The KBAL Brownie Initiative

June 06, 2008

Brownie Redux: Double Double Do Over

This is a repeat of the recipe from Week 3. Due to the Double Double Error, we felt it was necessary to repeat this one with all of the proper parts in the interest of keeping the experiment honest. Plus it gives me a chance to take pictures.

While this recipe is fairly simple, washing the mixer bowl 2 times to get it made was not. This brownie consists of two layers with an icing and chocolate drizzle on top, hence the 'double double' moniker. The bottom layer is brownie and the top layer is called a butterscotch layer.

Both layers went together easily, due to the minimalist nature of the ingredient list and it was sized for a 9x13 pan, so no math was involved. Layer one consisted of eggs, sugar, cocoa, flour, melted butter and walnuts. This all got mixed up and put in the bottom of the pan. Then I had to wash the mixing bowl.

Layer two seemed like a chocolate chip cookie dough base with butter, brown sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla and walnuts. This was all mixed together and dropped on top of the chocolate layer to be spread over it. Unfortunately, the consistency of the top layer was a bit thicker than the bottom, so the 'spreading' was a bit difficult and had to be done meticulously. I hate meticulous.

The brownies were put in the oven to cook and the mixing bowl was washed again. I put the butter in it to make the frosting and went back to the directions. This is when I saw the whole bit about boiling on the stove. Ugh! Not only did I have to clean the mixing bowl again for this error, but I had to get another container dirty and couldn't complete this part until the brownies were cool, which meant it was getting done in the morning. So I packed everything up and retired to the living room with my wine to wait for the brownies to finish.

The brownies took about 10 minutes extra to cook and were placed on top of the toaster to cool overnight, well out of Harm's (Woodrow the Lab) way.

The frosting went together easy enough. Butter, brown sugar and milk were boiled for 2 minutes then cooled. Powdered sugar was added to make a tan-ish color icing with the consistency of playdough. This was spread on top of the brownies. Semi-sweet chocolate and butter were melted and drizzled on top for the finishing touch. The requisite 3 pieces were removed from the pan for my captors and the rest was placed on the back of the bike for the ride in.

I think these will be good. The texture was nice when I was cutting them and one got scarfed down during the time it took me to load the brownies onto the back of the bike.

Posted by jamm at 08:25 AM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2008

Week 54: Power Brownies

These are the brownies that Jennifer tried to forget. We were supposed to have these in Week 27, but after looking at the ingredient list, I conveniently forgot about them and we moved on to better things.

Enjoy the 'power' in these healthy brownies, consisting of carrots, raisins and applesauce. I'm hoping they taste better than a Power Bar.

Posted by jamm at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2008

Week 53: Brownie Pizza

A chocolaty crust flavored with pecans and two kinds of chocolate, topped with pecans, semi-sweet & milk chocolate chips and a healthy sprinkling of white chocolate 'cheese'. This deep dish 'Chicago style' Brownie Pizza looks like a winner to me.

Posted by jamm at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2008

Week 52: Kentucky Black Walnut Delights

Walnuts, apples, oatmeal and cocoa. Not sure if this is a snack cake or a brownie. It smells good, has a nice structure, and I love oatmeal in things so it may turn out to be alright. I'm not sure what the difference is between a Kentucky Black Walnut and the kind that come in the bag from Kroger. Let's hope those work just as well.

Posted by jamm at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2008

Week 51: Apricot-Almond Keepsake Brownies

The name of these brownies makes me a bit wary. Why would you want to keep them? Also, dried apricot and brownies don't mix in my book. They smell like brownies, but I'm not sure how they are going to taste.

Posted by jamm at 08:27 AM | Comments (1)

April 18, 2008

Week 50: Jesse's Brownies

Despite the minimalist approach to chocolate in this recipe, its not a bad brownie and definitely a frosting lover's dream. One bite may have you singing "I wish that I had Jesse's brownies".

Posted by jamm at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2008

Week 49: Double Decker Peanut Butter Brownies

You put you chocolate in my peanut butter, no, you put your peanut butter on my chocolate. Either way, these two great tastes have come together in one yummy looking brownie treat.

Posted by jamm at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

Week 48: Marzipan Brownies

Hmmm, Marzipan. I have really mixed feelings about this. I told John the only way I was going to make these is if I could shape the marzipan into little hippos. Unfortunately, I got stuck rolling it into a rectangle. I hope everyone likes almonds.

Posted by jamm at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2008

Week 47: Remarkable Rhubarb Bites

This is the last of the 'No Chocolate' brownie recipes. The only reason I think this was included in the book, is that it has brown sugar in it and they were desperate for one last recipe.

