for a wire whisk. I wanted my brownies to not be quite that tall and to be a little more chewy and dense.






If you are like S and me, and chocolate is your thing, but you don't want to make a huge fuss over Valentine's (for us especially this year, with all that's been happening back home in Greece these past few days), then make some brownies. Cut out some fondant little hearts to decorate the squares, and give them to your loved one.
They will love you forever. Or, at least, until they have the last bite of this brownie.











Chocolate Brownies
Adapted from Ruth Reichl

As I mentioned above, I used a wire whisk to beat the batter. You need some muscle to do this so if you are finding it difficult to beat by hand, switch to using a hand-held mixer. Make sure though to not overbeat the ingredients, in order to achieve a chewy and moist texture.

The important thing with these brownies is baking time. You want them to be cooked but not all the way through, as to retain some moisture and fudginess. You definitely don't want them to be dried out and cakey.

Please don't skip on dusting the Dutch-processed cocoa powder on the bottom of the pan. It adds some welcomed bitterness to the sweet brownies and a nice cocoa flavor. I also love the dark color it imparts. Notice in the photographs how different the bottom and top of the brownies look.






Yield: 16 large brownie squares

Ingredients
150 g good quality dark 55% chocolate, chopped
140 g unsalted butter, cut into cubes plus extra for buttering the pan
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
350 g caster sugar
4 large eggs
½ tsp sea salt
140 g all-purpose flour
Dutch-processed cocoa powder, for dusting the pan

White rolled fondant, for decorating the brownies (optional)

Special equipment: large wire whisk, fine sieve, 20x20 cm square baking pan, baking paper, little heart cookie cutter (optional)


Preparation
Butter the bottom and sides of the square pan. Line the bottom with a piece of baking paper and butter it. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with some cocoa powder and tap the excess out.

Place the chocolate and the butter in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water and melt, stirring often. The bottom of the bowl must not come in contact with the simmering water. Once the mixture is smooth and melted, remove bowl from the top of the pan and stir in the vanilla extract. Set aside to cool slightly.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.


In a large bowl, add the eggs and the salt and beat well with a whisk for 1 minute, until they foam up. Add the sugar and beat with more vigor for about 3 minutes, until the mixture becomes a little fluffy.
Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture to the bowl and beat for ½ minute, until the ingredients have just combined.
Finally, sieve the flour over the bowl and mix it in using the whisk, folding the flour in the batter instead of beating it in, until just combined and there are no visible patches of flour.

Empty the batter in the prepared pan, place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and immediately turn the temperature of the oven down to 175 degrees Celsius. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the middle, comes out with some moist crumbs attached.


Take the pan out of the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool slightly. Remove the brownies from the pan by inverting it onto the wire rack. Remove and discard the baking paper and allow the brownies to cool completely. Invert the brownies onto a cutting board and cut them into 16 large squares, or if you wish, 32 smaller ones.

If you want to make these for Valentine's Day, you can cut out little fondant hearts and press them on top of each brownie.

Keep the brownies covered, at room temperature, for 3-4 days.

The Spetzofai

Ideally, I would prefer to use in my cooking fruits and vegetables that are in season and that don't come from thousands of kilometers away or from another continent but from the country I live in. That, I believe, is something every one of us should be doing anyway.






Eating foods that are in season, not only reduces your carbon footprint but it's a way to actively support your local farmers and save money. When produce is in season locally and it's in abundance, it is usually less expensive and you can get more for your money. Let's face it, if you want to buy strawberries in the middle of winter, you're going to have to pay thrice as much for half the amount. Is it really worth it?






Not to mention the health benefits of eating fresh, organic, unprocessed foods, and of course one other factor, the taste; nothing beats the vibrant, highly fragrant and juicy quality of in-season fruits and vegetables that are packed with flavor and nutrients.






Having said all that, I am one of those people who get uncontrollable craves from time to time and do succumb to the allure of the odd aubergine (to make papoutsakia) or asparagus in winter and I have to admit, even though reluctantly, that I eat courgettes all year round.






There are times when I simply can't help myself. When a glistening and perfectly round greenhouse tomato smiles at me in the produce isle of the super market when all I have been craving that day was a Greek horiatiki salad, well, it's too much of a pressure not to put that tomato in my basket. And when relatives from Greece have sent me a boxful of goodies, including horiatika loukanika (Greek, country/peasant sausages) so spicy and aromatic that they beg of me to make spetzofai with them, what can I do? I have to buy peppers, even though they are not in season.






The traditional Greek dish of Spetzofai (or Spetsofai) has always been among my favorite dishes from a very young age. It is a rustic spicy dish of peppers and thick country sausages in a rich tomato sauce, and it is a specialty of the Mount Pelion and Volos regions of Thessaly in Central Greece. These regions produce the most robust-flavored and delicious, fiery sausages made from goat, sheep, beef and pork meat, that are generally used in dishes like the spetzofai.






