From Scratch

Well, yippee. It’s snowing again. I don’t mean flurries, but inch after stinkin’ inch of the heavy, wet stuff aptly called “heart attack snow” by the locals. This, on the heels of a fierce head cold that required so many tissues my nose still looks like Rudolph’s. 

What better way to cheer myself up than to head into the kitchen and try a new recipe with a new technique for an old favorite? If you think there’s nothing new about making brownies, then you didn’t read yesterday’s New York Times.

Julia Moskin revisited the American classic in the food section, featuring recipes by Dorie Greenspan, Nick Malgieri and Alice Medrich. It’s the latter that caught my eye. Her recipe not only uses a higher baking temperature, it also employs a technique called “shocking,” in which something hot is immediately transferred to ice or ice water. The recipe, from a 1999 book, calls this a “water bath,” which I associate with baked goods in the oven, not out.

The brownies went together quickly. If you’ve read a couple recipes here, you know I don’t dirty any more bowls or pans than I have to, so I microwaved the butter and chocolate in the same bowl I used for mixing the recipe.

Medrich calls them New Classic Brownies and you can find the recipe here. Believe me, seeing a pan of brownies floating in the sink is certainly an odder sight to my eyes than watching heart attack snow pile up after Easter. (PS-I just tried one. Great taste and mouthfeel - it’s absolutely creamy.)

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