Brownies from Cacao Pod

there are a million desserts out there to choose from but i feel like everybody has a top three list and if you were to survey everybody in the country in the world maybe i don't know and ask them what some of their favorites are i feel like i've never met anybody that's turned down a good brownie now today we're gonna make brownies from scratch but by now i hope all of you do know what from scratch means to me well how would you make a brownie from scratch given we're going with chocolate brownies chocolate is definitely that base it'd be very difficult for me to go out and harvest my own cane sugar right now though i have looked into that but let's get back to chocolate how about we get it from one of these that's right we're gonna make brownies from a cacao pod i do have to say that this is the biggest cacao pod i've ever seen right here is a normal sized cacao pod and i get these in all the time but this baby looks every cacao pod i've ever seen look like nothing this thing is enormous now with this i'm also really curious to see what the flavor is because if you didn't know there are a lot of foods that if you get a really large one particularly with animals though definitely not limited to that category it doesn't taste that great the meat can be tough the fruit can just taste old and weathered it's a very interesting phenomenon but either way we got plenty of cacao pods to go around so i'm not worried about the flavor as usual i get most of my cacao pods from ecuador though they can come from a variety of different places so today our plan of attack to make these brownies will be to open the cacao pod take out the seeds which if you haven't seen them before is an amazing thing to experience and i urge you someday to try to taste cacao in real life it's easily one of my two favorite fruits ever we'll then let these seeds ferment for just a bit then we'll roast them in the oven break them open to reveal the cacao nibs blend this into a cocoa powder notice there's a difference between cacao and cocoa and then make some of my world famous brownies these things have a crispy edge a really really chewy interior they'll never go back to a different brownie recipe ever again let's get started to cut our pot open i'll gently score the top with my knife just to try not to cut through and damage the seeds then i'll make a little incision right across and do the same line down on the other side then i should just be able to wedge this right out and this will reveal an amazing layer of beans to me taking a big whiff of this smells a bit like lemon and starburst with our other cacao pods i'm going to karate chop them to open them up i just love this little secret compartment i've made it's a little citrusy i don't even know how to describe it it's just amazing please please try a cacao at some point in your life now listen when i scrape the seeds out of here and into our bowl they're very slimy but if you can get over that they're the most amazing tasting fruit in the world now we'll take these and let them ferment now once we've let these ferment for a little bit give a little bit of a smell to them we'll spread them out in a baking tray and let them make it 275 fahrenheit or so for about an hour hour and a half until they're nice and dark at which point inside these seeds will have cacao nibs after some roasting this is what you get now as you can see right now we have these dark sort of golden brown seeds but once i break this open there's cacao nibs inside you might recognize these from a smoothie bowl or maybe sprinkled on top of baked goods but this is where chocolate comes from and once we've separated out a lot we'll blend these up to make some of our own cocoa powder we'll add our cacao nibs and then grind them into cocoa powder and there it is now in a large bowl we'll add a third cup of cocoa powder one and a half teaspoons instant coffee granules one half cup plus two tablespoons of boiling water and then blend this until smooth now we'll chop two ounces of unsweetened chocolate one of the most satisfying things to cut add this then whisk again until melted and smooth next we'll add a full stick of melted butter it's not black butter it was just in my chocolate bowl followed by a half cup plus two tablespoons vegetable oil then add two whole large eggs plus two large yolks and then two teaspoons of vanilla extract this right here is my homemade vanilla extract but it's still got about 340 days to go vanilla extract takes a while to get ready so two teaspoons vanilla extract now whisk again add a full two cups of granulated sugar and whisk again we're almost there i promise add one and three quarters cup all-purpose flour a little pinch of salt a small sprinkle of cacao nibs because we work so hard for them and if you want some chocolate chips so i'm gonna leave this how it is because i like it this way whisk one more time then you're ready to bake pour your batter into a pan lined with aluminum foil you don't have to add the foil but it'll help to get it out at the end i always use a rubber spatula to scrape the edges that'll get you one more brownie bake this about 45 minutes at 350 fahrenheit but start checking for doneness after half an hour the brownies are done and this is perhaps one of the best smells to ever bless my kitchen but i like to let them cool in the oven with the door open which avoids the sudden shock and temperature that'll send a huge crack through any of your baked goods so let it cool in the oven and then we'll give it a try usually you know a pretty good set of brownies when you see them and it just so happens that i am very excited by these brownies you look at the edges here and you immediately know that it's gonna be a little bit crispy but then you just gotta trust me on this one the inside is chewy as can be i've been letting this cool for about 30 to 45 minutes so i think it's an appropriate time to lift this right out of its container my hope is that if i peel off the sides it'll help it cool the rest of the way now i'll peel this off my aluminum foil and place it on my cutting board i'm gonna cut this into four giant squares by the way look at how fudgy this is it's hard not to cut this without cracking it but that's all right because this is a next level brownie right here and it has the extremes on both sides a fudgy interior and that really crispy exterior so i'm okay with that now i just want you to all take a nice close look at these brownies and then a nice look at this cacao pod and just wonder isn't it amazing that we turned this into this you'll notice it's almost like a lava cake brownie with a lot of gooeyness in the middle it's perfectly perfectly cooked and timed to make this happen follow the recipe and you'll get this then i'll show you a piece of crust right here the crust is crumbly delicious everything you'd want in the outside and edge of a brownie so let's take a bite again i just want to show you a closer up view of this brownie you can see as you get further away from the edges on this side that it's more crumbly and we have a nice crust but then you get to the middle and it's like a lava cake i think i know what to do one bite from the gooey part and one bite from the crust let's start with gooey [Music] now crust i'm speechless the gooey part is all the best things about a chocolate souffle and a chocolate lava cake i mean it's like biting into a chocolate cloud and the part with the crumbs gives that perfect texture brownie crust has always been my favorite but not anymore not with this this is a mind-blowingly good brownie simply the best brownie that i have ever had and i don't like to talk with my mouth full please go make these brownies something about this is almost impossibly good and i'm going to give this a 12 out of 10. it's chewy it's fluffy it's moist it's dense crumbly everything anyone could ever even imagine in a brownie still i am at a loss for words now hit me with some ideas for what to do for the rest of the cacao series what's a chocolate flavored thing that you like should i try out drinks like mochas should i stick to pastries and desserts or should i try a savory dish like a mole the possibilities are endless in the meantime please don't forget to subscribe i love you for clicking on that button and if you want to toss on notifications because i'm uploading videos every single day and i like to give back to all of you for your support so i'll be doing a huge giveaway soon and you don't want to miss that either the giveaway will only be on youtube last just please don't forget to drop a like on the video that's all i'm ever gonna ask of you until next time where we'll further explore all the endless possibilities with the humble cacao pod see you next time

Channel: Nick DiGiovanni

Views: 1,918,142

Rating: 4.9499869 out of 5

Keywords: brownies, brownies recipe, brownies tasty, brownie cake recipe, brownie cake, brownie cookies, brownie recipe, best brownie recipe, best brownies, cacao pod, cacao pod asmr, cacao pod to chocolate, cacao pod to lava cake, cacao pod recipes, cacao brownies, how to brownie at home, how to make brownie, nutella brownies, brownies cookies, brownie food, brownie at home, homemade brownie, brownie recipe eggless, cooking, recipe, best recipes, masterchef recipes, tasty brownies

Id: DuW_Jj_Hsa8

Length: 7min 15sec (435 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 26 2021