Even though spetzofai is a classic Greek dish, its name is derived from the Italian word 'spezzatino' (meaning a dish containing small pieces of meat / from the verb spezzare = to break something into pieces). The word spetzofai is a composite word (spetzo- and -fai); the first part, 'spetzo', is derived from spezzatino and the second part 'fai', is the Greek word for food.






This deliciously luscious dish is made in Greece all year round and it is generally eaten as a main dish. It is also offered as a mezes, served in a small plate and accompanying other small savory treats, along with lots of tsipouro or wine.






There are many variations of spetzofai all around Greece; the one from Pelio contains aubergines, while in other areas they prepare it with just green bell peppers and elsewhere, multicolored peppers as well as hot and piquant ones are added to the dish.

Greek kefalotyri cheese, cubed

My spetzofai is made with a variety of peppers, Greek spicy country sausages, fresh tomatoes and red wine, and it has an intensely deep and earthy flavor. It is one of those dishes that once you get a taste of it, you simply can't stop eating it. Paired with feta or kefalotyri cheese, lots of crusty bread* to soak up all that thick red sauce, and some booze, it is guaranteed to warm you up during the dark and snowy days of winter—like the ones we've been having.






* or, you can just combine cheese and bread into one, and pair the spetzofai with another Mount Pelion specialty, the tyropsomo—the Greek feta-filled bread.







Greek Spetzofai (Peppers and Spicy Country Sausages in a Rich Tomato Sauce)

If you use sausages that are very piquant and spicy, you may want to tone it down with the peppers, using only mild-flavored ones like bell peppers. If your sausages are not that spicy, then go all out with the peppers and use the most fiery ones you can handle.

I used long sweet red peppers from Florina and long light-green mild peppers (bull's horn peppers), called 'kerato' in Greece. If you can't find these where you live, you can use what's available in your country.

If you can find them, use Greek country spicy sausages from Pelio or Volos, otherwise any kind of thick spicy sausage will do. The flavor of the sausages is prominent, as the peppers are fried in the rendered sausage fat, so make sure you use good quality sausages.

Read here on how to handle hot chili peppers.






Yield: 4 main servings

Ingredients
4 spicy thick country sausages (pork or beef / I prefer pork), sliced thickly (about 4 cm-thick slices)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large green bell peppers, deseeded and cut into large pieces
4 long sweet red peppers, deseeded and cut into large strips
2 red long chili peppers, deseeded and cut in half lengthwise
1 green long chili pepper, deseeded and cut in half lengthwise
5 long light-green mild peppers, deseeded and cut into large strips
3 medium-sized tomatoes (not skinned), puréed in a processor, or 450-500 g canned puréed tomatoes
1 ½ tsp tomato paste
60 ml (¼ cup) dry red wine, Greek Agiorgitiko or Cabernet Sauvignon
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Special equipment: food processor (optional), a large, shallow, heavy-bottomed pan or skillet with lid


Preparation
In a large, shallow, heavy-bottomed pan or skillet, add 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer, add the sausage slices and fry them until they release some of their fat and take on a golden brown color, for about 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and place them in a large bowl.
Add the green bell peppers to the pan and sauté them well on both sides, until they soften a bit. Remove them from the pan and into the large bowl with the sausages.
Add the long red peppers and both green and red chili peppers to the pan. Sauté them well on both sides, until they slightly soften, remove them from the pan and place them in the bowl.
Add the long green peppers, sauté them well on both sides, until they soften, remove them from the pan and place them in the bowl.


Then add the puréed tomatoes and cook over medium heat, scraping the bottom of the pan as you do, to get all those burnt up bits that are oh-so-flavorful. Cook the puréed tomatoes until they start to thicken and add the tomato paste. Stir it around to dissolve and add the rest of the olive oil (1 Tbsp) and the wine. Stir everything around and when the alcohol from the wine has evaporated and you can't smell it anymore, allow the sauce to simmer for 3 minutes.
Then, return the sausages and peppers to the pan, stir everything around, mixing all the ingredients well, and allow to come to the boil. Put on the lid, turn heat down to low and allow to simmer gently for about 20 minutes, until the sausages are cooked through and the peppers have softened.
Have a taste and check for seasoning. If the sausages you're using are too spicy or salty, you'll probably won't need to add any salt or pepper.

Serve with lots of crusty bread, with feta or kefalotyri and don't forget the tsipouro or red wine.

The spetzofai is even tastier the following day, as the flavors have had time to develop and deepen.

A sweet hybrid: the cookie-muffin

I have told you this before; I'm not a huge lover of cookies. But every once in a while, I come across one that steals my heart away, one that makes me want to eat it again and again.






