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Stormageddon Brownies

Thursday, January 29, 2015 19:47

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When I was a kid, I was in love with storms. I’d sit watching the snow, the rain, and lightening arc across the sky. I even remember my first hurricane; I must’ve been about 5 or 6 and I recall how fascinated I was by the wind. I was frightened, but it was that excitement mixed with fear, like being on a roller coaster, which settled the experience into my mind as a positive memory, especially because of the brilliant rainbow that followed.

Then came Sandy. Even though I didn’t experience any lasting physical damage, my attitude towards storms has radically changed. Instead of excitement, the idea of going through even a thunderstorm now makes me anxious to the point of terror. It’s not that I panic, but it’s a horrible feeling. And, if I think too much, or give in to the anxiety, then it would certainly shift into panic. So, when faced with a serious storm, I prepare.

I’m not one of those folks who run to the supermarket the day before a storm, but I do have my own preparations. We always have a supply of water and food, well in excess of the “recommended” 72-hour supply. Sometimes, when facing down a potentially serious storm, I might make sure I have things on hand like eggs, flour, chocolate chips. I’ll take my sourdough starter out of the fridge to proof for a few days, figuring I’ll probably bake up a loaf while waiting for the storm to hit. If I have ingredients on hand for soup, which I always do especially during a fall or winter storm, I’ll make a big batch of something scrumptious far enough in advance, so we can have a supply of it in the fridge and freezer. Two days before the storm, I crank up the fridge and both freezers to the coldest setting. I reorganize the freezers so there isn’t any empty space left. Packing everything tightly, I fill up any empty space with plastic containers filled a little more than halfway full with water. I did the same thing a few days before Sandy and even though we lost power for about a week, none of our food went bad because I had enough DIY ice-packs to keep everything cold. (For more on preparedness, before a storm or just before the storm season check out my article “Frankenstorm?” and the really neat post I found on FoodStorageMoms “Empty Grocery Store–Now What?” My only issue with the blog is the near unilateral recommendation of Thrive products. Thrive is great, but there are better buys out there.)


The “unofficial” tally on Staten Island, from the local paper….I’m inclined to think it was measured in a dune. We did have about 8″ in my area.

This past storm moved in such a way that my neck of the woods got a little under a foot of snow, something, otherwise I’d find my nervousness and my butterflies in the chest start to turn truly vicious. Glancing into the pantry, I saw a massive bag of chocolate chips and remembered that even though every last carton of eggs in Staten Island had been ripped from the store shelves in a frenzy, I had exactly 5 eggs on hand to do something with. Hubby had gone to the store after he had gotten off work the day before and grabbed some milk, but said that the only reason there was any milk to grab was that it was organic. Otherwise, every loaf of bread, every carton of eggs, and every other kind of milk (including the Lactaid) was gone. I suppose even when faced with a Snowpocalypse Staten

Islanders don’t brook with Organic Milk. I decided on a course of action: brownies.
more than what the rest of NYC received but so very much less than what was predicted, or what other areas got. But, while the storm was raging, I was alone, as I was during Sandy. Hubby was at work, being “essential personnel” he really didn’t have a choice. I found myself too nervous to do much in the way of writing or reading or sewing or anything in that vein of creativity. I had watched all the Weather Alerts I could stand. In the lead-up to the storm, I had already made exactly 2 loaves of bread, one sourdough, one whole wheat. Well, 3 loaves if you count the sourdough I gave to my brother. I made a pot of lentil soup and another of leek. I had no more room for any more soups. But I had to do

But, I couldn’t find a recipe to suit my ingredients. I had no unsweetened chocolate to melt over a double boiler. The internet was wonky and I couldn’t get online to find something suitable, so I decided to do something that you just don’t normally do in baking. I found my usual recipe and adapted it to suit my ingredients. I experimented and swapped whole wheat flour for the standard white flour. All I had was whole wheat. I added chili– which is something I always have to add to my brownies and with chili and chocolate must go a dash of espresso and a dash of cinnamon. On top of that I made a massive mistake, which turned my brownie recipe into the Dessert Round of Chopped. But, the end result has to be the best batch of brownies I have ever made.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
4 tbsp. dark cocoa powder (or dutch cocoa powder)
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ cup turbinado or brown sugar
½ cup splenda for baking*
¾ stick of softened butter, unsalted
3 eggs
½ cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp hot tomato jam (optional)**
2 tbsp habanero apricot jam (optional)***
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ghost chili powder (optional)
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. espresso powder
²/₃ cup shelled pecan halves
²/₃cup shelled walnuts
²/₃ cup semisweet chocolate chips