When I said I would make this recipe, I did not think about the availability of the key ingredient, rhubarb, during the last days of winter. I just figured it would be where it always is in the Kroger produce section, or if needed, the frozen fruit aisle. After spending 10 minutes searching the produce section for the red and green stalks and two trips to the frozen fruit section to confirm its absence, I had to ask the produce guy. His response was, well, they usually have some, but not today for some reason. At this point I was starting to wonder if I was going to be able to make these things at all.

Luckily for me, there is the Fresh Seasons Market right down the street from Kroger. I figured that since they specialize in produce, I would have a 50/50 chance of finding rhubarb. Since I had never been there, it was a double treat, because I do like wandering around grocery stores. At first I thought I was out of luck and would have to try somewhere else, when I rounded the corner on the third row of produces cases and was greeted by the familiar red and green stalks in a black styrofoam tray neatly wrapped with plastic wrap. I was so happy, I bought two. Plus, it turns out that the Fresh Seasons Market has a great wine & cheese selection, yummy chocolate and all of my favorite imported cookies. I will definitely be going back.

Back to the brownies, or bars as they should be called. These went together really quickly without much fuss. They reminded me of the rhubarb bars that my mom used to make when we lived on the farm in Minnesota. We had these overachieving rhubarb plants down the hill by this big oak tree. We always had more than could possibly be used, so we ate a lot of rhubarb bars and pie. Just for the record, my mom's recipe was better because there was this crunchy, sugary crust that formed on the top during cooking, which was the best part.

These had to cook for an extra 20 minutes because they were still really gooey after the first 30. They went on top of the fridge to cool and I went out for a drink. The powdered sugar was added in the morning and it was off to the library for the taste test.

Posted by jamm at 06:25 AM | Comments (2)

March 07, 2008

Week 46: Pistachio Treats

WARNING: THESE 'BROWNIES' CONTAIN NO CHOCOLATE WHATSOEVER.

Ok, now you can't say I didn't warn you, so don't be disappointed when you come to the kitchen.

Posted by jamm at 10:58 AM | Comments (2)

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 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)

January 25, 2008

Week 42: Lisa's Favorite Two-Layer Brownies

Oatmeal cookie meets brownie, covered in fudgy frosting. Sounds kinda yummy. But what I really want to know is: Who is Lisa and why is this her favorite?

I felt like I was in some weird kind of baking time trials when making these. I had exactly 10 minutes to make the second layer, which included washing the mixer bowl and beater. Talk about pressure! But it made the whole process pretty quick. And I had all the ingredients in the house.

The strange part of this recipe is that every time it called for butter (margarine, to be exact), it needed to be melted. In both layers and in the frosting. The bottom part mixes butter, brown sugar, oats and some baking powder, which is a crumbly mess. That gets pressed into the bottom of the greased pan and popped in the oven. And then the time starts... 10, 9, 8, 7,...

I had to quickly clean the bowl and beater and scramble around to melt butter, mix it with cocoa, add the eggs, flour and the rest to make the actual brownie part. This took me about 8.5 minutes, which included a small break to help my daughter with her vocabulary. Once the buzzer rang, I carefully took the hot pan out of the oven, and avoiding the sides of the pan, which were hot (this part was written in the directions, no lie), I carefully spread the brownie batter over the hot oat mixture and put the whole thing back in the oven. I'm glad the instructions warned me that the pan would be hot. Although I laughed at this, I almost did grab the pan without the pot holder when I went to put it back in the oven!

The whole thing took another 40 minutes to cook, which was a full 15 minutes longer than the directions. While it was cooking, I made the frosting, which also called for melted butter and came out a bit soft, but really yummy. All told, I was done in under an hour. The brownies cooled on top of the fridge overnight and were frosted in the morning.

This recipe was totally devoid of any kind of drama or surprises. I'm kind of missing the surprises of missing ingredients in my pantry and last minute dashes to my friendly Kroger. Oh well, I'm sure it won't be long until that happens again.

While not a true brownie in my book because of the oatmeal base, these are actually quite tasty. The bottom part gives a bit of chewiness (chewy in the sense of eating horse feed) and saltiness, while the brownie is chocolaty and the frosting is yummy and gets on your fingers. They are kind of hard to eat with a plastic fork due to the density of the bottom layer, but if these were cut into small squares, they would make lovely little items for a dessert tray at a party. Or for breakfast! Hey, there is oatmeal in them.