Granted, these are rare incidences and even rarer when it comes to cookies or biscuits that are not in my Greek repertoire, yet somehow I become hooked. I'm powerless to resist their allure, which of course leads to the complete disregard of my just one dessert/chocolate/piece of cake-a-week rule. Yes, I have to restrain myself like that.






So, I discovered something more exciting than a simple cookie. I discovered the cookie-muffin. Ok, some of you may already be familiar with the concept but up until a year ago, I wasn't.






Cookie-muffin or muffin-cookie, call it what you will, is cookie dough baked in a muffin tin. What you end up with, is basically a larger, moister cookie with a crunchy exterior and a soft and chewy interior. In this particular case, a soft and chewy interior filled with chocolate chunks that ooze out of the cookie-muffin when it's warm from the oven, and become solid little pieces of chocolate heaven once it's cooled. The Fleur de Sel accentuates the taste of the chocolate and gives the cookie-muffin an extra layer of flavor that you instantly notice when you take the first bite.






Ever since I discovered this sweet hybrid, my idea of a cookie changed drastically. The possibilities were endless. I ended up making every kind of cookie I knew into a cookie-muffin. Not all of them worked, but it was worth the try.






I based the recipe for this chocolate chunk cookie-muffin on a chocolate chip cookie recipe by master chocolatier Jacques Torres. I have to say, the original recipe is superb and it is definitely worth a try, but as I tinkered with it several times, I came up with something that better suits my tastes. Plus, Torres says you need to refrigerate the cookie dough for 24 to 36 (!) hours and I'm notorious for my lack of patience when it comes to things like that.






The main differences ingredient-wise, apart from quantities, are the omission of the baking soda, the substitution of the cake flour for all-purpose flour and the substitution of the light brown sugar for dark brown sugar. I love the strong molasses flavor of dark brown sugar, and the color it imparts to the cookie-muffin is so much more appealing to me than the paleness of the average choc-chip cookie.






I always try to find the right words to describe whatever kind of food, savory or sweet dish, or treat I share with you, and even though I know that the word 'delicious' is rather trite, there are times when that exact word is all I want to say, and mean it.
So, here it goes; this chocolate chunk cookie-muffin is simply delicious, reader.











Chocolate Chunk Cookie-Muffins with Fleur de Sel
Adapted from Jacques Torres via The New York Times

You can use Fleur de Sel (hand-harvested sea salt) or any other good quality coarse sea salt; Maldon sea salt flakes would be great as well.

I used chocolate with 70% cocoa solids but if you have a really sweet tooth then you can definitely use a 55%.

So, what if you don't have a muffin/cupcake tin? That's ok, you can simply make regular cookies instead. Just make sure you refrigerate the dough for an hour (so they won't spread a lot during baking) and then scoop small balls of dough (ping pong ball-shaped) onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, leaving a 3-4 cm gap between them, and bake them in the oven for 9-10 minutes.

The dough for these cookie-muffins freezes well and you can keep it in your freezer for up to 2 months. Shape the dough into small cylinders, take one out of the freezer, cut into 2-3 cm slices for cookies or 5-6 cm slices for cookie-muffins, and bake away.






Yield: 15 cookie-muffins (or around 30 cookies)

Ingredients
180 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250 g soft dark brown sugar
80 g caster sugar
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
200 g strong flour (bread flour)
200 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Fleur de Sel
160 g dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids, cut into small chunks

Special equipment: stand or hand-held mixer, one or two 12-cup muffin/cupcake pans, paper liners (optional)


Preparation
In the bowl of the stand mixer (or in a large bowl) add the butter, soft dark brown sugar and caster sugar. Beat, using the paddle attachment (or with your hand-held mixer), on medium-high speed until creamy.
Add the vanilla extract and the first egg and beat well. Add the second egg and beat well.
Add the strong and all-purpose flour, the baking powder and the Fleur de Sel, and beat until just combined.
Add the chocolate chunks and mix with your hands, kneading lightly the dough, until the chocolate chunks are distributed throughout the dough and there are no visible patches of flour.


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Take your muffin/cupcake pan and butter the cups lightly. Alternatively, you can line the cups with paper liners. Take the dough and form balls, roughly the size of a mandarin. Place dough balls into each cup of the muffin pan and press them down gently. The cups must be filled by 3/4 with dough.
Bake in the preheated oven, on the middle rack, for 13-15 minutes, until they take on a golden brown color but are still soft in the middle.
Take the pan out of the oven and allow the cookie-muffins to cool a bit before you take them out of the muffin cups. Then place them on a wire rack to cool.

Eat them warm, and the chocolate will ooze out of the cookie-muffin. Eat them cold, and the chocolate chunks will be deliciously dense. Either way, they're perfect.

You can keep them, covered, at room temperature for 3-4 days.