eat them all … Iced Hepburn Brownies

In the great wide recipe universe, there are probably more for brownies than any other. So many versions, so many methods. For me, it comes down to fudgy versus cakey and I am firmly in the fudgy camp. For years I’ve used an Alice Medrich recipe made with two kinds of chocolate and a very small amount of flour that is intensely fudgy, chocolatey and wonderful. Sometimes I add nuts or peanut butter swirls or coffee powder, sometimes fruit like port soaked cherries or fresh raspberries and sometimes I just leave them plain. They’re fabulous. Then last week, after an hour call in which chocolate was discussed at length, I had a craving for brownies but not a speck of chocolate in the house. This is highly unusual. Highly. Not wanting to run to the store, I shifted through my pantry and noticed I had a lot of cocoa powder. Not my usual but that could work. I looked for a cocoa based recipe and came upon one I’ve crossed paths with for years but never made: Katherine Hepburn Brownies.

Legend holds that she really did make these frequently. It’s a relatively simple and fuss free recipe – melted butter, cocoa powder, sugar, eggs, a little flour – and many swear by it. For some reason, I’ve always held to the theory that brownies need real chocolate because I’d never made a cocoa based recipe that I liked as much. I was about to discover that there’s always room in the recipe box for another.

These could probably be called “Quarantine Brownies” as I wasn’t just out of chocolate. I was low on sugar, out of vanilla and discovered the majority of my nuts, stored on a pantry shelf, had gone rancid. (Yes, I know I should store them in the freezer but who has that kind of space?) With a serious brownie craving, a few missing ingredients wasn’t going to slow me down. I scavenged a ½ cup of granulated sugar from the bottom of the canister and replaced the rest with brown sugar which deepened the flavor and made the brownies a bit moister and chewier, both good things. For the vanilla, I used bourbon which I always seem to have on hand and is a perfectly acceptable substitute. I often do this on purpose. While I could have skipped the nuts, I like them so I decided to dig around in of depths my magical freezer and see what I could find. Hallelujah! Underneath bags of homemade dumplings, a pot pie or two, a lot of frozen berries and a few ziplocs of tortellini made early in the pandemic I unearthed a bag of black walnuts, leftovers from some fancy baking project. I adore black walnuts; they’ve got a deeper, richer flavor with none of the tannins of a more traditional English walnut. Fantastic. And so we press on. The batter came together in no time.

While they were baking, I decided they needed an icing. I have an on-going discussion about this very topic with my pastry chef friend Erin going back years to when we used to work together. We agree that for a lot of brownies, an icing makes them better and the ideal is chocolatey without being overly so, not too sweet and it has to crust over while staying soft underneath. Part of this is textural – that slightly crisp layer that gives way to a little gooeyness is undeniably pleasurable – but also practical. Ganache, while delicious, sticks to everything. I sent her a text the other night to remind me of the recipe we landed on and she replied with “use the one on the back of the Domino box.” I’m pretty sure she gives me the same answer about every 6 months. This time I remembered to write it down.

So that’s what I did, with a few modifications. I cut it in half for an 8×8 pan as I wanted a thin icing layer and I used bourbon instead of vanilla. Because of course I did. This is a chewy, fudgy brownie, studded here and there with a nice, nutty bite and a thin slick of ever so slightly boozy icing. While I’m normally a center of the pan kind of person, the edges on these brownies are great – wonderfully chewy. A sliver here, a small square there, I can’t say they lasted all that long in my house and definitely fit the bill.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT. If ever there was a time for a pan of brownies in front of your face, now is most definitely that time. Call it stress eating, call it comfort eating, call it whatever you want. It helps. This isn’t exactly an original recipe but it is a classic that I tweaked to suit my purposes and what ingredients I had on hand. Having made it both as written and with my variations, both are good though I will always pick the one with bourbon. Always. It comes together quickly and easily with some standard ingredients so I say give it a go. And don’t skip the icing.

eleven years ago: Panzanella, Empanadas -Two Ways – Wild Mushroom Goat Cheese and Lamb Chard Potato
ten years ago: Bacon Waffles
nine years ago: Fresh Tomato Tart, Tomato Confit
eight years ago: Figgy BBQ Sauce
seven years ago: Apricot Jam, Tomato Chile Jam
six years ago: Fresh Mint Limeade
five years ago: Mexican Corn Salad
four years ago: Sticky Spicy Sweet Chicken Wings
three years ago: Cowboy Beans, Roasted Peach Sour Cream Ice Cream, Quick Zucchini Pickles
two years ago: Watermelon Jicama Salad
last year: Almond Summer Fruit Galette

ICED HEPBURN BROWNIES – adapted from this NYT recipe, icing adapted from the Domino box recipe
makes about 16 brownies
I sifted the cocoa into the bowl and then whisked in the butter to make sure the mixture was completely lump free. If you don’t mind washing a strainer, do this. If you do, just whisk extra diligently. I also prefer a dutch process cocoa, which is alkalized and makes a darker and seemingly fudgier brownie but a natural cocoa powder works too if that’s what you have. Don’t like nuts? Don’t add them

for the brownies:
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
½ cup dutch process cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon bourbon (or vanilla)
½ cup sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
good pinch of kosher salt
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup roughly chopped walnuts or pecans

for the icing:
2 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 ½ Tablespoons dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon bourbon (or vanilla)
1 Tablespoon whole milk
¾ cup powdered sugar

1. For the brownies: Heat oven to 325°F with a rack in the lower third. Line an 8”x8” pan with a criss-cross of parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter and cocoa until smooth. Let cool a bit.
3. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in bourbon (or vanilla).
5. Add both sugars, salt, nuts and flour and stir until just combined.
6. Pour into the prepared pan.
7. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted just off center comes out clean with moist crumbs. Do not overbake; the brownies should be gooey.
8. Let cool fully on a wire rack.
9. For the icing: in a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter and cocoa powder until smooth.
10. Whisk in the bourbon (or vanilla) and milk then sift in the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.
11. Pour the icing over the cooled brownies and smooth to a thin, even layer.
12. Let sit until a crust forms, at least 1 hour.