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Across the Kitchen Table:
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A Slightly Scientific But Mostly Subjective Taste Test
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Testing Brownie Mixes:
A Slightly Scientific But Mostly Subjective Taste Test
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Granted, homemade brownies are the best. But who among us has not yielded to a lack of time or ingredients and made brownies from a mix? In the interest of determining the best brownie mix to have on hand, we baked six different brands during the last week and fed them to a crack team of professional teenage brownie eaters. Here are the unexpurgated comments of our testers, beginning with the mix they liked the least and working toward the best.
- Hannaford Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix ($.89; add 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil, 2 eggs). Baked surface was dark and wrinkled; brownies lacked rich chocolate taste. No Web site listed; 1-800-213-9040
- Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Family-Style Brownie Mix ($1.29; add 1/3 water, 1/3 cup oil, 1 egg). Brownies are very dark and look fudgier than they taste. Slight metallic or chemical taste. www.duncanhines.com
- Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix ($.99; add 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil, 2 eggs). Nice glazed surface and good chocolate taste, "but you can tell it’s a mix." www.bettycrocker.com
- Betty Crocker Low-Fat Fudge Brownie Mix ($1.59; add 2/3 cup water). Beautiful glazed surface and ultra-sweet taste. www.bettycrocker.com
- No-Pudge Original Fat-Free Fudge Brownie Mix ($2.49; add 2/3 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt, or 2/3 cup plain yogurt plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract). Fudgy and moist, good chocolate flavor. Best of the lot so far. www.nopudge.com
- King Arthur All-American Fudge Brownies ($3.95 plus shipping; add 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil, 3 eggs, 3/4 teaspoon salt). "Mom, these must be homemade!" Definitely the best. Also most expensive, but a wonderful secret weapon to have on hand for those moments when you just don’t have time to make your own brownies from scratch. www.kingarthurflour.com
TIP: To make a brownie mix taste more like homemade, try adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. To point up the chocolate taste, add about 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or 3 tablespoons baking cocoa.
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Sweets for the Sweet on Valentine’s Day
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You need not be a master candy maker like the folks at Burdick’s Chocolate in order to impress your sweetie pie on Valentine’s Day. (In fact, most of us are better off leaving the fancy filled chocolates to the experts.) Here are a few tried and true recipes for easy homemade candy and blissful chocolate mousse that will earn you a big hug and kiss (at the very least) from the Right Person.
(photo courtesy of Burdick Chocolates)
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Chocolate Walnut Fudge |
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2 cups sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
12 regular marshmallows
1/2 cup butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 ounces (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a 2-quart saucepan, mix the sugar, evaporated milk, marshmallows, butter, and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat as mixture comes to a boil. (Wear a glove or oven mitt while stirring, because the mixture spatters.) Boil and stir for 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips until completely melted. Stir in chopped nuts and vanilla and spread in a buttered 8"x8" pan. Cool before cutting. Makes about 25 pieces.
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Dark Chocolate Mousse |
This recipe is adapted from Marcel Desaulniers’s
Death by Chocolate
(Kenan Books, 1992), a book that verges on "overkill" unless you happen to be obsessed by chocolate. But it doesn’t hurt to try just one little recipe, does it?
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3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken into 1/2-ounce pieces (use best quality chocolate available)
2 cups heavy cream (not ultra-pasteurized)
3/4 cup sugar
M elt the chocolate carefully in a glass bowl in the microwave or in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Transfer to a stainless-steel bowl, using a rubber spatula. Place the cream and sugar in a chilled mixer bowl fitted with a balloon whip and mix until soft peaks form, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Using a hand-held whisk, briskly whisk 1-1/2 cups of the whipped cream into the melted chocolate, scrape down the bowl, and continue to whisk until the chocolate and cream are smoothly blended. Add this mixture to the remaining whipped cream and use a rubber spatula to fold together until smooth. Transfer to a plastic or ceramic bowl and refrigerate covered for 2 to 3 hours before serving. Mound into individual glasses to serve. Makes 1 quart.
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Pink Peppermint Hearts |
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This recipe requires a tiny heart-shaped cookie cutter, or a sure hand with a small knife. |
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
4 tablespoons soft butter
1 pound confectioners sugar
pink food coloring
Mix corn syrup, peppermint, and butter together until smooth. Gradually add sugar. Work food coloring into the mixture until blended. Divide into two parts. On a cool surface, flatten each part into a disk 1/4" thick. With a small heart-shaped cookie cutter or small sharp knife, cut out hearts and place on waxed paper on a cookie sheet. Knead the scraps back together to make more hearts. Let harden overnight in the refrigerator.
