The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (304 page)

MAKES 16 BROWNIES

Knowing when to remove a pan of brownies from the oven is the only difficult part about baking them. If a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out with fudgy crumbs, remove the pan immediately. If you wait until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, the brownies are overcooked. If you like nuts, you can stir 1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans into the brownie batter. To melt the chocolate in a microwave, heat it at 50 percent power for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the chocolate, add the butter, and continue heating until melted, stirring once every additional minute.

BROWNIE BASE

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

1. FOR THE BROWNIE BASE:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Make foil sling by folding 2 long sheets of aluminum foil so that they are as wide as 8-inch square baking pan. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to one another, with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan. Grease foil and set aside. Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder in small bowl until combined; set aside.

2.
Melt chocolate and butter in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until mixture is smooth. Remove melted chocolate mixture from heat; whisk in sugar and vanilla; then whisk in eggs, one at time, fully incorporating each before adding next. Continue whisking until mixture is completely smooth. Add dry ingredients; whisk until just incorporated.

3. FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING:
Beat cream cheese in small bowl with sugar, vanilla, and egg yolk until combined.

4.
Transfer half of brownie batter into prepared pan. Drop half of cream cheese mixture, by spoonfuls, over batter. Repeat layering with remaining brownie batter and cream cheese filling. Using tip of butter knife, gently swirl batter and cream cheese filling.

5.
Bake until edges of brownies have puffed slightly, center feels not quite firm when touched lightly, and toothpick inserted in center comes out with several moist crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.

6.
Let brownies cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove brownies from pan using foil. Let brownies cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 1¹⁄
₂
hours. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours. (To hasten chilling, place brownies in freezer for about 1¹⁄
₂
hours.) Cut brownies into 2-inch squares and serve. (Don’t cut brownies until ready to serve. Brownies can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Dark chocolate brownies, rich and chewy caramel, and sweet pecans—it’s hard to go wrong with turtle brownies. But recipes that call for boxed brownie mixes and jarred caramel sauce yield lackluster results. We wanted a brownie reminiscent of a candy turtle: rich, chewy, and chocolaty, with bittersweet, gooey caramel and an abundance of pecans. We began by choosing the type of chocolate, landing on both bittersweet (for complexity) and unsweetened (for assertiveness). The real challenge was getting the right texture for the caramel sauce and the application process. A few tablespoons of cream produced a caramel that was pleasantly chewy and gooey, corn syrup kept the caramel from crystallizing or turning gritty, and a little butter made it smooth and silky. We added half the brownie batter to the pan, drizzled some of the caramel on top, added the rest of the brownie batter, and then drizzled and swirled more caramel on this top layer. After we baked the brownies we poured on even more caramel to perfect our ultimate turtle brownies.

MAKES 25 BROWNIES

To drizzle the caramel in step 4, use a ¹⁄
₄
-cup dry measuring cup that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. If the caramel is too cool to be fluid, reheat it in the microwave.

CARAMEL

BROWNIES

GARNISH

1. FOR THE CARAMEL:
Combine cream and salt in small bowl; stir well to dissolve salt. Combine water and corn syrup in heavy-bottomed 2- to 3-quart saucepan; pour sugar into center of saucepan, taking care not to let sugar granules touch sides of pan. Gently stir with clean spatula to moisten sugar thoroughly. Cover and bring to boil over medium-high heat; cook, covered and without stirring, until sugar is completely dissolved and liquid is clear, 3 to 5 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, without stirring, until bubbles show faint golden color, 3 to 5 minutes more. Reduce heat to medium-low. Continue to cook (swirling occasionally) until caramel is light amber and registers about 360 degrees, 1 to 3 minutes longer. Remove saucepan from heat and carefully add cream to center of pan; stir with whisk or spatula (mixture will bubble and steam vigorously) until cream is fully incorporated and bubbling subsides. Stir in butter and vanilla until combined; transfer caramel to microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl and set aside.

2. FOR THE BROWNIES:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Make foil sling by folding 2 long sheets of aluminum foil so that they are as wide as 9-inch square baking pan. Lay sheets of foil in pan perpendicular to one another, with extra foil hanging over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil flush to pan. Grease foil and set aside.

3.
Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth and combined; set aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile, whisk flour and baking powder together in small bowl; set aside. When chocolate has cooled slightly, whisk eggs in large bowl to combine; add sugar, salt, and vanilla and whisk until incorporated. Add melted chocolate mixture to egg mixture; whisk until combined. Add flour mixture; stir with rubber spatula until almost combined. Add chopped pecans and chocolate chips, if using; mix until incorporated and no flour streaks remain.

4.
Transfer half of brownie batter into prepared baking pan, spreading in even layer. Drizzle ¹⁄
₄
cup caramel over batter. Drop remaining batter in large mounds over caramel layer; spread evenly and into corners of pan with rubber spatula. Drizzle ¹⁄
₄
cup caramel over top. Using tip of butter knife, swirl caramel and batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let brownies cool in pan on wire rack to room temperature, about 1¹⁄
₂
hours.

5.
Heat remaining caramel (you should have about ³⁄
₄
cup) in microwave until warm and pourable but still thick (do not boil), 45 to 60 seconds, stirring once or twice; pour caramel over brownies. Spread caramel to cover surface. Refrigerate brownies, uncovered, at least 2 hours.

6.
Remove brownies from pan using foil, loosening sides with paring knife, if needed. Using chef’s knife, cut brownies into 25 evenly sized squares. Press pecan half onto surface of each brownie. Serve chilled or at room temperature. (Brownies can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Blondies are first cousins to both brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Although blondies are baked in a pan like brownies, the flavorings are similar to those in chocolate chip cookies—vanilla, butter, and brown sugar. They’re sometimes laced with nuts and chocolate chips or butterscotch chips. But even with these extras, blondies can be pretty bland, floury, and dry. We set out to fix the blondie so it would be chewy but not dense, sweet but not cloying, and loaded with nuts and chocolate. We found that the key to chewy blondies was using melted, not creamed, butter because the creaming process incorporates too much air into the batter. For sweetening, light brown sugar lent the right amount of earthy molasses flavor. And combined with a substantial amount of vanilla extract and salt (to sharpen the sweetness), the light brown sugar developed a rich butterscotch flavor. To add both texture and flavor to the cookies, we included chocolate chips and pecans. We also tried butterscotch chips, but we found that they did little for this recipe. On a whim, we included white chocolate chips with the semisweet chips, and we were surprised that they produced the best blondies yet.