*Splenda for baking is a half splenda, half sugar blend. I’ve never used regular splenda for baking and I’m not sure how it would work. I try to cut down the amount of sugar because of hubby’s diabetes. You don’t need to use splenda for baking, but can double the turbinado or brown sugar, or even do half turbinado, half brown sugar.

**Yup. You read that correctly. Hot Tomato Jam. That’s the mistake. In my freezer, I had two containers of fig jam that a friend gave me. They were homemade fig jam, all delectable with candied citron and a hint of cognac and not too sweet. In the past, my brownie recipes called for ridiculous amounts of sugar, but even before hubby became diabetic, I tried cutting back on the sugar. Adding a tablespoon or two of jam added sweetness and moisture without adding pure sugar. Sometimes I’ve used applesauce, but for brownies, I still had to add sugar. The fig jam did the trick and the texture of the fig seeds was a marvel. Alas, as I discovered with this recipe, what I thought was the 2^ndcontainer of fig jam, still in the freezer, was hot tomato jam. I felt like I was in an episode of Choppedand found hot tomato jam in the mystery basket. I had already added the 2 tablespoons to my batch and didn’t have enough eggs to ditch everything… so I improvised. The Hot Tomato Jam is NOT required. The recipe my friend made did not have any savory ingredients in it, no onion, no garlic. It was just tomato, candied citron, sugar, and had the same hint of cognac. In the end, it worked out, so maybe it wasn’t a mistake.

I didn’t use all these chilis in this recipe… but a lot went into that apricot jam I made.

***I’m not sure why I decided to add this. I was experimenting. Again, no savory ingredients. It’s just homemade apricot jam made with habanero and ghost chili. Like the Hot Tomato Jam, this is NOT required. Both jams added a tartness and moisture that I think was the extra ingredient here. You can improvise and use a jam you already have on hand. I think a mixture of blueberry and cherry jam might work, or strawberry and raspberry, maybe even apple butter.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350°.
In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powders. Don’t skip this step. Sifting aerates the flour and makes sure there’s no lumpy bits in the cocoa powders, baking powder, or the salt. As far as the salt goes, don’t cook or bake with regular table salt. You wind up using too much because it melts before it really flavors your food. When using kosher salt, you actually wind up using less salt and getting better flavor.
Into a separate bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, and eggs,. I use a hand whisk, but you could use an electric. Blend together well and whisk for a few minutes until the color lightens a bit.

The color won’t be really light because you’re using brown or turbinado sugar. But you get the idea.
Then add the espresso powder, cinnamon, jams, yogurt, vanilla and ghost chili to the wet mixture. Again blend. Do NOT use an electric mixer. If you’ve been using one, take a moment to fold the ingredients together with a spoon or spatula. You don’t want the electric mixer to give you a face full of ghost chili. Once you have the chili incorporated, you can go back to mixing with your electric contraption, but a hand whisk works just fine.
Working a cup at a time, start whisking the dry ingredients into the wet. Don’t do it all at once, or you’ll get your dry ingredients flying all over the kitchen. Once you have all the dry incorporated, beat for a few minutes to make sure there are no lumps.
Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips and the nuts. Don’t use an electric mixer as the tines may break up the nuts.
Butter a baking pan. I used a 8×8 square, but I like hefty brownies. It did take over an hour to bake though. You can use a larger pan to make a thinner brownie. But you’ll have to keep an eye on it. The thinner the brownie, the faster it will bake. Bake until firm and your tester (toothpick) comes out clean, anywhere from 25 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of your pan.

Like I said, we were lucky we didn’t get slammed by this storm that some folks described like a hurricane with snow. I was a little nervous waiting for the brownies to bake and I was praying that while I had the oven on, I didn’t lose power. But, it all worked out. The chocolatey goodness of the brownies with the kick of spice helped me deal with the storm that raged outside.

Source: http://www.green-and-growing.com/2015/01/stormageddon-brownies.html

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