May be dipped partway into melted chocolate if desired (melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips in a custard cup in the microwave). Store in an airtight container; separate layers with waxed paper.
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Peanut Butter:
Pudding, Cures, and Much Much More
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| "You will think I’m crazy until you try it" |
—Confessions
of PB Addicts
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People who are truly hooked on peanut butter go far beyond your basic PB&J sandwich. Here are a few culinary inspirations from the forums at www.
peanutbutterlovers.
com.
- Fried egg on peanut butter toast
- Peanut butter smeared over corn on the cob
- Peanut butter, mayo, and baloney sandwich
- The Elvis Sandwich: peanut butter, bananas, and bacon on white bread, fried in butter (Elvis brushed after every meal, honest)
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Ten Facts About
Peanut Butter to
Amaze Your Friends
1. It takes about 850 roasted peanuts to make an 18-ounce jar of peanut butter.
2. The average American child (even the above-average one) will eat 1,500 peanut butter sandwiches between nursery school and high-school graduation.
3. Americans eat about 500 million pounds of peanut butter a year, adding $800 million to their grocery bill.
4. At two tablespoons of peanut butter per serving, that’s about 10 billion peanut butter sandwiches.
5. Two peanut farmers have been elected President of the United States. One is Jimmy Carter. The other? Thomas Jefferson.
6. The world’s largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich, created in 1993 in Peanut, Pennsylvania, was 40 feet long and held 150 pounds of peanut butter and 50 pounds of jelly.
7. Creamy versus chunky? The total sales break out at 60 percent to 40 percent, respectively. Easterners prefer creamy; the West Coast favors chunky.
8. The fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth has a name that’s a mouthful in itself: "arachibutyrophobia."
9. To cure the hiccups, eat a spoonful of peanut butter.
10. To remove a wad of gum stuck in someone’s hair, apply a little peanut butter and gently comb it out.
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Peanuts may seem as American as apple pie, but they’ve been a part of Asian cooking since the 1500s, when Spanish explorers brought the South American plant to the Malay Peninsula. They dropped some peanuts off in Africa, too, where the nutritious legume quickly became a mainstay of stews and soups.
During the American Civil War, soldiers sometimes dined on what they called "peanut porridge," but there is no record of anyone eating peanut butter until the 1890s, when it was developed independently in two places as a health food.
In St. Louis in 1890, a physician trying to find a protein substitute for people with poor (or no) teeth tried grinding peanuts in his wife’s meat grinder. He encouraged a local grocer, George A. Bayle Jr., to mechanize the process, and Bayle began selling "peanut paste" out of barrels for about six cents a pound.
At about the same time, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of the famous Battle Creek, Michigan, sanitarium) began experimenting with peanut butter — he called it "nut meal" — as a vegetarian alternative to meat. He patented his process in 1895, describing the product as "a pasty adhesive substance," but since he steamed the peanuts rather than roasting them, his nut meal wasn’t very tasty and he turned his attention to breakfast cereals instead.
Back in St. Louis, "peanut paste" finally lost its stigma as a bland, sticky nutritional supplement (and acquired a better title) when C. H. Sumner opened a peanut butter concession at the World’s Fair of 1904. Finally, peanut butter as we know it began making its way into the hands of its most enthusiastic consumers: kids. On the first day of February in 1933, the first jar of Skippy was sold, joining Krema (still in business in Columbus, Ohio), Peter Pan, and other brands.
Today, 16,000 U.S. farmers (most of them in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Florida) grow peanuts for Skippy, Jif, Peter Pan, and other processors. All peanut butter must contain at least 90 percent peanuts, with no artificial sweeteners, colors, or preservatives. Some brands add about 7 percent natural sweeteners and 1 percent salt, plus a stabilizer to keep the oil from separating. "Natural" or "old-fashioned" peanut butter (without the stabilizer) tends to separate and needs stirring, although it will stay homogenized if you refrigerate it after an initial stirring.
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Peanut Butter Recipes from Savory to Sublimely Sweet
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Peanut Soup
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| This African-inspired soup, spicy and warming on a cold winter day, is adapted from Jeanne Lemlin’s excellent Simple Vegetarian Pleasures (Harper Collins, 1998). You may puree it in a food processor or not, as you please.
