Sunday, March 8, 2009

Ina's Brownie Pudding

You know how sometimes a craving hits you when watching/reading something? Okay, so it happens to me more often than not. This time, it was Ina's 40th wedding anniversary dinner episode. I started to watch it for the Italian Wedding Soup but it was the Brownie Pudding that captured my attention. I love a good brownie, one that's crusty on the outside but still chewy on the inside. So the thought of a molten-style brownie sounded really good!


I looked through the pantry didn't have any good dutch-processed cocoa powder, just Hershey's plain ol' cocoa powder. It'll have to suffice (sorry Ina). I didn't have to look through the liquor cabinet to know that the closest thing I had to framboise liqueur was Framboise beer and that wasn't going to cut it. Although the recipe says it's optional, I decided to add in another liqueur, Cointreau, since it also has a sweet flavor, although not like framboise. I also didn't want to invest $29 in a bottle since I don't have any other recipes that calls for it. I guess I could always use it in mixed drinks. Let's see how the recipe is first.


The recipe came together very quickly. The longest part was waiting for it to cool down and debating whether to wait until The Mister got home before spooning into it. If you guessed that I couldn't wait, then you might know me too well. I had to try a little bit of it to see how the Hershey's and Cointreau tasted. The piece I took (in the first picture) was from the side so the inside was a little more set up than what I would expect from an almost "molten" center. But it looked more set up than actual. And it really did have a slight pudding mouth feel. I couldn't taste the Cointreau and the chocolate taste was decent, though I'm sure it would taste better with good dutch-processed cocoa powder. This will really go well with some vanilla ice cream!

Even before I finished this post, I place my order for some Callebaut Cocoa Powder, enough to last me a whole year athough I think I overdid it a bit (ya' think?). And next time I'm at BevMo, I'm going to pick up some Chambord liqueur (love it in mixed drinks) and maybe framboise liqueur see how each works in the recipe.

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday. And did you remember to turn your clocks forward today?

6 comments:

KirkK said...

Hi CAB - Ina Garten's sow is one of the few that I'll watch on FTVonce in a while. Her recipes turn out real well.

CAB said...

Hi Kirk! I know what you mean. Ina's recipes are the only recipes (maybe with the exception of Giada's) that I rarely, if ever, have to adjust. I really enjoy her show.

imjustatree said...

brownie pudding? first i've heard of such a thing. it looks delicious...it's been a while since i've had a home made brownie too. haha, a year's worth of powder, wow. what exactly does dutch processed mean?

CAB said...

Hey Sawyer! Here's what I've read from several sources: dutch-processed cocoa powder is alkalized and won't react with baking soda. The color is darker, redder/brown than "natural" cocoa. Also (according to Alton Brown) many dutched processed cocoa are higher in fat content, which is needed in some recipes. Cook's Illustrated's taste tests all pointed to dutch-processed as the preferred. Apparently it has a stronger chocolate flavor but a milder taste (whatever that means).

Yeah, I got a bit carried away with ordering cocoa powder. It's just that everytime I want to make some kind of "chocolatey" recipe, it always calls for dutched-processed cocoa powder and I never have any. So now, I don't have any excuses! I think I'm going to have to give away some cocoa.

imjustatree said...

thanks for the info. another food tidbit processed and memorized =) i'm going to try this recipe out!

CAB said...

Awesome, I hope you like it. It took 2 of us about 4 days to finish this whole thing. So if that's a bit much, you might consider making a half batch. Let me know how you like it.