[0 - 2] I'm back with another fan response video.
[2 - 5] This one is on the blondies and brownies videos.
[5 - 7] So if you haven't watched that one yet,
[7 - 8] go back and check it out.
[8 - 10] There are a ton of great questions and comments,
[10 - 11] I want to dive right into it.
[11 - 15] This first one comes to us from Frankness777 and he says,
[15 - 17] "Dan, you remind me of the outcome of someone trying
[17 - 22] to clone Robert Downey Jr over the weekend, good videos".
[22 - 24] I really don't know how to unpack that one.
[24 - 28] I'm like a- like a weekend warrior cloning project?
[28 - 29] But like, not quite.
[30 - 33] I'm glad you like the videos. Thanks, Frankness.
[34 - 36] So next one, we got a lot of questions about corn syrup.
[36 - 39] So there's corn syrup in the blondie recipe,
[39 - 41] and a lot of you were questioning whether that was
[41 - 43] high fructose corn syrup,
[43 - 45] whether that's the same thing as corn syrup,
[45 - 47] and if there's other ways to avoid using corn syrup.
[47 - 50] So, great questions, you know, solid concerns.
[50 - 52] First thing is... Is that corn syrup,
[52 - 54] the stuff that you buy in the supermarket and
[54 - 56] your Karo brand is not the same thing
[56 - 58] as high fructose corn syrup.
[58 - 60] And one of the big differences is,
[60 - 62] obviously other process, but the sweetness level.
[62 - 65] So, corn syrup that you buy in the supermarket
[65 - 68] is about 45% as sweet as granulated sugar.
[68 - 70] That's why it's so valuable in the kitchen
[70 - 71] and a lot of baking applications.
[71 - 73] When you use it, you have all of the moisture retention
[73 - 77] that you get from using sugar, but it's a lot less sweet.
[77 - 79] And that's a huge benefit a lot of times, because,
[79 - 81] just tend to be too sweet.
[81 - 84] So, that's important when you buy high fructose corn syrup.
[84 - 85] Is actually about one to one.
[85 - 88] So it's about the same as a granulated sugar.
[88 - 90] So, it's the same sweetness as sucrose.
[90 - 93] Now, the reason producers love it is that it's
[93 - 95] a lot cheaper to make than cane or beet sugar.
[95 - 96] And that's why it shows up in everything.
[96 - 97] So, there's the corn syrup,
[97 - 99] the high fructose corn syrup that you see in soda,
[99 - 102] that's about the same sweetness as sucrose.
[102 - 103] It's not what we're calling for here.
[103 - 106] Now, if you still want to avoid Karo corn syrup,
[106 - 108] which is entirely up to you, what you-
[108 - 110] what you want to do and put into your food
[110 - 113] brown rice syrup is actually your next best bet.
[113 - 115] So, not maple syrup and not honey.
[115 - 116] They have really different sweetness levels
[116 - 118] and different compositions.
[118 - 121] Brown rice syrup has more of a flavor than corn syrup,
[121 - 123] a lot more kind of cereal flavor,
[123 - 124] but in an application like this,
[124 - 125] you're not going to notice it.
[125 - 127] And it's about half as sweet as sucrose.
[127 - 131] So, you know, similar range to corn syrup.
[131 - 132] Corn syrup is a lot cheaper and
[132 - 136] that's why we call from the recipe and it works great.
[136 - 138] So, thank you for those concerns, questions, comments.
[138 - 140] I hope that helps iron things out there.
[141 - 143] This next one comes from Troy Smith.
[143 - 145] He says, "Dan, how important are
[145 - 147] the nuts and chocolate chips?
[147 - 148] I have a particular application in mind
[148 - 151] that would be best served by just the base pastry
[151 - 154] with no distracting lumps or chunks".
[154 - 156] Now, I don't consider nuts and chocolate
[156 - 158] distracting lumps or chunks but,
[158 - 159] whatever you're going to do with it,
[159 - 161] you can absolutely leave those out.
