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May 25, 2007
Detour: Cappuccino Brownies
Since John skipped town without leaving me a recipe, we were left to our own devices. Carolyn helped me locate this delicious sounding treat at The Recipe Link in the middle of a post about three different desserts. BE WARNED. The Recipe Link is pop-up hell.
Overall, I think it was a decent choice. Much better than the tofu-carrot brownies that were originally proposed. Oh, btw, John, you don't get any! ;)
Analysis
These brownies won out over many other yummy sounding recipes, such as Brownies in a Jar, Chocolate Chipotle Brownies and Troy State University Brownies. Plus, they sounded like something you could eat for breakfast and not feel guilty. The only one I'm sad about is the Godiva brownies, because it would have given me an excuse to buy some Godiva chocolate liqueur. Oh well, next time John leaves us for the thrill of a roller coaster...These were so easy to make that I almost didn't notice the interruptions (Abby & Emily arguing about bedtime) as I was trying to complete the batter. For once I had everything I needed (it has to be some kind of curse of that book). This was a total one bowl recipe, the instructions called for using a microwave and it was sized for a large batch! It gets a perfect '0' on the PITA score. Chocolate, butter and espresso were melted in a bowl in the microwave. Eggs were added, beaten and then in went the sugar and flour. Popped it in the oven and 40 minutes later, I had brownies, complete with a crispy, crinkly top crust!
The frosting was also super simple. Luckily, I had a full bar of cream cheese in the fridge. Mix that with some butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and you have yummy frosting. The only bad part about these is I had to make them in the 12x18 pan, which I don't have a lid for, so I couldn't bring them in on the back of the bike.
Unfortunately, these brownies are a bit of a disappointment. The frosting is fabulous, but the brownie is so-so. It's nice and chocolaty, but the coffee flavor is sorely lacking. But it didn't stop me from having a second one.
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cooking time: 40 minutes
- Total time: 3 hours (includes cooling and frosting)
Modifications
I lined the pan with parchment and greased it with Crisco instead of the foil/butter combo the recipe called for.
Improvements
I might add a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar to the top for a bit of decoration and extra cinnamon flavor. I might also sprikles some crushed instant coffee on top to enhance the coffee flavor.I would also add instant coffee to the mix instead of liquid for more coffee flavor and possibly a touch of cinnamon to the brownie as well.
My Rating - scale of 1-10
- PITA Rating: 0
- Difficulty Rating: 2
- Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 4
- Texture: 6
- Flavor: 4
- Overall Rating: 5
- Prep time: 2.5 hours (includes the 1 hour trip to the store and the hour waiting for my husband. If you had everything, it would only take about 20 minutes.)
- Cooking time: 70 minutes
- Total time: 3.5 hours
- PITA Rating: 4 (I did have to go to the store)
- Difficulty Rating: 3
- Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 4
- Texture:
- Flavor:
- Overall Rating:
Posted by jamm at 08:26 AM | Comments (1)
May 11, 2007
Week 21: Brazilian Rain Forest Brownies
Wow! These have the entire rainforest in them, Brazil nuts, cashews, bananas and coffee sprinkled with raw sugar. And who could forget the best thing to come from the rain forest - chocolate! These weigh a ton and smell fabulous. I think they will be gone before noon. If you eat one, please tell Tony thank you. You would not be eating brownies today if it weren't for him.
Analysis
When I saw that the recipe called for 1 cup of Brazil nuts, I thought I was going to have to buy about twenty of the tins of mixed nuts just to get enough to put in the 2 cups I would need for the double batch. Why is it that they only have the loose mixed nuts available at Thanksgiving and Christmas? Who thought that was a good idea. And why do they assume that I want my nuts salted and oily?Suprise, suprise, my local Kroger came through for me. In the produce section was one last bag of whole, shelled, unblanched Brazil nuts in the exact amount I needed. The nut goddess must have been smiling on me yesterday. I wasn't so lucky with the cashews (I had to buy the kind in a tin, but at least they had the 'lightly salted' kind)
Of course this brownie recipe would not be complete without a set of multiple complications. It was about 7pm, dinner was over and I was preparing to make brownies, but I found I had one small problem. I left the recipe sitting on my desk at work. No problem, I thought. I'll load the girls in the car and head to work, pick up the recipe and then swing by the store. This is when I discovered I didn't have my keys.
We had been on vacation last week and I left my keys with my neighbors so that they could come in and keep my lizard alive (the cats can fend for themselves). I called their house, but of course they weren't home. I tried to call my husband, who had just left, so he could come back and give me his key to my car. But of course, he left his phone on the kitchen counter. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to call your husband when you need something and hear the phone ringing right behind you!
At this point I remembered that Tony was working late. I hopped online and to my relief found out that he was on IM. Tony was an angel. He ran upstairs and found the recipe buried on my messy desk, got into a fist fight with the Xerox machine on the 3rd floor, and was finally able to scan and email the recipe to me. Everyone needs to thank Tony, because there would be no brownies today without him.
Now, to get to the store. With no car and two kids in tow, I weighed my options. The bus would take too long and walking was out of the question (can you hear the whining?). So we all hopped on our bikes at 8:45 and rode off to Kroger. Since I didn't have my keys, I didn't have any way to lock my bike, so I forced the kids to stay outside by the bike rack while I ran into the store. (I should actually make this the way I grocery shop from now on, it was perfect and no one asked me to buy anything extra) The girls got Dairy Queen afterwards for all of their help. Ok, it was a bribe to get them on their bikes and to the grocery store.
I still needed to get one thing, the coffee liquer, but I needed to put the kids to bed more. So I went home thinking that my husband would be home soon, since his class got out at 9pm and it was now 9:15. Forty-five minutes later, the kids are asleep and he's still not home. Turns out his class doesn't get done until 10pm (he must have been bummed to realize that he had to sit there for another hour). When he walked in the door I turned him right around and sent him to the liquor store for the coffee liquer and got busy mixing.
Making the recipe was super easy! It was almost one bowl if I could melt chocolate and butter in my Kitchenaid bowl. It has a lot of eggs (8 total for the double batch) along with the prerequisite sugar, butter, chocolate and flour. Bananas, Brazil nuts, cinnamon, cashews and raw sugar complete the dish. It weighs a ton and had to cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes. It smells heavenly and survived the bike ride in.
Modifications
None.
Improvements
Nothing that I can think of. These seem like they are perfect and actually belong in this book!My Rating - scale of 1-10
Posted by jamm at 08:07 AM | Comments (6)