Chocolate brownies will taste better if you use one special ingredient: coffee. An unexpected addition could be the key to creating delicious chocolate brownies.
The Surprising Ingredient That Elevates Brownies
Brits with a sweet tooth can add one unexpected ingredient to brownies. They are a firm favourite of food-lovers everywhere and date back to the 1800s, but a new flavour-booster tip has been revealed that makes them taste awesome.
The origins of the humble brownie can be traced back to the USA in the 19th century, where they were initially made without using chocolate. Come the 20th century, chocolate began to creep into recipes, and the foodstuff massively grew in popularity. A 1907 cookbook refers to the sweet treat being created by a housewife in Bangor, Maine, although this is disputed.
Whatever the truth, one intrepid cook has come up with an ingenious idea to elevate the much-loved delight. Writing in Tasty, Hannah Loewenthell reveals the hack, which involves adding coffee to brownie batter to enhance the taste of the chocolate.
The idea that coffee would bring out a chocolate taste might seem a little odd, but Hannah was blown away. She wrote: I always thought baking brownies was a relatively simple affair. For a novice baker like me who often opts for the boxed stuff, I never put too much thought into it. But websites like Bon Appétit and The Kitchn both mention how adding a pour of brewed coffee to brownie batter takes the dessert to the next level.
I was pleasantly surprised by these brownies. I love the taste of coffee, but I was worried that these brownies would have a mocha flavor that would overpower the chocolate. They actually tasted awesome and were the perfect consistency. They were dense and moist, and while certainly chocolaty, they weren't the kind of brownies that taste so rich you can barely finish even one. As Ina Garten told Epicurious, If you add coffee to chocolate, it gives it a depth of flavor. You know the chocolate tastes better, but you don't really know that it's there.
I strongly agree with the Barefoot Contessa here.
