The Continued Battle with the Convection Oven

Because I’m an American in France and there are certain American delicacies I just cannot live without, I have been putting my microwave convection oven to the test.

The latest trial: Brownies. Now, it is possible to have brownies in France, but whenever I find them in a boulangerie they have nuts – and if you know me, you know I’m no fan of nuts. You can also find premade boxed brownies in the supermarket.

So, I originally found this recipe online, and since it claimed to be the “ultimate brownie” recipe, I had decided to give it a whirl. Since the first time I used it a few years ago, I’ve never had anything but compliments. Of course I won’t give away my secret touches, but the basic recipe is great too.

The web-site describes it  as a “tall like a cakey-brownie, [that] is dense like a fudgy-brownie.”

So here we go:

• 8- 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate (225g)
• 1 cup butter (225g)
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups sugar (675g)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups flour (170g)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2-1/2 cups (here you can add whatever you want – nuts, chocolate chips, m&ms, whatever).

So now we’ve got the ingredients listed. Here are your instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 375ºF or 190ºC (or I used 175ºC on my convection oven, yet it was just a guess)
• Grease your baking dish/pan (original calls for 9” x 13” but you can use whatever you want, just adjust your cooking time)
• Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat; set aside.
• Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes.
• Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed.
• Stir in the nuts.
• Pour into prepared pan.

Then you bake. Original recipe calls for 35-40 minutes, but that really depends on your oven and the pan size.

I made a half batch (which contrary to popular belief is possible, in spite of needing 2.5 eggs. It is quite possible to use half an egg.) in a smaller glass dish, and it turned out fine, though admittedly I should have cooked it longer. It’s always a battle with this convection oven.