Rick Katz’s Brownies for Julia
It’s brownie time again for the Tuesdays with Doriegang! This time it’s Rick Katz’s Brownies for Julia. When Dorie Greenspan was working on the PBS series, Baking with Julia,Rick Katz did all the behind the scene recipe prep and often made treats for the crew, like these brownies.
What caught Dorie’s attention about this recipe is not just that they taste good, but the procedure of beating part of the eggs and sugar until thick is quite unique as far as brownie recipes go. The texture is somewhere between gooey and cakey. I have made these twice. The first time they disappeared before we managed to get a picture so I had to whip up another batch, darn. They fell on the sweet side for me, so the second batch I made with all unsweetened chocolate rather than the suggested mix of unsweetened and bittersweet and I liked the change.
A twist to brownies I’ve been enjoying lately is sprinkling walnuts and cocoa nibs on top of the batter. I love the tiny bitter flavor hits from the nibs and the crunch is really nice too. By sprinkling the garnish on top, it’s easy to preserve half of the batch for purists that don’t care for said funny business in brownies.
Though these brownies are very tasty, the extra dirty dishes involved in making them is enough for me to remain loyal to my standard brownie recipe. I am, however, working on a new version of my brownie recipe after testing the Best Chewy Brownies in the March/April 2010 issue of Cook’s Illustrated. They actually seem to have cracked the code for making brownies as chewy as a box mix. It’s funny that boxed brownie mix is really the pinnacle of brownie greatness. Oh to capture that boxed mix chewiness. It turns out the key to a nice chewy texture lies in the fat; you need to have 29% saturated fat (butter) to 71% unsaturated fat (oil).
I applied this ratio to my brownie recipe and learned that messing with the fats messes up the whole recipe, so I’m still testing to see how I can get my recipe to be chewy-like-a-box-mix. I will post the results when I get it worked out. Sorry I’m not posting the Cook’s Illustrated recipe, but I don’t have copyright permission to do so. It’s on the newsstand now so you can pick up a copy of the magazine or get it from your local library. Though the texture of their recipe was great, it was also too sweet for my taste.
Thank you to Tanya of Chocolatechic for selecting this week’s recipe. She has the recipe posted on her blog if you are in the mood for making brownies.
Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 112 recipes completed 109 to go! Look we are over the hump!
All photos by David Peterman unless otherwise noted
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February 11th, 2010 at 5:58 am
I love the toppings you put on the brownies.
Next time I make them, I’m gonna make them in a 9×13 pan.
February 11th, 2010 at 7:49 am
These were DELICIOUS! I added some Reese’s to mine-your brownies look amazing!
February 11th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Mmm…cocoa nibs. Your brownies turned out beautifully (mine were good, but certainly not that attractive). I look forward to trying the CI recipe too!
February 11th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Cocoa nibs are a great idea. I will be curious to see how you crack the “chewy” code.
February 11th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I’m really interested in what you think about the CI brownie recipe. I tried it and didn’t really like it. I find that the chocolate flavour is too weak and the texture a little off. It doesn’t seem to capture the true boxed mix brownie chewiness. To be fair, I didn’t add the chocolate chunks, but I never add chocolate chunks into brownies and thought it would be more fair to keep it consistent.
February 12th, 2010 at 10:43 am
I thought the texture was dead on, chewy but a little gooey. I agree that the flavor was weak. I found them to be too sweet, but I also find boxed mixes too sweet. I did add the chocolate chunks which I don’t usually do when I make brownies and for me it just added to the sweetness even though I used a rather dark chocolate. The texture was good though, which is why I am trying to apply the formula to my brownies that I like the flavor of. Still a work in progress.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Always have liked pecans in my brownies, and put them on top for same reason. But these were gooey and delicious and good without the nuts.
February 13th, 2010 at 9:49 am
I like the idea of sprinkling things on top, because I like crunchy things in my brownies but my husband doesn’t. I could make them half and half and everyone would be happy!
I’ll be looking forward to your re-do of your favorite brownie!