Part cookie, part brownie, all decadent deliciousness

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2021 (1725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chocolate is Austin Granados’ bread and butter. Until recently, the pastry chef and co-owner of Cake-ology was living abroad learning everything he could about the dessert industry and cacao-based treats.

“I love chocolate,” he says. “I’ve actually competed in chocolate competitions and we’d make sculptures that were, like, a metre high. I want to incorporate chocolate into more things moving forward… and eventually blending my own kind down the road.”

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Granados moved to Vancouver for culinary school and spent time baking in New York (under the creator of the cronut) and Hong Kong before travelling to Denmark for a stint at Noma — a three-Michelin-star Nordic eatery that was recently named the world’s best restaurant for 2021.

After so much time away, he’s happy to be home.

“It feels nice,” he says. “Being familiar with everything and being able to show my experience to my hometown.”

Granados got into baking seriously after high school, but spent a lot of time helping his grandmother in the kitchen growing up. Now, his relatives hold the enviable title of taste testers.

“I do a lot of testing and I let my friends and family taste it before I actually sell it in the bakery,” he says. “They give me the green light.”

His ultimate goal is to make pastries, cakes, cookies and tarts with a twist — desserts that are out of the box, you could say. Earlier this month, for the Exchange District Biz’s Hot Beverage Week, Granados created a hot chocolate with a handmade marshmallow flower that bloomed in the steaming cup of cocoa.

“I like interactive pastries,” he says. “I always want to be different.”

Same goes for his chocolate brownie cookie recipe. The rich dessert is part cookie, part brownie and inspired by a menu item from a Danish bakery — cooking the batter in tart rings, short metal cylinders that can be found in most cookware supply stores, creates the ideal texture.

“It gives it a nice crust on the outside, but it’s still gooey and soft on the inside,” Granados says.

His recipe calls for extra brute cocoa powder, which is stocked at specialty grocery stores, and brewed espresso. While the cocoa powder adds a hint of bitterness that cuts the sweetness, the espresso complements the flavour of the chocolate.

“They’re both fermented, coffee beans and cocoa beans, so blending the two makes sense,” he says. “It deepens the flavour and the complexity of the chocolate.”

To ensure a gooey centre, Granados recommends under-baking the dough slightly and letting it cool on the pan.

“That’s one of the secrets for a nice, soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookie,” he says. “If you overbake it, it will tend to get dry.”

Despite making pastries all day, every day, Grandados still enjoys holiday baking during his free time. It reminds him why he fell in love with the craft in the first place.

“During the holidays, family and friends would always ask me to make things for them and I’ve always enjoyed that,” he says. “It makes them happy and I’ve been doing that ever since.”

Brownie Cookies by Austin Granados of Cake-ology

195 g (3/4 cup and 1/2 tbsp) butter
200 g (1 1/4 cups) dark chocolate
275 g (1 1/2 cups) brown sugar
40 g (1/4 cup) white sugar
3 large eggs
8 g (1 1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
28 g (28 ml, about 2 tbsp) espresso, brewed
6 g (1 1/2 tsp) baking soda
4 g (1 1/2 tsp) sea salt
75 g (3/4 cup) extra brute cocoa powder
217 g (1 3/4 cups) all purpose flour

Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a double boiler.

In a bowl, whisk the sugar and brown sugar together. Pour the melted butter and dark chocolate mixture into the sugars and mix well, being mindful not to overmix.

Incorporate your eggs, espresso and vanilla extract.

Gently fold in all of the sifted dry ingredients and mix until it just comes together. Finish mixing with your hands to ensure that there is no gluten development.

Chill overnight or until firm.

Set up a half sheet tray lined with parchment paper and line 6 tart rings. Spray each tart ring with oil and divide your cookie batter at 60 g each and press down with your hands.

Just before baking, add some extra-dark chocolate chips on top.

Preheat the oven to 165 C (325 F) and bake the cookies for 7-8 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. While it’s still hot, remove the ring mould and sprinkle a touch of sea salt on top.

Serve warm and enjoy with a glass of milk.

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Eva Wasney
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Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

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