Recipe Review Salted Caramel & Macadamia Brownies For Food's Sake pge 125

[judydawn]

This is a review from Lilli33 12/2/12

Oh it's sooo good. Made the salted caramel macadamia brownies for morning tea today... No left overs for kids for school tomorrow. Yummy! You won't be disappointed. There's so many great recipes that are fab to have in a gorgeous hard cover book!

[Lilli33]

Thanks JD... Sorry should have posted here.

[cecilia]

I endorse your positive review of these interestingly flavoured brownies, Lilli.  With macadamias as well as pistachios, these delicious treats are not cheap, but treat your family to something dear and decadent and have a go.  Don't forget about them though - not too long in the oven - 2 x 10 minutes and that's all, or you'll spoil the oozy moist texture sensation.  Thank you, Tenina. 

[reneecj]

I have just had a massive fail with this recipe.  Brownie looks great and is gooey inside but it tastes terrible, I had to throw my piece in the bin.  I think I made a rookie error in substituting the 60g cacao for 60g cocoa powder.  I did a bit of googling and people seemed to be saying they had used it 1 for 1 and it had turned out for them.  I'm also not 100% my scales were working accurately at the time as I felt like I had put a bit more in than 60g.  I am a little annoyed at myself for wasting all of those ingredients 

Anyway, my question is, can anybody tell me if it is possible to substitute cacao for cocoa powder and what amount I should substitute it with? 

Thanks
Renee

[Cornish Cream]

How disappointing for you reneecj.I'm afraid I haven't made these brownies so can't help.Hopefully someone who uses cacao will come to your aid.

[asha_76]

I made these brownies the other day with cacao and unfortunately I was disappointed in the taste of them too.

I suspect the problem may be the dark brown sugar.  Most brownie recipes use standard brown sugar.  Even before I cooked mine, the mixture tasted very bitter, almost like molasses which I know is what makes the dark brown sugar dark.

While the recipe works well and the texture is good, unfortunately everyone in our family found them to be way too sour.  They didn't really have any sweetness at all and just didn't taste like what a brownie should taste like in my opinion.  You really needed to have them with ice cream or cream, they just weren't pleasant to eat on their own.

If you don't like sweet things then perhaps you will love this recipe but if you do then I would give this one a miss.

[Judydg]

Sadly just made these and dissappointed too. Tasted too salty, dry on outside but not coked in the middle. Will have to throw them out and was planning to take them to a bring plate function.  Should have stuck to a tried and tested recipe!

[cookie1]

That is not good Judydg. Did you make any alterations to the recipe?  Perhaps you could make some vanilla icecream and crumble them through.