Fudgy Brownies

What's a foodie blog without any brownies post. I have not really touched the pastry chapter of the Mastering the Art of French Cooking book as I'm still busy experiencing the veggies chapter - which is a hassle for me, in view of my existing hatred to veggies LOL.

Alrighty, this is a mandatory homemade cake for every choco mania - just like me. I still remember my first brownies in (circa) 1994, baked with a microwave and Jamaican rum LOL, and my late Mom said it tasted like a tire (but she still ate it tho out of appreciation to me). It was so different back in 1994, whereby I could only find recipes in the "Mom"'s magazines. So, when me and my bro found it, we made it right away, followed the instruction except for the part where we didn't know that a microwave is different with an oven LOL. OK, so I think me - myself (and most of you) have baked brownies hundred times with various methods in life. My preference for brownies has differed within years. There's a period of time when I loved chewy brownies, and then times when I loved cakey brownies, choco chips brownies, cheese topping etc. In the past 3 years I've been so fond of the "it" fudgy brownies. Yep, the type that crusty on the outside but melting on the inside. Look at that, I just can't help it. I can survive without eating any rice, noodles or any other staple food but not without brownies hehe.

When I started to use my new electric oven, I found it some kind of tricky to make a fudgy brownies that I used to make. So I tried to substitute things, beating period, and changing my default heat and baking period. Voila, I'm back on track. It's so important to really understand our equipment - just like scuba diving. Another thing that I found so important is the selection of chocolate. As you may be aware, for a fudgy brownies, it is required to have a larger proportion of fat (from the chocolate and the butter) than flours. So the chocolate taste will be dominant in our fudgy brownies (as well as the butter).

In this fudgy brownies, I used 2 types of choco i.e. Belgian dark choco bar (I melted it with the butter), and dark chocho powder. I have tried different chocos (it was the most favorite compound choco by bakers but it just doesn't suit me), and years ago I often used the Italian famous dark choco bar. Well, there it is, my most recent fave brownies - fudgy with the Belgian choco and sliced almonds on top - some other times I also add Brandy to taste wkwk. Just my two cents, if you do not really familiar with your electric oven, please go back to the basic logic of a traditional oven. In which, it only has the bottom heat that came from the stove. Any electric oven will have the bottom heat feature - and we can always go from there. So there are at least 3 things to be highlighted in baking a fudgy brownies i.e.: (i) chocolate selection, (ii) heat vs. baking period, and (iii) fat vs. flour proportions. Recipe? Oh dear you can always find it all over the internet, but I bet you will still modify at least 2 of the ingredients. All and all, have fun baking! My motto: Brownies to live, and live for brownies wkwk. This is my kryptonite :)