• Prep time: 25 minutes (I was on a timer, but 10 minutes of it was while the bottom half was baking)
• Cooking time: 60 minutes (15 minutes extra)
• Total time: 3.5 hours (includes cooling and frosting)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

Possibly make the bottom part a bit more cake-like so it is a bit softer.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 2 (The only reason there is any PITA score on this one is the fact there were 2 layers and I had to help with vocabulary.)
• Difficulty Rating: 4
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
• Texture: 6 (The bottom layer is a bit weird)
• Flavor: 6
• Overall Rating: 6

Posted by jamm at 07:13 AM | Comments (2)

January 18, 2008

Week 41: Cherry Brownies

Chocolate and cherries. This should be a yummy combination, unless the recipe calls for maraschinos. Which it does, of course.

Yuck, yuck, yuck! I sooo hate maraschino cherries. The only place they belong is in a Manhattan. And I had to chop them up. Eeeeeewwww.

Ok, enough with Jennifer's biases. The recipe itself was really not too difficult. A basic brownie base with nuts, maraschino cherry juice and chopped cherries and a simple frosting with more chopped cherries. My kids wanted me to decorate the top with some extra cherries, but I had to draw the line. The only bonus that I got from this is knowing that there is just over a cup of cherries in one of those Kroger jars.

There was no drama surrounding this recipe, except that I forgot until about 7pm that it was Thursday and I needed to make brownies. I had to go to the store and get the cherries, and not being sure how much was in the jar, I bought 2. Then it was back home to bake and help with homework.

The brownie base was pretty simple, basic brownie stuff. The only strange thing was using the maraschino cherry juice. The batter went in the oven and cooked for about 40 minutes. While the brownie was baking, I made the frosting. Again, no surprises, except for more chopped cherries. The brownies cooled on the top of the fridge overnight and were frosted in the morning.

These were not that good in my book. I think the maraschino turned me off to liking them from the get go. The texture was ok, but the chocolate flavor was a bit lacking. These are not getting a very good rating from me. We will have to see what others have to say.

• Prep time: 25 minutes (includes chopping cherries AND nuts, and a bit of homework help)
• Cooking time: 40 minutes (10 minutes extra)
• Total time: 3.5 hours (includes 2 hours for cooling and 5 minutes for frosting)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

I would totally redo these with canned bing cherries and a kirschwasser for the cherry-alcohol flavor that the maraschino cherry juice was trying to imitate. In fact, I may do this soon because I happen to have an open can of bing cherries in my fridge.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 6 (Maraschinos are gross, hard to spell and I had to chop them AND nuts.)
• Difficulty Rating: 4
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
• Texture: 4
• Flavor: 2
• Overall Rating: 3

Posted by jamm at 08:58 AM | Comments (3)

January 11, 2008

Week 40: Amaretto Brownie Supreme

Lots to love about this one, if you like amaretto. Pretty easy to make as well. Too bad that almond extract puts me in a bad mood.

Posted by jamm at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2007

Week 39: Bourbon Pecan Brownies

If the recipe calls for 'enough to taste' on the bourbon, it has to be good. This one even got a thumbs up from my kids, although it was probably all the leftover melted chocolate that they got to spread on top that won them over.

Posted by jamm at 07:37 AM | Comments (1)

December 14, 2007

Week 38: Hazelnut Krunch Queen Brownies

As John say, "Anything that has 'krunch' spelled with a 'k' has got to be good". I think that this recipe may actually belong in the book! A layer of fudgie brownie, 'krunchy' caramel hazelnut frosting and a layer of chocolate glaze. What's not to like? Not sure where the 'Queen' part fits in, other than making this thing was a royal pain.

Posted by jamm at 07:41 AM | Comments (6)

December 07, 2007

Week 37: Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Brownie with a cream cheese, cheesecake-like topping. Sounds yummy, except for the almond extract.

In theory, this brownie sounds kinds yummy. In practice, it was a pain. FOUR separate bowls were required for this recipe, which sent the PITA score off the chart! It didn't help that I was tired, cranky and had a dirty kitchen, so finding 4 bowls was a challenge.

Bowl #1 had butter and chocolate melted in it. I had some help on this from Emily, who has become the master of the microwave. She even stirred it extra smooth, but not before somehow managing to end up with chocolate eye shadow and a brown bindi. Don't ask me how she did it, but she tried to blame me!

Bowl #2 had butter, cream cheese, eggs, sugar, flour and vanilla for the cream cheese topping. This went together pretty easy and I used the hand mixer instead of the Kitchenaid.

Bowl #3 had the brownie base. Eggs, sugar, the cooled chocolate, flour, baking powder, vanilla, chopped pecans and almond extract (ugh!). I really dislike almond extract. It always make me think of eating maraschino cherries.

Bowl #4 had 2 cups of the brownie mixture reserved in it to create the 'swirl' part of the recipe.

