The KBAL Brownie Initiative

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