These brownies are the creation of Stella Parks. If you are a baker and don’t know who Stella is, make it your business to learn all about her. She will make you life so much sweeter. She is the resident pastry wizard over at seriouseats.com. She is also the author of the charming cookbook Bravetart; Iconic American Desserts.
Stella wanted to create a homemade boxed brownie mix, for those times when crisis strikes, and you need a brownie immediately, but don’t have time to make them from scratch. You know, like when you scrape your car on the wall of your parking garage, or when you find out that The Chew was cancelled, or you need something to snack on while binge-watching something this weekend.
All the dry ingredients are mixed together in the food processor. Then you stash the mix in an airtight jar for emergencies. When crisis strikes, preheat oven to 350°F (if only most solutions to life problems could be solved by preheating to 350!), add coffee, 2 eggs, and some vanilla extract and the batter is ready.
A jar of this mix would be the perfect hostess gift to bring with you the next time you are invited to a cottage for the weekend. If you are feeling extra generous, bring along a new baking pan and some parchment paper and impress your friends with your ability to perfectly line the baking pan.
My favourite baking pan is made from light coloured aluminum. Pyrex or glass pans are poor heat conductors, which means that they are slow to heat up and to cool down. This can cause brownies to overbake, because the pan is stays so hot for so long after you take it out of the oven that it continues to bake the brownies.
Stella is insistent on top quality ingredients. Spring for the good dark chocolate, 70% bittersweet. Make sure your cocoa powder is Dutch process. It is darker and higher in fat. She recommends Cacao Barry Extra Brute, and I concur. The secret ingredient is malted milk powder. It is a flavour bomb. Ovaltine is available at most supermarkets, or you can buy Hoosier Hills Farms online.
Stella suggests boosting the chocolate flavour with a little instant espresso powder in the dry mix. I used that the first time I made them. The second time, I didn’t have any left, so I substituted some strong coffee for the water she calls for in the wet ingredients. Score! The coffee really bumped up the chocolate notes.
The second change I made to the recipe was to add some chopped up Skor bars, because toffee can soothe like no other flavour.
