High Altitude Special: Chocolate

Brownie
What Youll Need:
Equipment Ingredients
Oven 7/8 cup (105g) all-
Spoon purpose flour
Timer 1/2 cup (50g)
Two medium sized unsweetened cocoa
Baking round 2 pictured left to right
bowls powder (Brownie A, Brownie B, and Brownie C)
1 cup measure 1/2 (2.45g) teaspoon
1/4 cup measure baking powder Directions: Preheat the oven to 175C
1/8 cup measure 1/2 (2.845g) teaspoon (350C). Place a sifter inside a bowl. Place
1/2 teaspoon salt all of the dry ingredients into the sifter. Sift
1 cup 3/4 (170.25g) cup butter, the ingredients into the bowl. Put the butter
Spatula melted into a microwave-safe bowl and cut into
Knife 1 1/2 (300g) cups white small slices. Microwave the butter for 30
Plastic knife sugar OR seconds. Pour the butter into a medium
Toothpicks maple syrup sized bowl. Add the sugar or sugar
Sifter 1 1/8 cup substitute into the bowl with the butter and
Disposable baking (362.25g) OR mix completely. Add the eggs and vanilla
pan honey 1 1/8 cup into the sugar-butter mixture and mix. Pour
(382.5g) the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
1 1/2 (6.3g) teaspoons Stir until completely blended. Pour the
vanilla extract batter into a disposable non-stick pan. Place
3 eggs (144.58g) the pan in the oven, and bake 35-45 minutes,
depending on what you are using for sugar.
Let the brownies cool for 30 minutes. Cut
the brownies into even pieces using a plastic
knife.
 High Altitude Special: Chocolate
Brownie
The Experiment: All baked goods contain The Science: Traditional sugar or sucrose
some form of sweetener, and most of the locks in moisture in baked goods, such as
time the sweetness comes from sugar. brownies. Butter is about 17% water and
Sugar comes in three main types, fructose, eggs are 80% water. Sucrose attracts these
glucose, and sucrose. Each type of sugar water molecules which disperses them
has a particular sweetness index. Fructose throughout the batter. Both water and
is the sweetest with an index of 1.7, sucrose sucrose molecules are polar. When
has a sweetness index of 1, and glucose hydrogen atoms bond with an oxygen atom,
has a sweetness index of 0.75. Honey they form a covalent bond. The oxygen
contains both fructose and glucose; it has a shares one electron with each hydrogen,
sweetness index of 1.1. Additionally, maple and each hydrogen shares its electron with
syrup contains sucrose, so the sweetness the oxygen. This bonding causes the sides
index is 1. Brownies need some form of of the molecule to be negatively or positively
sugar to add to the sweetness. We charged. This attraction also keeps the
manipulated the brownie recipe with moisture from leaving the batter during the
regards to the sweetener by substituting baking process. This reaction explains why
honey and maple syrup for traditional white the brownies made with sugar and maple
sugar. The results were three very different syrup were the most moist. In addition,
brownies. For example, the brownies made batters containing maple syrup and honey
with traditional sugar tasted the most contain extra water compared to the one
buttery. Additionally, the brownies were with sugar; the two brownie recipes made
rated on a sweetness scale from 1-sweet to with these ingredients instead of sugar rose
5-bitter. Even though the brownies made more. When water is heated to 100C, it
with honey had the highest sweetness begins to turn into a gas. This extra gas
index, they were not the sweetest tasting helped to raise Brownies B (honey) and C
brownie. Fifteen people out of nineteen (maple syrup). Maple syrup is about 33%
thought Brownie B (honey) was a 3 or less water, and we did not subtract other liquids.
on the rating scale. Fourteen out of Additionally maple syrup contains sucrose,
nineteen people thought the original which attracts water. Therefore Brownie C
brownie (Brownie A) was sweeter than a 3 contained quite a bit of moisture. However,
on the same scale. Nine out of nineteen because the honey did not keep liquid in the
people thought Brownie C (maple syrup) brownies, they lost moisture. Honey is only
was also greater than a 3; maple syrup approximately 20% water. Because it did
contains the same carbohydrate as sugar, not add much to the overall moisture
sucrose. Another effect of changing the content, more moisture was lost. These
form of sweetener was the texture. conditions led Brownie B to be dryer than
Traditional brownies should be fairly thin, Brownies A (sugar) and C (maple syrup).
with a moist center, crunchy edges, and The densities of all the brownies support the
flaky top. The traditional sugar brownies idea that extra water led to more rising.
produced this result. When honey replaced Brownie A (sugar) had the highest density,
the sugar in the brownie recipe, the result while both Brownie B (honey) Brownie A
was a thick, dry, cake with a subpar taste. (maple syrup) had lower densities due to
However, if you want to make a succulent the extra water that turned into gas. The
chocolate cake with a hint of maple, I taste test results reflect this science. 13/19
recommend replacing sugar with maple people thought the traditional brownie
syrup. (Brownie A) was a 2 or less on a moisture
scale from 1-moist to 5-dry. 11/19 people
said that the Brownie C (maple syrup) was a
2 or less on the same scale. 14/19 people
thought the Brownie B (honey) was a 3 or
higher on the moisture scale.
 High Altitude Special: Chocolate
Brownie
Personal Connection:
Colorado tends to have a high altitude, and
this includes Durango. This altitude can
create problems in baking and cooking.
Baked goods can end up flat, dry, or too
sugary. When day dreaming about
decadent desserts, brownies are an iconic
sweet treat that is bound to come to mind.
Who doesnt love a perfect brownie with a
flaky top, crispy edges, and gooey center?
Both of these ideas led us to undertake the
task of creating the best brownie possible.
First, Nicole baked a recipe for brownies
without any altitude adjustments. These The first batch of brownies, made with
brownies were very thin and tasted strongly normal sugar, turned out with a nice buttery
of olive oil. This attempt led us to seek a flavor, gooey on the inside, crispy on the
high altitude brownie recipe. During school outside, and basically everything you could
the next week, we found a new recipe that want from a brownie. The honey batch
made corrections for higher altitudes. We while good in theory had some issues.
then made the necessary calculations to These brownies ended up thick, dry,
replace sugar with honey and maple syrup. crumbly, and not very chocolatey or sweet.
We spent two lovely Sundays baking six They resembled a failed cake rather than
batches of chocolatey delicious brownies, brownies. Finally, the maple syrup brownies
two with the traditional recipe, two with while not very brownie like were decent.
honey in place of sugar, and two with maple The batter formed a light, moist chocolate
syrup in place of sugar. cake that would pair well with a homemade
buttercream frosting. Through the baking
process, and many taste tests, it was
determined that traditional brownies are still
the best. In conclusion, if its not broke,
dont fix it. Traditional brownies are a
classic for a reason; nothing else can
capture the essence of a brownie but a
traditional brownie. Even changing one
aspect of the recipe dramatically affects the
brownieness of the final product.