The contents of Bowl #3 went into the bottom of the pan, which had to be greased and floured. The contents of Bowl #2 were spread on top and then the contents of Bowl #4 were dropped on top. Since the brownie mix was heavy and the cheese mixture was almost liquid, the swirling part didn't go too well. The blobs of brownie floated around intact through the cheese mix, creating a less than desired effect. After 5 minutes of attempted swirling in different direction, I called it done.

The pan was popped into the oven for 50 minutes, 10 longer than called for. Luckily, there was no frosting, so it went on top of the fridge to cool, while I cleaned up the horrific mess.

Posted by jamm at 10:11 AM | Comments (4)

November 30, 2007

Week 36: Vanilla Chippers

Seems like we have a had a rash of recipes with the word 'chipper' in it lately. I want to know when the wood chipper brownies are coming. Anyway, this recipe has a bunch of cocoa in it and smells like a brownie, except for the white chocolate chips in the batter.

Vanilla Chippers in the pan.

Posted by jamm at 07:15 AM | Comments (3)

November 16, 2007

Week 35: Tarte au Chocolate

I guess giving the recipe a French sounding name is supposed to make it taste better. The whole thing looks like more trouble than it's worth to me.

New this week! A try before you buy feature, I've added photograph to the brownie blog. You can take a peek and see what the recipe of the week looks like and decide on your perceived yumminess factor before making the trek to the kitchen! Yes, I know I should have been doing this all along, but it didn't occur to me until about 4 weeks ago and it has taken me that long to remember to do it. I was going to do it last week, but the brownies were decimated by 10:30! (And, NO, I will not be going back and remaking all the recipes just to get pictures! I may be talked into remaking a few of them, but not the ones I didn't like.)

Note, the date is wrong on these pictures. I was too lazy to go back and change it!

Posted by jamm at 07:57 AM | Comments (3)

November 09, 2007

Week 34: Mocha Bourbonettes

Chocolate, meet my good buddy Jack. Jack Daniels, that is. These should be called bourbon bombs.

This recipe was picked by everyone's favorite commenter, olmsnj. I am saddened to let everyone know that this will be his last brownie recipe. He is leaving us for a way cool job at Merit. Maybe if he leaves a forwarding address, some brownies may show up at his door.

And the curse of the book is back.

I thought I had the curse of the book licked. I saved my shopping for last night figuring the closer to baking I actually did it, the less likely I was to forget something. I made a quick trip to the store to get candied pecans, Cafe du Monde coffee/chickory blend and paper towels to clean up my mess. I also made a stop by the liquor store to pick up the bourbon. Bourbon and I have a love/hate relationship, so I was less than thrilled to be working with the stuff.

Well, imagine my surprise as I'm standing at the kitchen counter unwrapping 16 squares of baking chocolate and glance down at the recipe and see the words 'semi-sweet baking chocolate' written in the recipe. I can't repeat what I said, but I was not happy, especially since I was already missing watching the South Park DVD to bake the brownies. I am thoroughly convinced the book is cursed. It probably would have been a good time to have some bourbon.

So it was off to the store. The two redeeming things about the trip were that the chocolate was on sale and there was no line at the check out.

Once back in my kitchen, things went relatively smoothly. Chocolate (semi-sweet, thank you) and butter were melted in the microwave, eggs and sugar were beat in the Kitcheaid, and the two were mixed together. The recipe then told me to add 1 Tablespoon of the 3 that it called for into the mix. At this point I'm thinking, 'What? Is this another editor error? Or is this a Julia Childs' recipe? Are the other 2 for me?'. Sadly, or maybe luckily, I turned the page to find that the other 2 (actually 4 because I had to double the recipe) were to be sprinkled over the top of the cooked brownies. These are truly going to be bourbon bombs.

The last thing I had to do was add the candied pecans. Now, I am all about not getting too much stuff dirty in the kitchen when I am cooking. I'm always trying to reuse things and the thought of getting out a cutting board to chop nuts was not making me happy. Fortunately, I had a brain storm and decided to try chopping the nuts right in the can. The chopper fit right in there, like it was made just for that purpose. One more reason to love the chopper!

The whole thing went into a greased and floured (ugh!) pan and plopped in the oven for 35 minutes, which is 10 more than called for. While the brownies were baking, I made the frosting. Melted butterscotch chips, butter, powdered sugar, coffee liquer AND more bourbon. Wow!

The brownies came out of the oven smelling fabulous and with a nice crinkly top. After letting them cool for a bit, I got to poke them full of holes with a toothpick and pour the remaining 4 Tablespoons of bourbon over the top. Sprinkle isn't quite the right word, it was more like pouring, but I think I did a fairly decent job of even distribution. Since it was late, I covered the frosting, put the brownies out of reach of the dogs and went to bed. The brownies were frosted in the morning and decorated with whole candied pecans.

