Brownies

This recipe is for ze best brownies! Crackly top. Chewy edges. Fudgy inside. You read that right. They’re perfect. And guess what? They’re dairy free! And actually, after really eyeing brownie recipes, I think most are dairy free. Just depends on (a) if you use butter or oil, (b) if the cocoa has dairy (which baking cocoa typically does not), and (c) the chocolate chips you may add.

I know. I kind of automatically box chocolate and milk together, too. But it just doesn’t have to be that way. They are unique, special individuals. Dairy-free items have become more familiar to me recently due to my nephew having an allergy. Once you know someone impacted by an allergy, suddenly you see how challenging it is to be careful. Going to restaurants can be tough with common ingredients, but things have come a long way.

Why was I even making brownies to begin with? Well, I’ve been on a mission. Not a secret mission through uncharted space or anything, but a photographic quest.

The goal: create a perfect brownie sundae photo. Truth be told, I love photography almost as much as I love cooking, but I’m very critical of my work. I suppose most professionals are. But anyone who has paid attention in the most recent years of the blog can see that the quality of photo work has gone up. I’ve been paying more attention to details, studying the art, and oh what a difference!

So though these brownies are indeed special little individuals, they also had a job to do. They were the beautiful, chewy base to my brownie sundae. And these were the second batch. The first batch was good, but not great, and the photos were passable. But I wanted more. And a really good brownie to boot. So I tweaked the recipe, played with my ingredients, and shuffled along on the mission.

In this post I’m going to talk a little more about the photographic elements as well as part of my side quest. If you like it, read on! If you don’t, skip on down to the bottom for the recipe.

Let’s start with the baking. Brownies are quite possibly the easiest of all desserts, since it’s a bit of mixing and then you just dump it all in a pan and bake it. Cookies require multiple pans and scooping each one out, cakes require frosting (most of the time), but brownies…dry ingredients + wet ingredients = brownie greatness.

The unique thing about this particular recipe was the use of powdered sugar. In the past, I’ve used a combination of white and brown sugars, but in this version, it is white and powdered sugars, instead. And you won’t believe what a difference it makes.

And it really is that simple. You stir together the dry ingredients, then the wet, then mix ‘em together. I added chocolate chips, which are a lovely addition to brownies. These happened to be allergen free and quite tasty.

I poured the batter in a square 8x8 pan and baked them for 40 minutes. Would you check out that beautiful crackly top? Mmm.

I’m not much of a frosting on brownies kinda gal (or chocolate on chocolate ever, really, except in Black Forest Cake), and these are a prime example of why stand-alone brownies don’t need a topper. They were chewy and loaded with all the chocolate flavor you need.

Plus, they made pretty little models, too.

When it came to the sundae photos, it took me a few tries to be happy. I use a soft box on one side (for the below, light is on the right) and a reflector on the other most of the time. I did play with a snoot on a second light, highlighting the food itself, but found it was way too much here. And if you don’t know already, a snoot is a funnel that targets the light to a small area. Before we go on, don’t judge me too harshly - I didn’t edit any except the final image.

V1: I started out using real ice cream and hot fudge (though, I kept it cool). My thought was that fudge would be thicker and therefore stay in place while I shot. I scooped the ice cream on the brownie, froze it together, then quickly did some prep by adding fudge and whipped cream. The problem? The fudge just kind of beaded up and rolled off. The result was okay. But does this look like what you would order at a restaurant? Nah.

So I went for round 2: fight! I should tell a small anecdote here to showcase my dedication to the ice cream craft. I stuck the ice cream in my garage freezer (aka as far away from me as possible!) after photo shoot number uno. Somehow, it slipped down a bit and knocked the door open, then leapt to a melty death on my garage floor. Cue my exact reaction: 😐 I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this, but ice cream melts and reforms into a gooey, sticky MESS. I had to mop and scrub with bleach and I still don’t think my garage floor will be the same again. The joys of ice cream.

But, that brings us to phase 2 of the plan. I got more ice cream, naturally, and decided to get chocolate syrup this time. Same deal: froze that brownie and ice cream to the plate before go time. Raced to get the syrup on. But it was the same story! Chocolate mostly rolled off (note the thinner appearance on the sides). And after this, I knew what was really missing: a cherry.

After chatting with a fellow photographer, it was suggested I fake my ice cream. The melting wasn’t really the culprit, and I’m totally against fake food, but this fake ice cream recipe was actually edible. So I thought, deal. It isn’t like the lard ice cream you hear about used in photos, this was a combo of cheap canned frosting and powdered sugar. Tasted like plastic but looked pretty dang good! At this point I gave up and got some of that magic shell ice cream topping and my little loves, maraschino cherries (I am quite partial to the black cherries for old fashioneds, but that would have been too much Em for this sundae).

Back to the story. V3 was upon me. I made my frosting ice cream thing, scooped it onto my brownie, and again froze it. I added the magic shell and popped that bad boy back in the freezer for a few minutes. We needed perfection. An then there was this shot.

Okay, not bad. I was relatively happy. But then I sent it to the critics circle, some photographers who I’d been discussing my little project with. Spoons too distracting. Not enough whipped cream. Cherry stem too tall. Curses.

But it was okay. I still had fake ice cream and a whole tray of fresh brownies to fiddle with. I set it up. More whipped cream. Cherry stem at an angle. Spoons cast aside.

This was the one. I just felt it! I did as I always do and shot some poses. “You’re an animal, rawr!” The brownie posed and smiled and pulled that ice cream outfit off like Barbie. The whipped cream ran off and I had to redo it once. But in a few takes, I got my shot.

I took one shot from above, doing the ol’ flat lay look, and one of my friends said it looked like a breast. I think you can sort out why I left that one out of this post.

A little extra work and a passion for getting it right goes a long way, my friends. I don’t pretend to be the best at anything. But I sure do I have fun playing at getting good.

So, how about those brownies? This is my new recipe. I don’t know what it is about that powdered sugar, but they were the best homemade batch I’ve made. I’d heard about this ingredient swap before but never done it. They were chewy and just *chef’s kiss*. No dairy, no problem.

Brownies Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup powdered sugar 

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used allergen free)

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs 

1/2 cup coconut oil (or canola oil)

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine the sugars, flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk together, then add chocolate chips. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, water, and vanilla. Pour egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add to a parchment or baking spray lined brownie pan (8x8 inches). Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.