/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>9021818
>There is one advantage to mixes, that crack-sugary crust on top that you don't get in homemade.
There's actually quite a bit of discussion and experimentation that goes over that:
http://philosophyofyum.com/blog/2015/10/28/shiny-brownie-crust-foolproof-perfect/

3) If, and when, your recipe calls for cocoa powder you have two options:
1. If you want an intense, almost acidic, chocolate flavor that dominates use the natural variety. It will also turn your brownies a kind of copperish rusty-red tinge.
2. If you want a mellower chocolate that plays nice with mix-ins like dried fruits, roasted nuts, or cream cheese swirls use a dutch-process instead. Dutch-process will also turn your brownies EXTREMELY dark like you see on television or the sides of box mixes (ironically they won't taste as strongly of chocolate as those lighter in color made with natural cocoa). You can also use a subset called ultra-dutched AKA Onxy cocoa powder (same stuff as in oreo cookies) which will make your brownies look like asphalt.
http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2014/01/10/the-a-b-cs-of-cocoa/

4) http://philosophyofyum.com/blog/2015/10/28/shiny-brownie-crust-foolproof-perfect/
^If you like a shiny crust on your brownies (like pic related) the key isn't dissolving the sugar completely into the liquids, or how much you beat the eggs (the crust itself is NOT a mini-meringue as some believe) but adding VERY finely chopped or melted milk chocolate on top and spreading it with a spatula. Specifically, it's the milk powder and lecithin emulsifier added to dark chocolate that does it. So apart from just adding the milk variety which tends to be very sweet and/or low quality you can also just buy each ingredient and some discretely to your favorite base recipe.

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