Monday, May 13, 2013

Olive Oil One-Bowl Brownies

I was going to title this: best butter-less brownies but then I took into account the proportion of the pan that I had personally consumed in the last two days and decided that - based upon that fact alone - they are BETTER than their buttery counterparts.

In my mission to ban butter from all dishes, I had been searching the Internet for butter less brownies and olive oil brownies. Hence the recipe from the week before last. Which is a good recipe and makes what it says it does: pudding-textured brownies. But I desire (dare I say demand?) the only TRUE brownie - dense and fudgey. (I won't even talk to you if you insist a brownie should be cakey. You aren't worth the debate. And you are probably English.) So in my mission to create a butter less fudgey piece of chocolatey heaven I finally did what I should have done in the first place. I simply took my simple, go-to brownie recipe (bakers-one-bowl, amen) and substituted extra virgin olive oil for butter. And oh how it worked! A dream. A diary-free dream.

If you live in England and can't get unsweetened bar chocolate then don't attempt to make these. I'm telling you just adding less sugar will NOT work the same way. Lindt makes a 99% bar but it's a bit hard to find. Speciality stores like panzers import Bakers unsweetened chocolate from America. (wish they imported ghiradelli instead!)


Best Brownies
Adapted from Baker's One-Bowl Brownies

Do try and use cake flour... It really makes a big difference.

4 oz unsweetened chocolate (bar not powder!)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 medium eggs
Scant 1 cup cake (ultra-fine) flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

Put the chocolate and oil in a large sauce pot over low heat until chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally. Take off the heat and let cool several minutes. Stir in the sugar then the vanilla and almond extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the flour and salt, stop when flour is just incorporated. Fold in the pecans, if using. Spread into a 9x9 inch pan and bake at 350 degree F until just set and tester comes out with very damp crumbs, about 20 minutes. Do not overbake. Brownies are much better under done than over done!


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