Tartine Brownies

Tartine Brownies
Originally uploaded by uqbar!

So I finally decided to make something from the Tartine recipe book which I purchased recently. There are so many good things in the book it was hard for me to choose what to make first.

I settled on the brownies cause I love chocolate and their require very little time to make compared to other things in the book. I have decided to leave the more complex and time consuming recipes for the weekends.

Understanding the recipe and putting all the ingredients was easy. The only problem I had was knowing what the browinies should look like once they're done.

First of all the recipe states that the brownies should be baked in a glass baking tray. I don't have one so I decided to use my normal baking tray. Secondly I wasn't sure how long to bake them for since it was my first time baking brownies of this nature. The recipe says 25 minutes but we all know - if you bake regularly that is - that this time can vary depending on your oven.

I checked mines after 20 minutes cause our oven gets quite hot. The brownies looked cooked around the edges but when I poked a knife in the centre it looked as if the centre hadn't cooked at all. Now I know that the recipe says that testing this batter this way doesn't work because of the high percentage of chocolate used in the recipe but I thought even still it shouldn't look that raw. So back into the oven it went.

I checked again 5 minutes later and then about 3 minutes later but because it started to burn around the edges I decided to remove them from the oven. I let it cool next to an open window while I took a bath. When I felt they were cool enough I decided to cut them into squares. They were nice and firm around the edges but when I got to the centre I found them too gooey to cut. It's the reason I don't have any pictures.

At first I wondered is it because I baked them in a metal baking tray instead of a glass one. It couldn't be because I had underbaked them since I left them in the oven so long. I was a bit disappointed but loved the ones that I could eat from around the edges.

The next morning the brownies had set nicely but were still fudgy and gooey. The next time I bake these I will definately give them enough time for the chocolate in the brownies to set nicely. Loved this recipe and I will be definately making these again.