State Fair Ribbon Fudge Brownies Food

FUDGE BROWNIES

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a baking pan with cooking spray.
• In a small saucepan, combine the butter and chopped chocolate and set over very low heat until melted. Stir the mixture and set aside to cool. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Measure the sugar into the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat in the cooled butter-chocolate mixture. Add the egg plus whites, vanilla, and water and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until blended. Don't overbeat. The batter will be thick. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 22 to 25 minutes; 23 minutes is usually right for me. When done, the top will look dry and a wooden pick inserted near the edge will come out with a few crumbs but the center will look slightly gooey. Cool in the pan and cut into squares.
• I have been trying for a couple of years to produce a brownie worthy of the name with less fat and less solid chocolate. My taste testers finally agree that this is it - a great brownie they would never suspect of being lower in anything. I have cut the classic 58 percent down to 31 percent calories from fat and eliminated 87 calories, 10 g fat, and 22 mg cholesterol from each brownie.
• When traditional proportions are disrupted, textures become moist and cakey at best or dry, insipid, and tough at worst. One rule emerges clearly: The fewer ingredients, the better the brownie. Avoid the usual low-fat stand-ins: applesauce, yogurt, corn syrup, canola oil. Use butter, but less, and replace most of the solid chocolate with rich-tasting Dutch-processed cocoa; retain at least 1 ounce of solid chocolate, however, for a more complex chocolate taste. A few tricks: Cake flour produced a more tender crumb than all-purpose, and melting the butter with the chocolate, as opposed to creaming the solid butter with the sugar, gave a fudgier crumb. A touch of baking powder seems to enhance the crunch of the top crust.
• Faced with the choice of adding high-fat chopped nuts or keeping the 1/4 cup butter, there was no contest; nuts put us over the top in fat content. However, if you feel deprived without them, sprinkle about 3 tablespoons of finely chopped walnuts on top before baking; the changes are modest: 33 percent calories from fat, plus 9 calories and 1g fat per brownie.

FUDGE PECAN BROWNIE TART

Steps:

• Combine flour, brown sugar and nuts in a large bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in milk and vanilla with a fork just until blended. Pat onto bottom and up the sides of an 11-in. tart pan; set aside. , For filling, melt chocolate and chips in the top of a double boiler over hot water. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Place in a large bowl and combine with sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; blend well. Gradually add flour, blending well after each addition. Add nuts. Pour over crust. , Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, or until center is just set and toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. , Meanwhile, for frosting, melt chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat. Add milk, butter, yolk and vanilla. Heat, stirring vigorously, until smooth and thick, about 5 minutes. Spread over tart. Garnish with whipped cream and pecans if desired.

RIGHTEOUS RASPBERRY BROWNIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12x9-inch baking dish and dust with 1 teaspoon cocoa powder.
• Beat eggs, superfine sugar, margarine, flour, chocolate chunks, and 3/4 cups cocoa powder together with an electric hand mixer in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Fold raspberries gently into the batter; spoon into the prepared baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is a bit crusty, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

RASPBERRY FUDGE BROWNIES

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line an 8 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, 2 whole eggs, and vanilla until combined. Mix in butter. In another bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; stir into butter mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool pan on wire rack.
• Whisk together the evaporated milk and egg yolk in a small saucepan. Heat over medium low, stirring constantly, until the mixture is very hot and thickens slightly; do not boil. Place the 4 ounces of chopped semisweet chocolate in a medium bowl, and slowly pour in the hot milk. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour the filling over the cooled brownies; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
• Beat the cream cheese with the raspberry jam in a large bowl until smooth. Fold in the whipped topping, and add the food coloring if desired. Top the cooled brownies with the frosting, using a cake comb to create a design. Cut brownies into 16 squares, then cut each square in half diagonally to form triangles. Garnish with chocolate curls if desired.

KENTUCKY BOURBON BROWNIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
• Place butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir frequently, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching, until chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely, 10 to 15 minutes.
• While chocolate cools, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
• Beat eggs in a bowl using an electric stand mixer or hand mixer until almost light in color. Mix in bourbon and vanilla extract. Gradually mix in sugar until well blended. Stir in chocolate-butter mixture. Stir in flour mixture until combined, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Fold in pecans. Spread brownie mixture into the prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges pull away from the sides of the pan, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

FROSTED FUDGE BROWNIES

Steps:

• In a saucepan, melt butter. Remove from the heat. Stir in cocoa; cool. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until blended. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture. Stir in vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture until well blended. , Spread into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-28 minutes (do not overbake). Cool on a wire rack. , For frosting, in a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in cocoa and vanilla. Add enough milk for the frosting to achieve spreading consistency. Spread over brownies. Cut into bars.