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My friend Susan’s mother passed away recently, just two weeks shy of her 99th birthday.\u00a0 With her went the secret to some of the best brownies I’ve ever eaten.<\/p>\n
Sylvia Cohen was a charming, gracious and accomplished woman who graduated from Radcliffe in an era when few females went to college. As was expected at the time, she gave up her personal ambitions to raise three children and support the academic career of her husband, Nathan Cohen, who went on to become dean of the School of Social Welfare at UCLA.\u00a0 She was a lifelong defender of social justice and surely wouldn’t have considered her brownies a significant contribution to the world.<\/p>\n
Yet her incomparable brownies came up time and again as her family remembered this remarkable woman last month.\u00a0 Although Sylvia had shared her recipe freely, no one else had ever achieved the voluptuous texture that she did using the most common ingredients: Baker’s unsweetened chocolate, margarine, sugar and flour.\u00a0 Her brownies were dense, moist and incredibly silky with a generous portion of walnuts for a crunchy counterpoint.<\/p>\n
“It was the consistency that was so amazing,” Susan recalls.<\/p>\n
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Some things are clear.\u00a0 Everyone knew that Sylvia undercooked her brownies.\u00a0 As soon as they came out of the oven, she topped them with waxed paper, bundled them in a towel and whisked them into the freezer.\u00a0 When they were cooled, she trimmed off the edges, keeping only the fudgy center, before returning them to the freezer.\u00a0 In later years, she served them straight out of the freezer, which only seemed to improve their already irresistible texture.<\/p>\n
But why couldn’t anyone else get the same results?\u00a0 I’ve made variations on the recipe several times in the last couple of week and I suspect, in part, it may be an issue of ingredients. No one I know still cooks with margarine, much less the same brand Sylvia preferred.\u00a0 Some family members think she might have used Imperial, the brand with a crown on the box.<\/p>\n
Flour, too, can make a great difference.\u00a0 A moderate protein flour, such as bleached all-purpose Gold Medal, delivers a more tender crumb than the higher protein unbleached flour that many cooks use today.<\/p>\n
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Technique and experience also are critical.\u00a0 Chocolate is a delicate ingredient and needs to be treated gently, warmed just enough to melt.\u00a0 Alice Medrich, who knows chocolate better than anyone, calls for melting chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set in a wide skillet of barely simmering water so you can monitor the temperature of the water easily.<\/p>\n
Perhaps just as important, only Sylvia knew what her brownies should look like when they were done.\u00a0\u00a0 By trial and error, I finally decided the edges should be set and look a little dry while the center should have lost most of its gloss and be just firm enough to touch lightly.\u00a0 A toothpick stuck in the center should come out very moist.<\/p>\n
Baking at the right temperature is essential, too.\u00a0 Since ovens vary widely\u2013mine runs almost 50 degrees colder than what it says on the dial\u2013 it’s a good idea to use a thermometer to ensure the correct setting.<\/p>\n
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In the end, it seemed foolish to try to replicate Sylvia’s brownies.\u00a0 I’m not going to cook with margarine, nor do I want to use ordinary baking chocolate when there’s so much better quality available now.\u00a0 Instead, I took her brownies as inspiration for a new recipe made with the best ingredients I could find.\u00a0 I also opted to wrap the baked brownies tightly in heavy duty foil rather than a towel before stashing them in the freezer.\u00a0 They fit better that way.<\/p>\n
If the texture isn’t quite the same, the flavor is remarkable.\u00a0 Good chocolate\u2013I like Scharffen Berger unsweetened\u2013contributes a fruity note and faint undertones of cinnamon while brown sugar brings a new layer of complexity.<\/p>\n
These brownies are my tribute to Sylvia, who proved once again that good food makes great memories.<\/p>\n
1 cup walnuts Preheat oven to 325 degrees.\u00a0 Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper long enough to hang over two opposing sides.\u00a0 You will use the paper to lift the brownies out of the pan after they’ve cooled.<\/p>\n Scatter walnuts on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted and aromatic, 5 to 10 minutes.\u00a0 Remove pan, let walnuts cool, and chop coarsely. Set aside.<\/p>\n Place butter and chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over barely simmering water in a wide skillet.\u00a0 Stir occasionally until both butter and chocolate have melted and blended together.\u00a0 Mixture should be very smooth and uniform in color.<\/p>\n Remove bowl from water and stir in brown sugar until sugar has melted.\u00a0 Add vanilla paste and salt, stirring well.<\/p>\n In a separate bowl, beat eggs with whisk until pale yellow and well-blended.\u00a0 Beat in granulated sugar until mixture is thick and frothy.\u00a0 Stir egg mixture into chocolate mixture.\u00a0 Fold in flour until all traces of white have disappeared and batter is smooth.\u00a0 Stir in chopped walnuts.<\/p>\n Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top.\u00a0 Bake 20-25 minutes (start checking at 20 minutes) until the edges appear dry and the center has set and is barely firm to a light touch.<\/p>\n Remove pan from oven, cover top of brownies with a sheet of waxed paper and wrap tightly in aluminum foil to seal.\u00a0 Place wrapped pan in freezer to chill for at least four hours.\u00a0 When brownies are chilled through, use the overhanging parchment paper to lift them out of pan.\u00a0 Cut into 16 squares, place in a plastic storage bag and freeze until ready to serve.<\/p>\n If the tops aren’t as pretty as you would like, dust with a blanket of good quality cocoa before serving.<\/p>\n Note<\/strong>:\u00a0 Vanilla paste is available at specialty stores such as Sur la Table.\u00a0 If you can’t find it, good vanilla extract will do.<\/p>\n \u2013Aleta Watson <\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My friend Susan’s mother passed away recently, just two weeks shy of her 99th birthday.\u00a0 With her went the secret to some of the best brownies I’ve ever eaten. Sylvia Cohen was a charming, gracious and accomplished woman who graduated from Radcliffe in an era when few females went to college. As was expected at … Continue reading Brownies inspired by Sylvia<\/span>
\n\u00bd cup (1 stick) unsalted butter plus more for greasing pan
\n3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I like Scharffen Berger), finely chopped
\n\u00bd cup brown sugar
\n1 teaspoon vanilla paste (see: Note<\/strong>)
\n1\/8 teaspoon Kosher salt
\n2 eggs
\n\u00bd cup granulated sugar
\n\u00bd cup bleached all-purpose flour
\nGood quality cocoa for dusting, optional<\/p>\n