These have been a hit! They were the first batch to be completely gone before noon and I had 3 drop-bys in my cube to tell me how awesome they were. I think they are ok. The flavors are pretty good and the texture is definitely nice and fudgy, but I think I like the frosting best, which is a big statement, coming from a non-frosting person. You definitely cannot eat more than one of these at a sitting.

• Prep time: 60 minutes (the trip to the store, making the coffee/chickory all added up)
• Cooking time: 35 minutes (10 minutes extra)
• Total time: 3.5 hours (includes cooling and frosting without the overnight break)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

Dunno. I think the bourbon is so stunning, it makes you not able to think about anything else.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 8 (The trip to the store, missing South Park and having to make frosting contribute to this.)
• Difficulty Rating: 4
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
• Texture: 7
• Flavor: 6 (the frosting was the best)
• Overall Rating: 6

Posted by jamm at 08:11 AM | Comments (2)

November 02, 2007

Week 33: Date Chipper-Brownies

Date puree, cocoa, chocolate chips and nuts. Don't know what else to say.

Analysis

Well, at least we are back on track with this recipe. It required a trip to the store during the making of it. I knew the last 3 weeks were too good to be true.

The one thing that I thought I had that was mysteriously missing when I went to get it out of the cupboard was dates. There had been a rather large container in there the last time we checked and nobody in my house eats them, not even me! My husband finally sheepishly admitted that, yes, he has been nibbling on them and had actually eaten them all. So I sent him to the store instead of me.

Making these was pretty easy. It was a bit yucky in that the dates got soaked in boiling water and then pureed in the blender. I reminded me of when I used to make baby food for the girls, or of something that was sometimes found in their diapers. At least these brownies had enough chocolate in them. And they were sized for a 9x13 pan.

After mixing everything together, they got plopped in the pan and cooked for 35 minutes. They look rather spongy and cake-like, but smell chocolaty. And since there is no frosting, you can eat them right away!

• Prep time: 30 minutes (I had to wait for my husband to get back from the store)


• Cooking time: 35 minutes (10 minutes extra)


• Total time: 1 hour (does not include cooling)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

None. Not that these are fabulous, I just cant think of anything that would improve them.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 6 (Just for the frustration level of dealing with my husband)
• Difficulty Rating: 3
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 4 (pureeing the dates was a bit extreme)
• Texture: 3 (too cakey for me)
• Flavor: 5 (not bad, good chocolate flavor)
• Overall Rating: 4

Posted by jamm at 06:49 AM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2007

Week 32: Peanut Chocochippers

Crunchy peanut butter and chocolate chips. Sounds like a winner to me.

Posted by jamm at 09:18 AM | Comments (2)

October 12, 2007

Week 31: Snow Drop Brookies

Chocolate, raspberry and white chocolate chips. Sounds like a good combo, except these things look like cookies, not brownies.

Posted by jamm at 07:49 AM | Comments (2)

September 28, 2007

Week 30: Dodge Darts

It's brownie, no wait, its a car! Who cares what it is but don't get out of Dodge without one of these brownies!

Analysis

I am perplexed by this recipe. I can't understand why it is in the book. It is about as straightforward as a brownie recipe can be. Nothing strange, different or extreme, except they have a weird name.

Of course I needed to go to the store. All the eggs got used up for breakfast and I was out of baking chocolate. The trip was relatively quick and uneventful.

I had a helper for this recipe. Emily decided that she was going to be my assistant. She got aprons out of the drawer for both of us and opened the eggs and counted out the right amount. She unwrapped the chocolate and put it in the microwave, measured the sugar and flour, and stirred the chocolate to melt it completely. These brownies almost made themselves!

There was absolutely nothing eventful that happened during this recipe. It was even proportioned for a 9x13 pan, so I didn't even have to do any math. And the cooking time was spot on. I'm still trying to figure out how these got into the book. They got a 'WTF' subcategory just because of the name. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to make them in the shape of a car or Kansas.

• Prep time: 50 minutes (I had to go to the store, but it was a quick trip despite the urchin tagging along)
• Cooking time: 30 minutes (right on time)
• Total time: 2.25 hours (includes cooling and frosting)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 2 (The trip to the store didn't even phase me for this)


• Difficulty Rating: 1


• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 2 (just because there was frosting)


• Texture:


• Flavor:


• Overall Rating:

Posted by jamm at 08:10 AM | Comments (1)

September 21, 2007

Week 29: Marjorie's Fudgy Brownies

Well, there is some fudge, but not as the main part of the brownie. I call this and oatmeal cookie with a fudge filling. They smell really good, though.

