brownies--a little short of the unsweetened chocolate

Everything's measured out for my favorite brownies: Joanne Chang's Intense Chocolate brownies use both bittersweet (70 grams) and unsweetened chocolates (155 grams). I'm about 30-35 grams short of the unsweetened. Could I add more of the bittersweet and take out some sugar (how much)? Or...I could go shopping.

creamtea
  • Posted by: creamtea
  • November 13, 2014
  • 2456 views
  • 5 Comments

5 Comments

ChefJune
ChefJune November 13, 2014
Glad it worked out. I'm sure there's lots of leeway with brownies... More than with some more intricate recipes.
 
Susan W.
Susan W. November 13, 2014
I had this issue just the other day. According to baking911.com, you reduce the sugar by half. So..you would just reduce the sugar by 15 grams. I had to reduce by twice that much and the brownies turned out just the way they always do.
 
creamtea
creamtea November 13, 2014
Thank you Susan; I think there's a lot more leeway with baking recipes than we're led to believe. A small tweak seldom hurts. I didn't know about baking911.com; \thanks for the reference!
 
kay N.
kay N. November 13, 2014
creamtea
the simplest answer is to substitute a good quality 100% natural unsweetened cocoa powder for the unsweetened chocolate.
The substitution is found on the back of your good old supermarket Hershey's cocoa box.
3 level tablespoons + 1 tablespoon of shortening or oil (I use butter) = 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate.

I've also substituted bitter or semisweet chocolate ounce for ounce, but that requires adjusting the sugar, which can be problematic when baking.
Just be sure you are using unsweetened cocoa powder, and you'll be fine.
 
creamtea
creamtea November 13, 2014
Thanks for your help, Kay, I had some Valhrona cocoa and used that. The crumbs clinging to the cake tester tasted amazing...I'm serving them on Saturday and I think they're just great.
 
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