Emergency Brownie Question!

[Alikris]

lol... I'm hell bent on making brownies NOW, but the recipe I want to use requires 1 oz. non sweetened chocolate... well... i only have white chocolate. I'm a white chocolate fan myself, but will this make the brownies unbearably sweet? Impatiently awaiting your expert advice!

[Beth]

I'm not your best authority for this one, but hated to see you left in crisis without a reply. I would not substitute white chocolate for unsweetened chocolate. I don't think you'd get the full flavor and it would be sweeter (but that's the easiest part to adjust). Third reason is I'm not a white chocolate fan (told you I wasn't your best authority for this one), but if you like it, try it and cut back on the sugar a bit. Since the flavor will be less concentrated, I might even try 2 oz if you have it, and cut back even further on the sugar. Maybe you'll discover something.


Ah hah! I found something to give you a guide, whether you do the praline thing or not......

White Chocolate Praline Brownies (blondies with a crunch)
from Wild About Brownies

1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 T water
2/3 c pecans

2 bars (3 oz each) white chocolate, divided
1/4 cup lightly salted butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt

Grease a small baking sheet. Grease and flour the bottom and sides of an 8-inch sq baking pan.

To prepare the praline, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Cook without stirring until the mixture turns amber colored. Quickly stir in the nuts so they are coated with the mixture and turn out onto the prepared baking sheet. Set the praline aside to cool completely. Then chop it.

Prehaet the oven to 350. Chop one bar of chocolate and set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the remaining bar of chocolate over low heat. Then stir in butter until completely blended. Cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and the egg with an electric mixer for 2 min. or until light in color. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla until blended. Beat in the flour and the salt until combined. Stir in 2 T of the chopped praline. Scrape batter into the prepared baking pan and spread even. Bake for 15 minutes then sprinkle with the remaining praline. Bake another 5 to 10 minutes or until a cake tester inserted 2 inches from the center comes out clean. Sprinkle the brownies with the remaining chopped chocolate.

Cool brownies in the pan set on a wire rack. Cut into 16 bars and store cooled brownies in an airtight container at room temp.

Hope that helps your attack! :D

[AD]

I've never tasted anything "chocolatey" about white chocolate. The best advice I can give is to use unsweetened cocoa powder. Use 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon melted butter, oil or other fat.

[ewatkins]

White chocolate isn't even chocolate, right? So I don't see how you could sub it.

[Beth]

No, white chocolate isn't true chocolate, but I don't think the point was to make a "chocolatey" brownie, but to bake a bar cookie, more of a blondie, with what was available. The cocoa and shortening substitution would be my choice, but a white chcolate fan might like to try something different. In fact, the brownie book I found that recipe in has a section on non-chcolate brownies, a chapter true chocoholics rarely even peek at.

[Little Bit]

Beth,

You've got a WHOLE BOOK of brownies? Yum!
Could you share the title?
I firmly believe that there's no such thing as too many cookbooks. :D

[funnybone]

Could you not substitute cocoa for the unsweetened?

From www.foodsubs.com -


unsweetened chocolate = bitter chocolate = baking chocolate = pure chocolate = chocolate liquor Equivalents: One cup of chips = 6 ounces Notes: What kid hasn't sneaked a bar of this out of the kitchen, only to discover that unadulterated chocolate is bitter and unpalatable. Some cooks prefer to use it over sweetened chocolate because it gives them better control of the sweetness and flavor of the product. Substitutes: cocoa (One ounce unsweetened chocolate = 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or margarine or shortening or vegetable oil. Using cocoa may leave a powdery taste, but it usually makes the product moister and more flavorful.) OR 3 tablespoons carob powder + 2 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon butter or margarine or vegetable oil (lower oven temperature by 25 degrees) OR semi-sweet chocolate (1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate = 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate + 1 tablespoon sugar, so decrease the sugar in the recipe accordingly.)

[maizeyoats]

Little Bit
The name of the cookbook is " Wild About Brownies " by Barbara Albright & Leslie Weiner
The copyright is 1985 but I found my copy on e-bay a couple of months ago.

[Beth]

That's the one. I also bought Wild About Muffins(same publisher but by Angela Clubb) and Simply Scones by the same authors. I can't remember which came first, but it was among my first cookbooks purchased as a travel souvenier while I was still un college. All three are paperback, and I recommend the brownie and the scone books. Have found other muffin recipes I use more.

[Beth]

Okay, Alikris, what did you wind up doing? Did you make brownies? Chocolate or white chocolate? I'm a true chcolate fan, but my BIL is a white chcolate fan and not into all the chcolate desserts our family produces, so I'm curious what you did and how it worked.

[Alikris]

the brownies were... adequate... the chocolatey taste remained, no evidence at ALL of the white chocolate... but i overcooked them! lol.. i ate half the pan anyway!:D

[Little Bit]

Thanks for the book title, sounds divine! :)

[jazzcat]

Little Bit, I love your avatar!