The Thing about Dates

…is that, despite the fact that dried dates look like giant deer droppings (you know it's true!) and have the texture of homemade caramel that's been left out for about a week and a half, they make for an excellent cake ingredient. You may be thinking, "Oh, dates in cakes - old news; I use them all the time!" but stewing up dried dates in a boiling water/baking soda mixture was a whole new adventure in baking for me. And one I was rather thrilled about, since it made me feel like a chemist.
I'm sure there are all sorts of good reasons for why dates make such a perfectly moist and surprisingly light cake, but a cursory Google search didn't reveal much. The community over at Wikipedia reports that:

The sugar content of ripe dates is about 80%; the remainder consists of protein, fat and mineral products including copper, sulfur, iron, magnesium and fluoric acid. Dates are high in fiber and an excellent source of potassium.

It would seem, then, that dates are at least a natural alternative to heaps of sugar and have a few added side benefits.

Mom's* Chocolate Chip Date Cake

Rating: 3

Here's why:

Where's the chocolate? While I think dates make an excellent cake ingredient, I wouldn't go so far as to stay that they make an excellent chocolate cake ingredient. This was a pretty good cake. Not great, but pretty good. Note that the recipe calls for a mere 4 tablespoons of cocoa, with that being the only chocolate added to the batter. Granted, the cake topping includes semisweet chocolate chips, but even then they play the role of a chocolate burst in the flavor medley, rather than being the dominant flavor.

What's cool, though, is that the dates add a beautiful velvety brown hue to the batter. So it looks like chocolate, but when you bite in, the impression you come away with is more like "Mmm…moist!" vs. "Ohhhh…chocolate!"


This cake seems to be more about texture than chocolate, which makes me wonder why it was included in a cookbook titled Death by Chocolate. This was more like Death by Wondering Who Came up with the Notion of Dates in Cake. Still, I tip my hat to them because I would definitely be more apt to try a baked good recipe that calls for dates simply because it's clear they add a great deal in the moisture and texture department.


I would make this cake again, but only as something like a contribution to a potluck picnic rather than a wham-bang finish to a special dinner.

*Not Holly's mom, and not even the mom of the author of this cookbook. Apparently "mom" is Mrs. Peavey, the mother of the author's assistant chef.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. sugar


• 2 cups chopped dried dates (1 8-oz. pkg)


• 1 3/4 t. baking soda


• 1 stick (1/4 pound) plus 1 T. unsalted butter


• 1 3/4 c. plus 1 T all-purpose flour


• 4 T. unsweetened cocoa


• 1/2 t. salt


• 1 1/2 c. sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 t. vanilla


• 3 c. semisweet chocolate chips


• 1 c. walnut pieces

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325.

Heat the water in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Place the chopped dates and 1 t. baking soda in a stainless steel bowl. Pour the boiling water over the dates, and allow to stand until needed.

Coat a 9x13 pan with 1 T. butter. Flour the pan with 1 T. flour and shake out the excess. Set aside until needed.

Combine 1 3/4 c. flour, the cocoa, remaining baking soda, and the salt in a sifter. Sift onto waxed paper and set aside.

Combine 1 c. sugar and the remaining butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium for 2 minutes, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high for 1 minute, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating on high for 15 seconds after the addition of each egg, and then scraping down the sides after each addition. After the eggs have been incorporated, beat on high for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl.

Add the vanilla extract and beat on medium for 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl. Add the sifted flour mixture and heat on low for 20 seconds. Add the cooled date mixture and continue to beat on low for 20 seconds, then on medium for 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to thoroughly combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly, including to the corners. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 c. sugar over the top of the batter.

Bake in the center of the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips, then the walnut pieces, over the top of the batter.
Return the cake to the oven and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 to 40 minutes. Refrigerate the cake for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Leaving the cake in the pan, use a serrated slicer to cut it.

Brownie Throwdown: DBC vs. The Box

Typical conclusion of a brownie-making session in the H. Hetherington abode: Frantically waving the nearest sofa pillow back and forth above my head in front of the fire alarm, I try desperately to stop the blaring before the fire department shows up. Sadly, I’m not exaggerating. When it comes to brownies, I usually burn them, and not just slightly. Yes, I set the timer, but they usually aren’t quite done when it goes off, so I busy myself with some kitchen task for "just another minute or two while the middle firms up,” and then find myself peering through billows of smoke at a pan of petrified brownies about 15 minutes later.

