Sunday, June 02, 2002


ok, managed to let most of the brownies sit overnight in plastic wrap, as malgieri recommends. . .

and they do get fudgier. in fact, almost all fudge. maybe too much like fudge. and the intense molasse-y flavor of the india tree muscavado sugar begins to predominate. this is not what i want at all.

let me think about what i really want in a brownie. right now here in new york, brownies are very chic. in fact, according to the new york times, the trend this summer is for people to have their wedding cakes made out of tiers of brownie, frosted in chocolate, and decorated with chocolate flowers. . .the fat witch brownie is the height of fashion. don't send flowers -- send brownies.

but i'm not so fond of them, personally. nor of the also-famed eli's brownies. . .i guess when i fully think of it, the brownie that most satisfied me was the one from the clove cafe. . .the little restaurant upstate that's also the home of mohonk roasters. of course, they're from the c.i.a., so i expect fantastic things from them. . .perhaps i need to make the malgieri brownie in a different pan, so it's thicker, use regular brown sugar, 8 or 10 oz. of valrhona, and also add some cocoa.

hmm. . .maybe what i'm looking for is more a cross of a flourless chocolate cake and a brownie. . .maybe i want layers. . .a layer of caramel? perhaps of something like ganache but firmer??? brownie layer, caramel layer, brownie layer, ganche-y layer, brownie layer. . .coconut???

here's where i most feel the total lack of technical baking training. . .it's hard for me to look at a recipe and always understand the proportions i need, the right pan, the little adjustments, to get a recipe tweaked in the direction i want it to go.

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