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February 29, 2008
Week 45: Kahlua Brownies
Despite the lack of chocolate, except for the chocolate chips, these look like they might taste ok. They look like the pan version of chocolate chip cookies with the added bonus of being soaked with Kahlua. I still have to put these in the 'This is NOT a brownie' category.
Posted by jamm at 09:36 AM | Comments (3)
February 22, 2008
Week 44: Pecan Ribbon Brownies
Brownies with lots of chocolate and middle layer of gooey pecan filling. Sounds like a winner to me. Too bad it requires 2 bowls and a pan.
Any recipe that has two sets of instructions makes me groan. This one was no exception, until I started making it. Other that the instruction to boil the sugar, water and shortening on the stove (which I totally ignored), the recipe was pretty simple. It has LOTS of chocolate, 12oz, which is always the first test of a brownie recipe for me.
My youngest daughter wanted to help, so I set her to unwrapping the chocolate squares, which is one of her favorite chores. I put in the butter (no shortening here), sugar and water in a bowl and put the whole thing in the microwave instead of boiling it on the stove. Of course, it was after this that I read the instructions and realized I wasn't supposed to put the chocolate in yet. Maybe next time.
While this was melting, and hopefully boiling without burning my chocolate, I chopped pecans, 4 cups worth. This is not my favorite job, as I have mentioned in the past. For what it's worth, the chopper now has two cracks in it. Emily was hovering, waiting for her chance to drop these in the batter. I explained to her that it was for the filling, but she couldn't seem to comprehend that there would be a brownie batter without nuts in it.
I asked Emily to get the eggs out of the fridge, which became an issue, so I had to do it. Turns out one of them had broken in the carton so there was a big mess. Luckily Emily was up for the challenge and put the extras in the egg holder on the door and dumped the broken one in the sink. The eggs went in one at a time, and since I did not want to get everything in the kitchen dirty, I did this one the old fashioned way, with a wooden spoon. Vanilla, flour, and baking soda finished off the batter which was set aside.
Egg whites were hand whisked in another bowl until they were foamy. Emily got to help with this too and declared that the frothy mess was gross and looked like spit, especially after the vanilla was added. Then she launched into a 3 minute 'what if' dialogue about putting actual spit into brownies and how would people know and what would that be like. Kids are gross.
The pecans were coated with flour and a bit of baking soda. Emily diligently mixed this together while I was greasing the pan. She told me it was ready and asked if she could dump it in. I said yes. I gave a little shriek when I turned around and found she had dumped the nuts into the BROWNIE batter instead of the filling spittle. So I had to spend a few minutes carefully digging out the pecans from the brownie and listening to Emily apologize while insisting that she was right about where the pecans should go.
Half of the brownie mix was put into the waiting pan, the pecan filling was spread on top and the remaining brownie was used to cover it. I kept wondering why the recipe said you would have to push the batter into the pan with greased hands, when it seemed pretty fluid to me and all i needed was the back of a spatula. Must be that I didn't boil my sugar. The top layer was a pain because trying to spread it only mixed it up with the pecans and mushed the pecan stuff further into the bottom layer.
The pan went in the oven for 35 minutes and was taken out ready to eat. Thank goodness there was no frosting involved. It cooled on the top of the fridge overnight.
These were yummy! They had almost everything I wanted in a brownie, except the need for multiple bowls. They taste like pecan pie wrapped in brownie. I could eat a bunch of these.
Posted by jamm at 09:31 AM | Comments (1)
February 08, 2008
Brownie Friday on Hiatus
Brownie Friday is on hiatus, unfortunately, NOT in the tropics. We will resume our weekly delight on the 22nd of the month. Apologies to those of you who will have to find your breakfast elsewhere.
See you in 2 weeks.
Posted by jamm at 08:51 AM | Comments (1)
February 01, 2008
Week 43: Luau Brownies
Chocolate, pineapple and macadamia nuts all come together for this Hawaiian party. Too bad they couldn't also provide the tropical weather.
The journey to these brownies began on Wednesday, when John dropped 2 recipes on my desk and said 'pick one'. In looking over the ingredients, I realized that I had almost enough of everything to make the Luau, so I picked that. I had a half a jar of macadamias in my drawer, which had been brought to me from Hawaii, not quite enough, but it would do. Fortuitously, someone had brought in a jar of macadamias to share that day and had left them in the communal food section of the kitchen. Well, I figured this person probably ate brownies, so I filled my nut jar with enough to fulfill the recipe's requirements.
These brownies went together easy enough. The part that was a pain was splitting the batter into two part, because it meant using yet another bowl, bringing the total bowls needed to 3. It could have only been two if I had used a larger bowl to melt chocolate in. I had to chop pineapple with the chopper because someone had used the crushed stuff I had, but at least I did not have to go to the store. I got the two different parts mixed, the chocolate nut part and the pineapple part. Then came the really annoying thing about the recipe, I had to alternate dropping the batter in the pan in spoonfuls. Sheeesh, what more could this recipe want from me? I already had to divide batter.
The brownies went in the oven and cooked for 35 minutes, which is 10 minutes longer than required, but was right in line with everything else that has been baked in my oven. They got cooled on top of the fridge over night and were brought in, half-frozen and snow covered, during our latest winter storm. Luckily the buses were running, or the brownies might not have made it here at all, as I would have had to eat them to sustain myself as I wandered around lost in the blizzard trying to get to work. (Ok, its a bit of a stretch, but it was pretty nasty this morning)
These brownies look like a hastily manufactured checkerboard. There is a bit of a texture difference between the two colors, with the chocolate being a bit fudgy and crumbly and the pineapple part being spongy. Because the drops of the different batters were so big, it is kind of hard to get a piece that combines both flavors without looking like a hog. Overall, they are not bad. I like the pineapple part, but would like it by itself and not mixed with the chocolate part. The part that I would consider a brownie, is just eh.
Modifications
Butter instead of shortening/margarine. I don't know if I even need to say this anymore.Improvements
Mix the pineapple with the brownie part and add more chocolate. Although the end product might not be that edible.My Rating - scale of 1-10
- PITA Rating: 7 (I had to split the batter AND drop by spoonfuls)
- Difficulty Rating: 5
- Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
- Texture: 4 (The two textures are a bit strange together)
- Flavor: 5
- Overall Rating: 5
Posted by jamm at 07:51 AM | Comments (1)