Buttermilk Brownies from The Ultimate Brownie Book

Buttermilk Brownies - made August 3, 2023 from The Ultimate Brownie Book by Bruce Weinstein

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, combine butter, bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together sugar, eggs and egg yolks for several minutes until pale yellow and thick. Add buttermilk and vanilla extract, beating until combined.
5. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into an even layer into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes then bang pan onto oven rack 3-4 times. Continue baking for another 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
6. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting and serving.

You can tell from the pictures this was a fail. At least from a brownie perspective and that's what these were billed as being. If I was making a chocolate sheet cake, they're fine. Nice and chocolaty, soft cakey-ish texture. I say cakey-ish because they are slightly dense but not dense enough to earn a brownie moniker. There's also the slight tang from the buttermilk that wasn't neutralized because there's no baking soda in them, just baking powder. Which also contributed to the lighter texture. I did rap the brownies on the oven rack a few times after it had been baking for 20 minutes to deflate the brownies and make them more dense. In hindsight, given the end product, I probably should've deflated them after only 15 minutes, not 20, as they didn't deflate much at the 20-minute mark.

You can also see they didn't cut cleanly which drives me a little nuts as I prefer clean cuts. Overall, they're still good. But consider them as dense cake rather than brownies. Or, if you like cakey brownies, then these will suit you just fine.