Analysis

• Prep time: 40 minutes (I had company and couldn't find all my measuring spoons)


• Cooking time: 35 minutes (10 minutes longer than called for)


• Total time: 1.25 hours

Modifications

I had to use some cocoa and oil to make up for the chocolate I was lacking. I also did not use black walnut extract.

Improvements

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 6 (Pressing batter over a semi-liquid is never my favorite thing.)


• Difficulty Rating: 4


• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 5


• Texture:


• Flavor:


• Overall Rating:

Posted by jamm at 07:39 AM | Comments (2)

September 14, 2007

Week 28: Chewy Honey Frosties

Welcome the brownie flowing with milk and honey. Well, lots of honey anyway. Read on to hear of this week's brownie making saga...

Analysis

Ok, so my uber-organized streak is over (if you can call one recipe without a trip to the store 'uber-organized'). Either that, or someone in my house used half a jar of honey between Tuesday and Thursday. Hey, it's not like it hasn't happened before. Fortunately, there was enough honey for the batter, but it did take a while to wait for it all to drip down to the opening. I probably spent and extra 7 minutes squeezing honey, inverting the jar, waiting for the neck to fill up and repeating. At least I could save my quick dash to the store for the honey needed for the frosting while the brownies were baking, so really no time lost. The check out guy even thought I was nuts, coming to the store at 11pm for only honey. When I told him I only needed 2 Tablespoons, he looked at me really funny. Oh well, one must suffer for one's art.

The actual recipe was simple enough, although a bit strange. Cream butter and cocoa in the mixer, add eggs and vanilla, then honey. Add dry ingredients and nuts and plop into a greased pan. Of course I had to double the recipe because it called for a small pan. I honestly don't know who makes those tiny pans of brownies. Why bother if you are not going to have enough to stuff yourself until you feel sick, or feed 20 people?

I got back from the store with 10 minutes to complete on the baking, which gave me enough time to make the frosting. This part did a number on my mixer. Butter, cocoa, and powdered sugar were all creamed together. It made a sort of hard, crumbly substance in the mixer, which was difficult for the beater to work with. The bowl kept shaking loose. The honey and milk came next and were beat up until smooth. This part took a bit longer for me, because I refuse to sift anything, so the frosting was a bit lumpy to start.

The brownies took an extra 15 minutes to bake - 40 minutes instead of the 25 suggested in the recipe. I let them cool overnight on top of the fridge, away from the hungry, chocolate loving beasties. The frosting was placed away from the ants on the counter (don't ask) and I went to bed. The frosting was added to the brownies and 6am.

They smell really good. Lots of honey flavor. The texture is more cake-like than fudgy. The honey really comes through in the flavor, but they are seriously lacking in chocolate flavor, even with the frosting. I think the brownie part would make a good cake layer, minus the nuts. Actually, I think the whole combo would make a good cake. As a brownie, it is ok, but not great. This is not a 'having seconds (or fourths)' brownie for me.

• Prep time: 30 minutes (just for the brownies, add another 20 for frosting - includes the trip to the store.)
• Cooking time: 40 minutes (15 minutes longer than called for)
• Total time: 7.5 hours (includes cooling overnight and frosting)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

Make it a cake, not a brownie. Add more chocolate, especially in the frosting.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 6 (I had to chop nuts and try and squeeze honey out of a rock)
• Difficulty Rating: 2
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 3
• Texture: 2 (too much like cake for me)
• Flavor: 4 (honey is good, but not enough chocolate
• Overall Rating: 4

Posted by jamm at 09:23 AM | Comments (2)

September 07, 2007

Week 27: Old Vienna Brownies

What do almonds and Irish whiskey have to do with Vienna? I'm not really sure how these brownies got their name, but they should have called them chocolate covered almonds, or Irish Coffee brownies.

Analysis

The ingredient list on this one made me cringe. It has one of my most hated baking ingredients - almond extract. And something really weird called sweetened almond filling, which I was sure they wouldn't have at Kroger. All I could think of was something like marzipan. But, surprise! The stuff actually exists, it comes in a can and it looks like the frosting for a German chocolate cake without the coconut. It actually didn't taste too bad either.

This recipe was pretty much a snap. I was on top of my game on this one and had got everything I needed at Kroger the night before, including an extra bottle of almond extract, which I actually needed for some reason. The only thing I can think of is that my kids used it all up in some weird baking experiment. Actually, most of my extracts are empty. I certainly don't want to know what their creation tasted like.

The chocolate and butter were melted in the microwave. The almond filling was mixed into this. Eggs and brown sugar were beat together and everything was added to that. The only pain was the ground almonds. I had to use my chopper to chop them up. I certainly was NOT putting them in my coffee grinder and there was no way I was going to have to wash the food processor for a measly 1/2 cup of almonds.

