The KBAL Brownie Initiative

Analysis

Fantastic, these brownies were NOT.

PITA PITA PITA. I had to unwrap an ENTIRE bag of caramels. I really dislike that task because half of the time, the caramels are warped and the wrapping is stuck deep inside of them. When you go to peel it off, it rips and you have to dig the remaining piece out with your fingernail. These had to go in a pot on the stove with the sweetened condensed milk to melt and needed to be stirred occassionally while performing the 14 other steps in the recipe. Needless to say, it almost burned. I don't like to have to pay attention to things on the stove.

Then they wanted me to get out ANOTHER pot to melt shortening in (eeeww, gross). Haven't any of these people who write these recipes heard of the microwave??? Honestly, why didn't the editor add a note to say 'hey, all of you living in the 21st century, you can do this part in the microwave'? So now we have used 1 pot and 1 bowl and I still don't have brownies.

The next part was the part I like, dump the sugar and eggs in the Kitchenaid, beat like hell, add the melted shortening (eeww, gross) and cocoa, flour, nuts and chocolate chips and you've got brownie! But we're not done yet! Remember the caramels? This is where the recipe got really annoying.

I had to take 2/3 of the batter and put it in a greased pan (more shortening), cook it for 12 minutes and remove it from the oven. Then pour the melted, almost burned caramel mix over the top and try to keep it from becoming one with the brownie goo. Sprinkle on nuts and then take the rest of the brownie mix and spoon it on top. Then, they wanted me to take my bare hands (I was supposed to get them wet for some reason) and smooth out the brownie mix on top of the hot caramel in the hot pan. This didn't work out so well and was pretty messy. Then I got to run a knife through it all to try and create a marbled effect. Not my best work.

I didn't like these brownies. Not only were they a pain to make, they don't taste very good. They are too much of a sugar bomb, and the caramel flavor is not distinct enough from the brownie. Also, there is a variety in the texture, with the bottom part being denser and harder, like it was cooked too long and the top part being gooey. Also the caramel was almost carbonized around the edges of the pan, making it really difficult to remove the brownies. I was only able to eat one. I didn't even think about going back for a second.

• Prep time: 65 minutes total (includes the first cooking time and adding the caramel and second brownie layers)
• Cooking time: 40 minutes total
• Total time: 1.75 hours

Modifications

I would totally use vegetable oil in place of melted shortening. EEEEWWW, who melts shortening??

Improvements

Maybe a solid chocolate layer to hold in the caramel. Or a chocolate drizzle on top. Then again, maybe not.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 9 (three bowls, melting shortening, almost burning my hands, and it was a messy recipe)
• Difficulty Rating: 7 (lots of steps and special attention needed)
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 9
• Texture: 5 (almost brownie, but not quite)
• Flavor: 4 (Flavors are not distinct)
• Overall Rating: 3 (I didn't like these)