american brownies

I absolutely love midnight baking. Especially when it involves chocolatey, gooey, fudgy brownies. This is one of those recipes that’s hard to screw up. All you have to do is mix mix mix and bake. That’s all. 

I had found this recipe on Another Foody Blog and couldn’t ignore it because it was from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. I had heard a lot about the deliciousness of Hummingbird’s creations.

It didn’t take long for the brownie to bake, probably around 30 to 35 minutes. If you don’t already know, I love to under bake things especially those that have the possibility of becoming soft and gooey like brownies and cookies. So I took it out of the oven while it was still gooey on the inside and let it cool for about 4 to 5 hours. I had tried to cut the brownie after an hour and it fell apart so I gave it more time to firm up.

I was literally dying to know what it tastes like. But I had to hold myself back. Hardest part of the whole process. If you have the will power to let it cool and harden for the whole night, it would be much better. Because these brownies tasted AMAZING the next day and the day after and the day after that. 

Of course it also depends on the chocolate that you use. If you’re looking for a rich chocolate flavor then make sure you buy good quality dark chocolate. You won’t regret it! I used Frey’s Swiss Dark Chocolate and was completely happy with the flavor. 

P.S- I might decrease the amount of sugar because this turned out to be too sweet for my liking. Next time I’ll probably use just below 1 cup.

Traditional American Brownies

from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
175g unsalted butter
325g caster sugar
130g plain flour
3 eggs
icing sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Grease a square baking pan (I used parchment paper instead because I love having less items to wash afterwards)

Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of bowl. Once melted and smooth, remove from the heat and add the sugar, whisk until sugar has dissolved. Add flour and stir well until incorporated. Finally, stir in the eggs and mix until thick and smooth.

Pour the mixture onto the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until flaky on top but still soft in the centre. Make sure you don’t over-bake the edges otherwise they will be crunchy. Leave to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar.