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Because of the use of microwaves and food processors, we are always seeking quicker baking and cooling methods. This type of exploration also extends to brownies.
This sweet treat can be made with straight chocolate, with or without nuts, and spiked with chips of butterscotch. You can also add fruits or mints for flavor if you want.
Creating the Ideal Texture
One of the most important aspects of brownie making is the texture. Do you want a chewy, fudgy, or cake-like end product? If you want brownies with a more flavorful or fudgy taste, you want to ensure a quicker cooling time.
Cooling Brownies More Quickly at Room Temperature
Some people want to slice their brownies cleanly and therefore would rather use more old-school methods while baking. If this describes you, you may want to refer to the following steps for cooling brownies at room temperature.
Step 1: When lining the brownie pan, use one layer of heavy-duty foil. Leave enough material on each end so that you can use the foil for lifting the brownies after they are done.
This permits you to remove the sheet quickly from the warm pan, thereby eliminating the heat source and exposing the brownies to the air. As a result, you speed up the process for cooling brownies at room temperature.
Step 2: Move the foil and brownies to a wire cooling rack.
Step 3: Place the rack in the coolest part of your home to further speed up cooling.
Step 4: Set up a fan near the brownies to circulate a cooler air flow.
While room-temperature cooling is slower, the above steps will help you quicken the process by about one or two hours, depending on the inside temperature in your home.
Fast Cooling Steps
If you wish to quicken brownie cooling even more, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Take the foil sheet of brownies and place it on your kitchen counter for about five minutes.
Step 2: Remove the food from one shelf of your refrigerator. If you do this, keep in mind that the heat from the cooling brownies will also elevate the inside temperature of the fridge.
Therefore, you will need to use more electricity. Also, taking this step may affect the temperature of foods such as stick butter, thereby causing the butter to melt.
Step 3: Once you remove the foods on one shelf of the refrigerator, place the brownies on the shelf. Keep them uncovered and on the wire cooling rack.
Step 4: Using this refrigerator cooling method takes under an hour, or about 45 minutes overall. If you want chewier brownies, step up the time to 60 minutes.
Haste Makes Waste: How to Make Brownies and Better Use Your Time
While the above steps will help you make quick progress toward cooling, you still have to remember the old adage “Haste makes waste.” Therefore, it’s important to remember the following tips when you make brownies.
Selecting a Recipe: Brownies can be made in the form of a fudgy dessert or as a cakey treat. Therefore, make sure that you know which type of brownie you want to make.
Pay attention to what you will get after baking. If you have your mouth set on eating fudgy brownies and end up with cake brownies, you will feel a little let down, no doubt.
Cooling the Melted Chocolate: Some people are so anxious to taste their brownies that they don’t allow the melted chocolate sufficient time to cool. By being impatient, it is easy to scramble a recipe’s eggs instead of blending them into the batter.
Melt the chocolate for the mix over low heat, then set it aside and allow it to cool for about 30 minutes.
Using a Brownie Pan: The ingredients and baking utensils you use for brownie making are equally important. Therefore, make sure that you use the right pan for the task.
Most recipes for brownies call for a pan that is approximately eight or nine inches square. Don’t use a bigger pan. Otherwise, your brownies will be over-baked and thin. You also don’t want to use too small of a pan as your brownies will end up under-baked.
To ensure that you use the right pan, always use the pan size specified in the recipe. In addition, remember this brownie-baking rule: smaller pans require more bake time and produce thicker brownies while larger pans require a shorter bake time and create thinner brownies.
Checking Brownies with a Toothpick: Don’t wait too long to remove your brownies from the oven. This can happen when you use a toothpick for testing. If you wait until no more crumbs stick to the toothpick, you will end up with brownies that are overbaked.
This is a common mistake made by beginning brownie bakers. Instead of getting brownies that are fudgy and soft, they will end up being crumbly and dry.
To ensure that you don’t go overboard, begin toothpick-testing your brownies about 60 minutes before they are done baking. Always remove them from the oven when you still see some crumbs on the toothpick.
This means that your brownies are almost done. They will continue to bake while they cool.
Slicing the Brownies: Sometimes we tend to cut into brownies too soon. After all, the scent of just-baked brownies is hard to resist. However, you need to cool the treat first and resist the urge. Otherwise, you will defeat the purpose of using a quicker cooling method.
If you give your brownies sufficient time to cool, it will result in a cleaner cut. Also, when you give them time to cool, they end up being tastier.
What Makes a Brownie Chewier?
Many bakers and brownie connoisseurs prefer brownies with a chewier texture. If you prefer this type of brownie, you will want to review the following tips. Chewiness combines the right ingredients with precise baking methods.
A chewier brownie uses unsaturated oil such as canola oil if cholesterol or fat is a concern. Otherwise, you can amp up the taste by using butter.
Whether you use oil or butter, the best way to ensure chewiness is to mix in brown sugar to create the texture and add some white sugar to produce a shiny top. That way, you don’t necessarily need to ice the brownie when you’re done.
You also want to slightly under-bake the brownies. Use the refrigerator method for cooling to promote the ultimate in chewiness. Place the brownies in the refrigerator for an hour. You will be guaranteed a chewy brownie if you under-bake the treat and cool it in the fridge.