The batter went into a greased and floured pan and into the oven for 45 minutes. While this was cooking, I made my weekly trip to the corner store to pick up the alcohol d'brownie for the recipe. The Irish whiskey was for the frosting, along with whipping cream, coffee crystals and some sugar. Just like a true Irish Coffee! Too bad it was so late, or I would have had a real one myself. It was at this point that I had to stop everything and get a bath ready for the kids. Which didn't matter too much since the brownies had to cool. After the bath scene, I made the frosting and stored it in the fridge overnight, since I figured it would have melted on the warm brownies and ruined the effect.

The brownies were frosted at 5:50am and popped on the back of the bike for the trip to work.

• Prep time: 55 minutes (includes the 10 minutes I had to take out to get the bath ready and the 15 minute trip to the corner store)


• Cooking time: 45 minutes (10 minutes longer than called for)


• Total time: 9.5 hours (includes cooling overnight and frosting)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 5 (I had to chop almonds AND use almond extract)


• Difficulty Rating: 2


• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 5


• Texture:


• Flavor:


• Overall Rating:

Posted by jamm at 07:38 AM | Comments (2)

August 24, 2007

Week 26: Raspberry Truffle Brownies

Lots of chocolate (15oz), cream cheese and raspberry. What's not to like. These brownies are heavy, they weigh a lot, and are very rich. Try a small piece to start because you wouldn't want to ruin the yumminess with a belly ache.

Posted by jamm at 09:59 AM | Comments (2)

August 17, 2007

Week 25: Dark Chocolate Sweeties

Back on track, finally. This week's recipe has a great name and a great set of ingredients to match! There is nothing funny going on here and I predict that these will be a good, solid, chocolaty brownie.

Posted by jamm at 11:41 AM | Comments (3)

July 27, 2007

Week 24: Fudgie-Wudgies

Fudgie-Wudgie was a brownie
Fudgie-Wudgie had no chocolate.
Fudie-Wudgie wasn't very fudgie
Wudgie?

Ok, I couldn't resist the horrible rendition of Fuzzy-Wuzzy Was a Bear. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the name of these brownies.

Posted by jamm at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2007

Week 23: Molasses Mint Brownies

Molasses and Mint, Mint and Molasses???? I'm not sure what to say about these, but I hope you can tell by the title that we are back on track this week with another recipe from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (guess which category this one falls into?). Well, at least it meets all the criteria to be included in the ever enlarging 'WTF' category.

Analysis

As I was making these, I was brought back to the other truly disastrous brownie recipe in the book, Macadamia Mocha Brownies. Once again, there was nary a smidge of melted chocolate to be found. And, good lord, the recipe called for melted MARGARINE (melted and then cooled???, no less). We all know my feelings about that ingredient. I guess I can't complain, I asked for something in the WTF category. At least the book has a high percentage of those recipes.

The thing I had difficulty in finding for this recipe were the chocolate mint wafers. My first thought was "ooh, Girl Scout Thin Mints." But then I realized that those cookies were too yummy to waste on this recipe. As I thought about it, I decided that I was really unclear on exactly what was meant by 'wafer'. Wafer can refer to a lot of things, but the only cookies specifically labeled 'wafer' are those ones that are like thin layers of ice cream cone with the creme filling in between and come in 3 flavors: vanilla, chocolate and pink. I read this line in the recipe and thought "Well, they must make them with green creme filling as well." It must be some weird regional thing because My Kroger doesn't carry them. I had to settle on some Thin Mint wanna-bes called Grasshoppers, but hey they had a picture of Johnny Depp on them, so it was ok. (That was for you, Laura).

At least this was a one bowl recipe. I dumped everything in, mixed it up, broke up the cookies, mixed them in and reached for the nuts. At this moment, for some strange reason, I glanced at the instructions one more time and groaned. I wasn't supposed to mix the nuts in, I was supposed to put them in between two layers of the batter. UGH! After I wrestled with smoothing out the top layer without churning up chopped nuts, I popped the pan in the oven and cooked it for 45 minutes.

These brownies were a bit weird to make and smelled a bit 'heavy' while they were cooking, but the batter was strangely addictive. Must have been the Johnny Depp cookies.

The brownies actually taste ok. The texture and initial sensation is one of eating chocolate chip bar cookies. The nuts add crunch and the chopped up cookies add little bits of minty, chocolately smushiness that is incongruous with the other textures, but at the same time, sort of works. These are a strange little dessert that belongs at a family picnic, but not on a list of best brownies.

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 45 minutes
• Total time: 2 hours (includes cooling)

Modifications

Do I have to say it? I substituted butter for margarine. That should probably go under 'Improvements'.