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2 tablespoons canola oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 medium onions, finely diced
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
3 carrots, finely diced
cayenne pepper to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon to start)
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup peanut butter
1-1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
juice of 1 lemon
1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
minced parsley or cilantro for garnish
Heat oil in a large soup pot and sauce garlic and onions until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and sauté, stirring often, until the vegetables soften. Stir in the cayenne, stock, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Whisk in the peanut butter and remove soup from heat.
If a smooth soup is desired, puree the soup in batches in a food processor and return to the pot. Pureed or not, add the soy sauce, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Stir well and serve hot with a garnish of cilantro or parsley. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
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Peanut and Sesame Noodles
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| This versatile sauce will easily dress a pound of noodles. Buckwheat soba noodles are the most authentically "oriental," but any kind of pasta will do. Delicious served warm or cold. |
2 tablespoons peanut butter
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown or white rice-wine vinegar
3/4 cup light sesame oil (not the dark, intense oil in the tiny bottles)
3 drops hot sesame oil (that’s the intense stuff)
1 pound buckwheat soba noodles or other pasta
1/4 cup minced scallions
Combine peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, and hot sesame oil in a blender and process until smooth. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to package directions (soba noodles cook in less than 5 minutes). Pour the sauce over the cooked noodles and garnish with the scallions. Makes 6 servings.
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Deborah Madison’s Peanut Sauce
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| In her wonderful book The Savory Way (Bantam Books, 1990), chef Madison offers this recipe for Peanut Sauce. She recommends serving it over Chinese noodles, spreading it on grilled or fried tofu or grilled eggplant, tossing it with rice, and using it as a dipping sauce. It thickens as it cools, and may be thinned with hot water as needed.
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6 large garlic cloves
1 large bunch cilantro, leaves and upper stems only
1-1/2 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot chili oil
1/2 cup peanut butter or sesame-peanut butter
1/2 to 2/3 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or to taste
Put the garlic, cilantro, and ginger in the work bowl of a food processor and work until they are finely chopped. Add the oils, peanut butter, 1/2 cup soy sauce, and sugar; process again until well combined. Stop and scrape down the sides once or twice. Add the vinegar and season to taste with the additional soy sauce, if necessary. If the sauce is thicker than you wish, thin it with hot water. Store the sauce in an airtight jar and keep it refrigerated. Thin again with hot water as needed before using. The sauce will keep for months. Makes about 2 cups.
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Oh Henry Bars
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| An old favorite from The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook . They’re as good as the sweet, chewy candy bars, maybe better because they’re homemade.
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 2/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup light corn syrup
4 cups quick oats
6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup chunky peanut butter
Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, corn syrup, and oats. Pat dough into a lightly greased 9" by 13" pan. Bake at 350°F for 15 to 16 minutes (do not overbake). While dough is baking, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together over low heat. Cool dough slightly, then spread chocolate-peanut mixture on top. Cool further, then cut into bars. Makes about 40.
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Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Brownies
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| Mmmmm. As Melanie Barnard and Brooke note in Sunday Suppers
(Prentice Hall, 1988, and the source of this recipe), the combination of chocolate chips and peanut butter in a brownie-style dessert could be one of the very few things in life that "please all of the people all of the time." |
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chunky peanut butter
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a mixing bowl, cream peanut butter, butter, and sugar until fluffy; add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scrape batter into a greased 9" square pan and bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes, until surface is golden (don’t overbake). Cool completely before cutting into squares. Makes about 16 large or 25 smaller brownies.
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Peanut Butter Pudding
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| Tastes wonderful drizzled with hot fudge sauce. |
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a sauce pan. Gradually add milk while stirring, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Boil and stir for 2 additional minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Pour into 4 small bowls, cover with waxed paper, and chill. Makes 4 servings.
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No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie
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4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped, or 8 ounces frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 deep-dish pie crust (graham cracker or chocolate crumb)
In a large mixer bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners sugar. Add peanut butter and mix. Slowly add milk until smooth. Fold in whipped cream or topping. Pour into pie shell and cover. Freeze for at least 1/2 hour. Drizzle each serving with chocolate sauce.
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Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce
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1/2 cup corn syrup (light or dark)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine corn syrup, peanut butter, and cream in a Pyrex bowl. Microwave on high for 1-1/2 minutes, until boiling. Add chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted. Serve warm over ice cream. Refrigerate any leftover sauce in a covered jar.
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