BYU brownies from beginning to end

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By Ashley B. Johnson

The recipe starts with 50 pounds of butter and more than 15 pounds of cocoa powder put into a steam kettle until melted. Then it is transferred in buckets to the large mixing bowl where the remaining ingredients, including 97 pounds of sugar, are added.

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Brownies are kept on a tray at Sugar N' Spice in the Cougareat.
Halfway through, the sides and bottom of the bowl have to be scraped while wearing a plastic glove that extends to the mixer’s shoulder.

The finished batter is carefully weighed out, eight pounds for each full sheet pan, and placed on a rack to be baked.

The classic BYU brownie with mint and chocolate frosting is made in 30-sheet batches. That is approximately 120 traditional 9×13 pans worth of brownies.

Since the Culinary Support Center opened in Fall 2009, it has been providing food for the MOA Café, Sugar n’ Spice, the Missionary Training Center, the Cannon Commons, BYU Food-to-Go and other places around campus.

The bakery has undergone several changes in the last year to make products healthier.

Executive Pastry Chef Fernanda Dutra has been the driving force since leaving the Grand American Hotel in Salt Lake City. The hotel is the only Five Diamond hotel in Salt Lake City, according to its website.

Dutra chose to bring her experience and talent to BYU Fall Semester 2010.

Since her arrival, the bakery has transitioned to making most desserts from scratch, removing mixes and pre-made pie fillings from inventory.

Dutra has also eliminated trans-fats from bakery products.

The recipe books the bakery used for years, with the occasional recipe change, were relocated to a box on a storage shelf, with a few exceptions.

“These recipes were 20 to 30 years old,” Dutra said. “It has been a constant battle for change.”

The traditional BYU brownie recipe, as well as the mint frosting recipe, remains the same.

“It is such a tradition,” Dutra said. “I didn’t change it.”

The only difference is that the brownies now use margarine without trans-fat.

The original BYU mint brownie recipe came from Cougareat Pastry Chef Eliza Wardle when the Cougareat was housed in the basement of the old Joseph Smith Building in the 1950s.

Variations have popped up over the years and the bakery has occasionally made changes to the recipe.

Employees at the bakery found the changes hard at first, but appreciate them now.

“At first it was hard, we were all used to the same old thing,” said Erin Bodily, a full-time worker.

Bodily thinks the change has made working at the bakery less stressful because of teamwork and thinking ahead.

Student employees frequently mix a batch of brownies in the afternoon. The finished batter is spread evenly on the sheet pans. The pans are then placed on a large rack that is rolled into the oven. The bakery ovens are able to lift and rotate the racks to ensure even baking.

In the pastry area of the kitchen, student employee Camille Payne frosted two pans of mint brownies.

Payne has worked in the bakery for nearly two years. She starts with large scoops of the green mint frosting, spreading it evenly along the edges and finishing in a horizontal pattern.

As she scoops the chocolate frosting for the top layer she says this is the hard part.

“I have to spread the chocolate icing on the mint icing and not mix them,” Payne said. “It is difficult sometimes.”

Nancyann Adams, a sophomore from Willard, Mo., got in line at Sugar n’ Spice to buy her first brownie. Adams said she enjoyed getting free brownies at various campus events, but this is the first one she has bought.

“These are huge brownies,” Adams said. “You get your money’s worth.”

BYU Brownies

 

¾ cup + 4 tsp.                                                    Margarine

½ cup                                                                  Cocoa powder

1 ½ cups + 2 Tbsp.                                            Sugar

3                                                                           Eggs

1 ¾ tsp.                                                               Vanilla

2 cups                                                                  Cake flour

½ tsp.                                                                  Salt

1 tsp.                                                                    Baking powder

¾ cups                                                                Walnuts (optional)

 

1.     Combine melted margarine and cocoa powder

2.      Mix in sugar, blend for 1 minute on medium

3.      Add eggs and vanilla

4.      Add flour, salt, and baking powder

5.      Mix on medium till blended, then high for 1 minute

6.      Fold in walnuts if desired

7.      Smooth batter evenly into greased 9×13 pan

8.      Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

9.      Spread any desired frosting for a finishing touch

 

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