Problem-solving brownies
On leftovers and using up egg whites
I was hesitant about this week’s newsletter because I was unsure about the utility of sharing a recipe that responds to such a niche need (using up egg whites). I think sometimes recipes devised to use up specific ingredients can feel like a pyramid scheme: you too can get to the bottom of that jar of capers in your fridge as long as you buy a lemon, some fish, fresh parsley and a half an onion, each of which will leave you with more scraps to use up before the week is over.
But perhaps there is a certain poetry to this process: Tamar Adler makes a pretty convincing case for this as the basis of home cooking in her wonderful book An Everlasting Meal. After all, what is the value of getting to an empty fridge with nothing to use up anyway? Isn’t the idea of using up ingredients to make something delicious before the component parts go bad? And is this not all we do when we cook anyway, ‘using up’ or not?
The thing is, I wouldn’t want anyone wasting egg yolks just to make these brownies (there are plenty of yolk-inclusive brownie recipes, like this cocoa one, out there). But, if you really cannot resist, who am I to stop you from inviting two friends over for carbonara and making these with the leftover whites? We love main course-dessert symbiosis!
I’m particularly excited about this week’s Baker’s Dozen - scroll straight to that for some stellar museuming, reading and listening recommendations if you don’t yet have a fridge full of egg whites.
For all my concerns about ‘using up’ recipes, these brownies are the single best thing I have found to do with leftover egg whites. I think this is because brownies are already something I make regularly, so I already have most of the ingredients to hand, and I know I’ll like them (who doesn’t).
These make properly fudgy brownies with a light crispy top. It’s somewhat counterintuitive, since I normally associate egg-white only cakes with a drier outcome, something this recipe makes up for with extra fat (using melted chocolate as well as cocoa, whereas my regular brownie recipe uses just cocoa), minimal flour (just 50g) and a short cooking time.
I don’t major on add-ins here, but as with any brownie, you can pimp these with chocolate chips, walnuts, swirls of nut butters, or whatever you’re feeling. (Mum, I know you will add orange zest and that’s ok).
Egg white brownies
100g dark chocolate
170g butter
4 egg whites
100g white sugar
100g soft light brown sugar
50g cocoa (the best you can get)
50g plain flour
Line a 20 x 20 cm baking tin with greaseproof paper (scrunch and unscrunch the paper a couple of times to get it to sit better).
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat. As soon as about half of them have melted, turn off the heat: the remaining solids will melt in the residual heat and this will stop them from burning.
In the meantime, start whisking the egg whites in a stand mixer. As they start to reach soft peaks, slowly begin adding the sugars, little by little. Once each addition has been fully incorporated, add another bit, until you have a smooth, pale brown silky, voluminous mass.
Once the chocolate and butter mixture has cooled a little, fold it into the egg whites in two batches. Be gentle enough not to knock out all the air, but don’t worry too much about this: we’re not making meringues here.
Once almost fully incorporated, add the flour and cocoa, folding in the same way. Then pour the whole lot into the tin, and bake for 18 minutes. As with most of my baking recipes, I recommend starting with top and bottom heat for the first 4 minutes, then switching to bottom and only to the end (if you have a fan oven just stick to fan and bottom heat but be prepared to cook for less time). You’ll know they are done when the middle is no longer wobbly but still visibly soft: I advise erring on the side of caution here because an overcooked brownie is extremely sad, but an undercooked brownie can be zapped in the microwave and topped with ice cream.
Let them cool completely before slicing into 8 pieces.
Baker’s dozen
13 good things from the past two weeks:
Three days of bliss with my bestie in Brussels, featuring treats from some of my favourite bakeries and some extremely good beers. She also left me with 10 creme eggs and if that isn’t love I don’t know what is.
I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening night of the incredible Throwaway exhibition at the House of European History, which my very talented friend has been working so hard to put together for over a year. It opens to the public today so do check it out if you are in Brussels.
I really enjoyed the profile of the late Jean-Robert de Cavel on the Sporkful podcast. A very interesting exploration of the (sometimes improbable) interaction of person, place and plate. As an extra bonus, he was originally from Lille, which very close to home!
The lovely David (who was, incidentally, the very first person to subscribe to this newsletter) has launched a newsletter called ‘👂🏼sounds like,’. I was only recently telling a friend that I was frustrated my appreciation of music was not backed up by even the remotest bit of knowledge about anything musical. I’m hoping his monthly missives will allow some of his insight to rub off on me. He is doing some very very cool things (and uses emojis and bullet points much better than I do) and you would be mad not to subscribe.
I have been meaning to read some Kate Zambreno for a while and have finally started Drifts, which I am greatly enjoying.
Also on my list of things I have been meaning to read and finally am getting around to is Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor. I’m trying to read more books set in and about Brussels, and it’s interesting to see it represented when Belgium was such a young country. It’s also pretty funny.
Planning is underway for the next edition of my series of Chewing the Fat events at Full Circle on 9 March - register to join me to talk about localism and the future of food, more details coming soon! Select the option ‘Chewing the Fat Supporters’ to join at the members’ rate of €20.
The sun came out in Brussels!
Having amatriciana cooked for me.
Made a very sharp lemon cake. The recipe made too much icing but the cake was exactly what I wanted. It was nice to follow a proper lemon cake recipe for once and not just wing it.
Arriving in Amsterdam for 36 hours of food and fun.
Bouldering at my favourite spot twice.
A delicious birthday dinner for a friend at Pinsaci Tu.
Oh thank you!!
Extremely rude of outlook to put this in the junk when you've been so nice
If you have any questions about music you want answered, I might start a music questions agony aunt question answering feature sort of feature, send em over