[161 - 162] So, those are just for, you know,
[162 - 164] textual difference and little bites of
[164 - 166] different flavor in the- in the blondie itself.
[166 - 168] And if you don't want those to leave it out,
[168 - 171] the base of the blondie would work great.
[171 - 173] Now I'm really curious about that application is.
[173 - 175] Troy, get back to us on that.
[175 - 178] Next up. We should dig a little bit into the firestorm
[178 - 181] that I started with- with talking about milk chocolate.
[181 - 183] So, I profess my love for milk chocolate
[183 - 185] and my preference for it over dark chocolate.
[186 - 188] I knew- I knew it was controversial take.
[189 - 192] I really love it, especially in bar form, you know?
[192 - 194] It's- I think it's nostalgia, it's creaminess,
[194 - 196] it's sweetness, it's-
[196 - 198] In my mind, it's one of the most perfect foods in the world.
[198 - 201] Dark chocolate obviously is really complex and interesting.
[201 - 203] But, we've got a lot of good comments here.
[203 - 205] So, I just wanna read a couple of them.
[205 - 206] This one comes from Justin Yates. He says,
[206 - 209] "As someone who eats unsweetened baking chocolate,
[209 - 211] dark chocolate all day, every day!".
[211 - 214] That's hardcore, Jason... Justin, sorry, Justin.
[214 - 218] That's hardcore. Unsweetened baking chocolate.
[218 - 219] Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna win you over
[219 - 221] on the milk chocolate train there.
[221 - 223] This next one comes from CharlieOnTheMTA says
[223 - 225] "Milk chocolate is the best" that's in quotes,
[225 - 226] quotation of me, he says
[226 - 228] "wrong. Otherwise, nice episode, Dan".
[230 - 232] This one comes from Keto Wolf. "I'm a chocolate lover,
[232 - 235] but I'll say it, I like good dark chocolate,
[235 - 237] but a milk chocolate even better".
[237 - 238] Thanks, Keto Wolf.
[238 - 240] And then this one, which I really love,
[240 - 242] this comes from Meribeth Dinwiddie,
[242 - 245] "A pastry chef here and I agree with your hot take, Dan.
[245 - 247] Milk chocolate is greater than dark chocolate
[247 - 250] and brown butter caramel is greater than chocolate".
[250 - 253] It sounds like we got a big blondie fan...
[253 - 254] Meribeth, we should talk.
[256 - 258] And then this last one here,
[258 - 259] "I can't believe I have to say this,
[259 - 261] but you asked for my opinion:
[261 - 263] milk chocolate tastes like poison.
[263 - 265] Can't wait for the fad of YouTube chefs
[265 - 269] defending milk chocolate and American cheese to pass".
[269 - 271] It came from Gabe Lanciano.
[272 - 274] Gabe, I like American cheese a lot to.
[274 - 276] The best melter in the world, so good.
[276 - 279] What else are you gonna put on burger?
[279 - 280] And this last one comes from Mr. Cool.
[280 - 282] He says "I would go for a double decker
[282 - 283] and get the best of both worlds".
[283 - 286] So, we've got a blondie and a brownie, put those together.
[286 - 290] I think that's the kind of unity we need on this topic here.
[290 - 292] Thank you for that, Mr. Cool.
[292 - 293] I hope if you haven't tried those recipes,
[293 - 295] the blondie and the brownie, please check them out.
[295 - 296] They're both incredible.
[296 - 299] And we have plenty more recipes for different kinds
[299 - 302] of brownies, different textures, up on cooksillustrated.com
[302 - 306] All of your brownie, blondie needs can be handled there and
[306 - 310] just big open arms to everyone to try both.
[310 - 312] Milk chocolate, dark chocolate blondies, brownies.
[312 - 313] It's all good stuff.
[313 - 314] Thank you guys as always for watching
[314 - 316] and thanks for having some fun with me this time.
[316 - 318] This was a little bit of a weird video,
[318 - 321] but we'll back really soon with another episode,
[321 - 323] I'm excited to show you. Thanks a lot. Bye guys.