Brownies Ratio Analysis

I work in an investment fund and we look at financial ratios and other boring stuff all day long. So when I walked into the office with a box of brownies and said "I couldn't sleep last night so I was experimenting with ratios -" before I could finish my sentence, my colleagues gave incredulous "why would you do that in the middle of the night?!"

Hehehe I was working on the ONLY ratios that matter - the fat to flour content in determining the texture of brownies you get.

So in my attempt to find my absolute favourite brownie recipe, I decided to make all 3 variations to test them with various friends, family and colleagues and let them decide which one is best.

In making brownies, what determines it being cakey or fudgy is the amount of fat (chocolate and flour) versus the amount of flour that you put into the batter. Obviously, more fat means more fudgy, rich and wet, and vice versa.

Then, tweak yet another variable - the type of sugar - and you get chewy brownies!

The ingredients themselves don't change, but the ratios do and so to make it easy for you I've put the recipe in a table:

The winner for me though, definitely fudgy brownies! Especially when they're warm and paired with a glass of cold milk. YUM! 

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I made a horrendous mistake last week: I accidentally deleted my iPhoto Library... then cleared my trash. Years worth of personal pictures, as well as pictures of four recipes I intended to share in the coming few weeks. This means I'll have to bake those recipes again. This also means I have learned my lesson and will back up my stupid files.

Anyway, I managed to at least reshoot images of the raisin oatmeal cookies I baked last week as I made another batch recently. These were quite a hit in my household, so I'm happy to be able to share this one recipe at least. One of my first few posts on this blog was another raisin oatmeal cookie recipe that I quite liked, but I tried out this recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and I love it even more. They're chewy cookies, as opposed to crispy (which the other ones are), so it really comes down to personal preference.

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Makes 1 dozen large cookies

• 270g unsalted butter, softened 
• 160g caster sugar
• 160g soft dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 380g all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 110g rolled oats
• 220g raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and rolled oats, then set aside
3. In the large bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is combined
4. Add the eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed after each addition, then add the vanilla 
5. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined, then fold the raisins in with a wooden or rubber (or anything you like, really) spatula
6. Scoop out tablespoon sized balls of the cookie dough and place on the trays. Allow for two inches of space between each dollop so they don't merge into one giant cookie. Even though there's nothing really wrong with that concept, don't know why some people may find that objectionable. 
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they've achieved a gorgeous tan, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy these still warm and fresh from the oven with a glass of cold milk.