Butter-less Chocolate Brownies

Who doesn’t love a brownie? Those chocolatey, chewy luxuries of small squares, moist or nutty, some coated with an even sweeter ganache comes in as many avatars as are brownie-bakers, perhaps. And everyone has their own favourite brownie recipe. This one can be yours. If you want to befriend one that you can have any time, any number, without a glitch.

Brownies. My dinner time dessert. My breakfast accompaniment. My any-time-craving-soother. My comfort and a small 'prize' for things better left unsaid. The second attribute that comes to mind immediately after a brief reflection of these luscious goodness is the Richness. The Heaviness. The Fattiness. Not that a little piece of a brownie would harm, but would you make them your best snack time friend? Of course not.

But the point here is brownies need not be greasy. Or buttery. The first time I baked brownies I didn’t care about it. Brownies are brownies after all. Some things cannot do without the butter. My mouth was watering even as I whisked up the batter. That was a tasty, very gooey experience; the result, I mean. Wonderful to indulge in once in a while; smashing to serve in front of guests!

What do I do when my heart craves for some chocolatey treat every now and then? I started baking brownies with reduced amounts of butter, and then substituted vegetable oil instead of the butter, and gradually reduced the quantity for that too. Hush! Word shouldn’t get out beyond my living room. The only accomplice I had was my fellow brownie-junkie.

How long can you suppress a delicious secret? Word did get around – the accomplice had friends in the outside world. Did anyone utter the obvious – ‘brownies without butter are no brownies at all’! Even before they did, I found support in more expert quarters. My Jewish Cookbook resonated what I had been looking for. The American versions of the recipe are rich in fat, but it doesn’t have to be so. Just a word of caution – these brownies taste best the same day. Who cares? Brownies are brownies after all.

Butter-less Brownies

~~ adapted from The Jewish Cookbook

What do you need?

~ Plain dark chocolate – 15o gms/ 5 oz; I like to use the 70 percent cocoa one
~ Self raising flour – 1 cup / 115 gm / 4 oz
~ Caster or fine sugar – ½ cup / 115 gm / 4 oz; this is fine for me, but if you want a sweeter version, up this amount by 50 percent or as per taste
~ Eggs - 2 medium
~ Sunflower oil – You can use ½ cup/ 120 ml/ 4 fl oz as suggested in the recipe but 2 tablespoons in the batter and 1 teaspoon (for greasing the tin) was just right for me
~ Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon/ 5 ml
~ Espresso powder – 2 teaspoon/ 10 ml or freshly brewed coffee (optional)
~ Pecans – 75 gm/ 3 oz/ 1 cup, halved; you see I used almonds because that was what I had when craving struck

What should you do?

   1. Chop the chocolates into uniform chips and place them in a small bowl. Add the oil and gently melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a bowl of simmering water.

   2. Whisk up the eggs in a separate bowl and add to the chocolate-oil mixture. Stir energetically. I read somewhere during my initial brownie days that good brownies have something to do with a hearty stirring of the eggs. I still try to follow it although I lost the first recipe. Also notice the temperature of the melted chocolate when you add the eggs. If you follow my one-bowl method of adding them directly to the chocolate, wait till the chocolate cools down to room temperature. This can be tricky because warm chocolate will immediately seize or cause the eggs to go lumpy.

   3. Whisk in the flour, sugar, and vanilla essence. Add the coffee, if using. I like the bitterness, the sharpness that the coffee renders to the recipe. The batter will be sticky - the fluid might help ease whisking. Pour the batter into your prepared cake tin (You can use a 23 cm or 9 inch square shallow tin with great effect). I am trying to hide my round spring form that I used for baking these brownies, knowing completely well the shape of my baking pan is what is making your eyes twitch. Although I make these quite often, I shamelessly avoided investing into one of those square pans because it doesn’t matter to me if my brownies are star shaped or oval. And because I love my spring forms. And now I have another reason to wait – till I gather enough funds – for those cool brownie racks have caught my fancy.

   4. Arrange the nuts on the batter in the pan and shove it in a preheated oven at temperature 200 C or 400 F. Bake for 10-15 minutes if you like the brownies moist and chewy and 5 minutes more if you like them cakey.

Drizzle with a little honey or maple syrup and serve.

Tried it? Liked it? Making butter-less brownies since ages? Do let me know all about it. I am never tired of being brownie-hungry.

Egg-less brownies? Have crossed my mind a few times, especially because Lill Bay Leaf, for all that batter in her curls, wouldn’t be able to chew into these lovely deliciousness. Allergy towards eggs are quite commonplace in this part of the world. Brownies shouldn’t remain appalling for poor them.  Enough inspiration for another revolution.