And the sadder part is that these are usually brownies from a box mix. Normally, I won't, on principle, use box mixes for baked goods. (If you want easy, why even mess about in the kitchen at all – just hit the bakery; this isn’t mac ‘n cheese, people.)  However, I don’t know about you, but all the from-scratch brownie recipes I’ve tried have been utter disappointments, not worth the cost and effort. I therefore bent my own rule when it came to box-mix brownies, because most of the brownie box mixes aren’t any worse than the from-scratch recipes I’ve tried.

So when I attempted the Death by Chocolate brownie recipe, Simply the Best Chocolate Brownie, I approached it with great deal of skepticism and a dash of fear and trembling. I was convinced that I’d either end up spending more quality time ‘neath the fire alarm, or stomp around muttering about how many starving children the $12 I spent on ingredients could feed (and no doubt with something much better-tasting than a pan of mediocre brownies).

To prove my point, I decided to make a pan of box-mix brownies as well and then conduct another one of my highly scientific taste tests, comparing the DBC and box mix version. Hence, the Brownie Throwdown: DBC vs. the Box. (DBC = Death by Chocolate – when you need to make something sound tougher or cooler, abbreviate. First rule of corporate messaging.)

To make a long story longer, the Death by Chocolate brownies, in terms of taste and texture, came out on top, hands down. Of course they took longer to make (though not in terms of baking time) and were more costly, but also well worth it on both counts. These are the kind of brownies that I will unbend my rules for and add to my collection, knowing that they will become the go-to brownies.

And the box-mix brownies? I think the Pillsbury Dough Boy got his wires crossed somewhere in the R&D process, because they tasted like (and had the texture of) a flat chocolate cake. And those were the “fudge” brownies. Notice also, in the image above, that they lack the requisite crackly top all good brownies should have. They desperately needed salt, too.  (Tip: if you must bake a box-mix chocolate anything, it’s usually a good idea to add about ½ t. of salt to the dry ingredients before adding the wet. That's an easy way to enhance the chocolate flavor and make the end result taste a bit more homemade. This even works with premade chocolate frosting–seriously–but don’t use a full ½ t for frosting, just a dash.)
Now, without further ado:

Simply the Best Chocolate Brownies

Rating: 4.5

Here's why: The brownies had an excellent chocolate flavor with a slight tang from the sour cream. They were surprisingly light in terms of texture (but not so light that you feel cheated), and had the requisite crackly tops. Incredible when served fresh out of the oven with vanilla ice cream. Usually I'm not really a fan of brownies and could take them or leave them, but not with these brownies.


Highs: The recipe is relatively simple and doesn't call for nearly as much chocolate as some of the previous recipes (see Granny Twitchell's Secret Chocolate Cupcake Recipe), making it a bit more reasonable if you just want a good finale for an unfussy meal. Also, the baking time (about 30 minutes in my oven) was the exact same as the box mix, so really the box mix only saves you the 15 or so minutes it takes to prepare the batter.

Lows: It bakes up pretty flat, so use a smaller pan (I used 8x8 and thought that was perfect). Also, due to the fudgy texture, it’s difficult to cut them into perfectly square pieces without getting ragged edges. Definitely use a serrated knife to cut them if you need them to look halfway decent in terms of presentation.

Simply the Best Chocolate Brownies

• 4 T. plus 1 t. unsalted butter
• ¼ c. flour
• 2 T. unsweetened cocoa
• 1 t. baking powder
• ½ t. salt
• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, broken into ½-oz pieces
• 2 oz semisweet chocolate, broken into ½-oz pieces
• 3 eggs
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• ¼ c. sour cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly coat an 8x8-inch square pan with 1 t. butter, then flour the pan with 1 t. flour, shaking out the excess.
Sift together the ¼ c. flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt onto waxed paper. Set aside.
Heat 1 inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium-high heat. Place the 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, remaining 4 T. butter, and 2 oz semisweet chocolate in the top of the double boiler. Tightly cover the top with film wrap. Heat for 4.5 to 5 minutes, remove from heat, and stir until smooth.

Place the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip. Mix on high until slightly thickened, about 1.5 minutes. Add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and mix on medium for 30 seconds. Add the sifted ingredients, mix on low for 10 seconds, then on medium for 10 seconds. Add the sour cream and mix on medium for 5 seconds.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to combine thoroughly. Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan, spreading evenly, including the corners. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes (note: I only baked them for about 30 minutes in my oven, so recommend setting the timer for 30 minutes to start).

Remove the brownies from the oven and allow to cool in the pan at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. Use a serrated slicer to cut into 12 portions.