Brownies With Shiny Crackly Tops Recipes

THE BEST BROWNIE RECIPE FOR A SHINY, CRACKLY CRUST

Steps:

• Position your oven rack in the center. Preheat your oven to 350° F. Coat a 13-inch by 9-inch pan with nonstick spray.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl; set aside.
• Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler or the microwave. Whisk together until smooth and set aside until lukewarm.
• Beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add melted chocolate mixture to the eggs and beat until no streaks of the egg mixture remain. Fold flour mixture into batter by hand just until combined. Fold in about three-quarters of the nuts, if using.
• Scrape batter into the pan. Scatter remaining nuts on top, if using. Bake for approximately 25 to 35 minutes. The top will look dull, a bit puffed and the edges will barely come away from the pan's sides. A toothpick inserted in the center will come out with many moist crumbs clinging. The longer you bake them, the drier they'll be, so don't over-bake.
• Cool completely in the pan set on a rack. Cut into 24 (6x4) or 32 (8x4) brownies. Store at room temperature for up to 2 days in an airtight container in single layers separated by parchment paper.

BROWNIES WITH SHINY, CRACKLY TOPS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with shortening.
• Combine chocolate and butter in a large, heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt together in a bowl.
• Beat eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until well blended. Gradually add white and brown sugars; beat until tripled in volume and very pale yellow, at least 10 minutes. The mixture should leave ribbons when you lift the beaters. Fold in the chocolate-butter mixture and vanilla extract, then flour mixture. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean, 28 to 32 minutes. Cool before cutting into 16 brownies.

GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE, CHEWY BROWNIES (CRACKLY TOPS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x12 pan, or 24 muffin tins, or 48 mini muffin tins.
• Sift together the dry ingredients: rice flour, starch, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.
• In another bowl, cream the lard, 2 tbsp water, powdered sugar, and ONE egg together for 5-6 minutes until looks like a soft, shiny, whipped frosting. I use a KitchenAid Stand Mixer setting it to around 6.
• Add the rest of the eggs (there will be three of them), one at a time until each is blended in, and the vanilla extract. Then turn up the mixer (KitchenAid on about speed 8), or use some serious elbow grease with a whisk, slowly pour the oil into the mixture (kind of like you're making mayonnaise; though it won't look or feel like mayo). At first, after you add all the eggs, it will look kind of worrisome, like tiny curdles and you've ruined it. Don't worry! Keep mixing! The purpose of this stage is to introduce as many bubbles as possible, whipping it so that it will have the glossy, shiny, crackly top. Mix for about 5 minutes.
• Finally, BY HAND (no mixer), add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until combined. Be careful not to over mix after you add the flour. This is to ensure that your brownies will be chewy and not cake-like.
• Add the mixture to your pan of choice. If using a 9x12 pan, bake for 25 to 30 minutes. If using muffin tins, about 20 minutes, and mini muffin tins, about 15 minutes. Always check at an early time to ensure they don't overbake. Overbaked brownies are more cake-like. If you want chewy brownies, be sure not to bake too long.
• Let cool, and then serve.