Improvements

Um, adding or changing anything would just be way too weird.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 5 (I had to spend 10 minutes in the cookie aisle looking for no-existent cookies. AND I had to chop nuts)
• Difficulty Rating: 2
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 4
• Texture: 4
• Flavor: 5
• Overall Rating: 3 (these are strangely addictive, but still not brownies)

Posted by jamm at 09:06 AM | Comments (1)

June 01, 2007

Week 22: Ricotta Filled Squares

Well, we made it to the half way point! Which is actually not really the half way point, since we had 4 weeks of non-best-of book brownies.

This week's selection falls into the WTF category. I liken them to brownie lasagna, since the ricotta filling is reminiscent of that in lasagna, minus the cheese. They smell good, though.

Posted by jamm at 09:13 AM | Comments (2)

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.

• 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

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

• 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 08:07 AM | Comments (6)

March 30, 2007

Week 20: No-Bake Fudgy Brownies

No-bake doesn't sound like a brownie to me. Let's hope they survived the bike ride in.

Analysis

This was probably the easiest recipe in the book so far, but I'm not convinced its a brownie. It' missing 3 key ingredients, sugar, flour and eggs. At least there was no baking involved.

Of course I had to make my obligatory 9:45pm trip to the store. I was out of sweetened condensed milk (I swear it was there earlier in the week). At least it was on sale at Kroger, so I bought extra for next time.

There was nothing difficult about this recipe. I made my husband crush the cookies in the Cuisinart (Hooray for the Cuisinart!) while I was at the store. I melted chocolate chips in the microwave (not over boiling water on the stove, that is soooo 1950), mixed in the milk and cookies and nuts. Mixed it all up and pressed it into the pan. And that was it. A total of 10 minutes.

The only question is how are these things going to taste? The pan weighs a ton. These are a big heavy block of chocolate bar thingies. I don't think the ride in on the back of the bike damaged them too much, but some of the nuts shook loose from the top (that's usually the way of things though).

And the answer is: They taste like a weird cross between a candy bar and a cookie. These little chocolate concrete blocks are not brownies in my opinion. They taste really yummy, all chocolately and oreo-like, but they are not at all brownie like. Better to call it fudge and call it a day.






• Prep time: 30 minutes (includes the 20 minute trip to the store)


• Cooking time: 0 minutes


• Total time: 30 minutes (this would only be 10 if you have sweetened condensed milk at home)



Modifications

None.

Improvements

These are just flat out weird.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 4 (I did have to go to the store)
• Difficulty Rating: 1
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 1
• Texture: 2 (not at all brownie-like)
• Flavor: 6 (good and chocolatey
• Overall Rating: 2 (these are not brownies!)

Posted by jamm at 07:43 AM | Comments (2)

March 23, 2007

Week 19: Easy Peanut Butter Delights

Hmm, no baking, chocolate chips and oatmeal. Doesn't sound very brownie-like to me. I think this is another one of those recipes that doesn't belong in a 'best brownie recipe' book.

Analysis

Well, making this recipe should have been easier. I checked the pantry to make sure I had all the ingredients I needed before I went to class. I had just over 1 cup of mini-marshmallows that the recipe called for, so I was in good shape. Or so I thought.

Upon arriving home at 9:20, I began to piece the recipe together. I put the sugar, butter (no margarine, thank you) and evaporated milk on the stove to melt/boil. I then had to make quick oats in my new Cuisinart (this new piece of equipment may soon replace the Kitchenaid as my favorite power tool) from the regular oats. I mixed the oats with the peanut butter, chocolate chips, coconut, vanilla and turned to the pantry to get my exact measure of mini-marshmallows. This is where it all fell apart.

Unbeknownst to me, while I was away at class, my darling daughter (the one who is already grounded) had eaten my entire stash of marshmallows! Why now? Why these marshmallows that I had painstakingly and dutifully verified the correct amount of just 4 hours before? These marshmallows had been in the pantry for the past 3 weeks, uneaten. Her sense of timing was uncanny.

So, it was off to the store at 9:45. I think there must be a requirement somewhere at the beginning of the book that I did not read that states 'the making of each recipe will be interrupted by a trip to the grocery store. This step is mandatory and integral to the process of sucessfully completing the recipe'. I got my mini-marshmallows and got back with out much fuss. I dumped in the mini-marshmallows, added the hot milk/sugar/butter mixure, beat it up with the Kitchenaid and dumped it into the waiting 9x13 pan. And that was it.

This is another example of a recipe that does not belong in a 'best brownie recipe' book. They are not brownies! They are more like fudge with stuff in it. The texture is rough due to the oatmeal, the chocolate is a bit grainy due to the use of chocolate chips, and the whole thing is just wrong. I'm not making these again.






• