The next contender in the Brownie Project is Gold Medal Flour's Fudge Brownies recipe from their children's cookbook, Alpha-Bakery. A lot of people swear by Gold Medal cookbooks, so I figured this would be a good one to try. Natalie got the book for her birthday, along with a bunch of other cute baking things, and she was happy to offer it up for testing.
She was also really glad we were making brownies again.
This recipe turned out to be quite interesting. It's a one-pot (yes, pot!) recipe, in which the bakers melt chocolate chips and add ingredients to the pot after it's off the heat. Many of the steps are very easy for children to assist. And, for God's sake, they got the pan size right!
Slightly suspect, however, is their recommendation to cut an 8x8 sized pan of brownies into twenty. Twenty? How about eight? Twelve at the absolute most.
Also, the recipe calls for a 6 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I have never, ever seen a 6 oz bag. And then the recipe also calls for another cup of chips (not another 6 oz package?) to be sprinkled over the top. Why the change up in units? Is it something to do with the melting part? I honestly don't know, do any of you?
F is for Fudge Brownies
1/4 c of margarine or butter (naturally, we used butter)
1 package (6 oz) of chocolate chips (um. Eyeball half of your 12 oz bag)
3/4 c of sugar
2/3 c Gold Medal all purpose flour
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 eggs
1/2 c chopped nuts, if you like (we didn't)
1/2 c chocolate chips, if you like (we did)
1. Heat the oven to 350.
2. Grease the bottom only of an 8x8x2 square pan with shortening (we used butter since we had the buttery wrapper already in hand)
3. Heat butter and 1 package chocolate chips (that's a 6 oz package, folks!) in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted; remove from heat. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts and 1/2 c chocolate chips real hard (technical term there) with a wooden spoon until smooth.
4. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Spread in pan with a rubber scraper.
5. Bake until the center is set, about 30 minutes. Let brownies cool completely, then cut into 1 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch brownies. Makes 20 brownies.
We decided to pre-mix our "remaining ingredients" before adding them to the melted chocolate chips, mainly so that Natalie could have the fun of dumping and stirring at a safe distance from the gas stove.
We also decided to sprinkle the "1/2 c chocolate chips" over the top of the batter once it was in the pan.
OFFICIAL VERDICT: F is for Fudge Brownies from Gold Medal Flour's Alpha-Bakery cookbook
3 out of 5
One pot (but we added a bowl), very easy to involve children. But - too sweet (no really!) and not nearly chocolatey enough. They are almost like blondies. Even the extra chocolate chips on top didn't correct the lack of chocolate in the batter. Consistency was fudgy and good, and the thickness was right.
Next up: Disgustingly Rich Brownies from our friend Abby Taylor's favorite childhood cookbook.
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