Saturday, January 25, 2014

Zingerman's Brownies




Years ago, I got the recipe for Zingerman's Magic Brownies from a magazine called Midwest Living...here it is as it was written, and over time, it's evolved for me. The original recipe was too complicated, so I simplified it.  A friend of a friend took their brownie making class and shared with me how to make the Buenos Aires version.   If you've got a spare $125 kicking around you can take the class, and learn how to bake them yourself.    Or, try making them how I make them....Zingerman's calls the brownie without nuts "Black Magic Brownies" .  

Zingerman's Magic Brownies (a la Mothers Kitchen)
Click here for a printer friendly version

1.5 sticks butter
1.5 (4 oz) bars 60% cacao chocolate bars
1.5 c purpose flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
4 eggs
2 c sugar
1 T vanilla
1 1/4 c coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted (optional)

Grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan. Preheat oven to 325 F. In the microwave, melt the butter and chocolate, set aside to cool. In the mixer bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, sugar, cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined, scraping down sides as needed. Spread batter in pan. Bake 30 minutes or until brownies appear set. Cool in pan on wire rack; cut into bars.

Zingerman's calls the brownie without nuts "Black Magic Brownies".  To make their Buenos Aires brownies, add a layer of dulce de leche - either storebought or make your own.  Spread half the batter in the pan, then add 3/4 cup dulce de leche, and then top with the remaining batter.   These will take 10 minutes longer to  bake.  

Kitchen tip - if you use a plastic knife, it will cut the brownies neatly.

5 comments:

Tracy's Living Cookbook said...

What a nice recipe to share! thanks! I love all things Zingerman's.

Anonymous said...

How interesting. I actually paid for and took the Legally Magic Brownies class from Zingermans at which time we were provided with a recipe for the Black Magic Brownies and the Bakehouse Blondies - and at the bottom of the page it states that the BAKE recipes are for personal use only. By the way - interesting recipe, but this ISN'T IT. I do have a copy of everything they gave us.

Cynthia said...

I have the recipe from the paid class,too. You are right that this recipe is different - for one thing, it is scaled differently and I have simplified their recipe here. The Zingerman's brownie that you got in class has been published in many places already by Zingerman's. It's widely available - it was even in Midwest Living. http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/pentagon-brownie-recipe-is-26-pages-long---try-zingermans-recipe-instead/

Anonymous said...

Even the one from Midwest Living isn't the same as the one from the class. For the Black Magic brownies they use more unsweetened chocolate as well as unsweetened cocoa, less flour, less butter. Less intense chocolate flavor. I'd be curious if your friend who took the class still has their handouts just to compare against what has been published. Your brownie recipe is a little "kinder and gentler" in terms of intensity and bakes up very nicely. It's a good complement to the Black Magic.

Cynthia said...

I can see how you have gotten confused! This isn't the recipe for the Black Magic Brownies....it's for Magic Brownies. The recipe on your handout is for Black Magic Brownies, which have added cocoa and nuts. It doesn't have MORE chocolate by proportion; my recipe makes less dough than the handout. If you want to make MY RECIPE into Black Magic Brownies, add nuts as well as 3 T cocoa powder. Then it will be the same. Hope this helps!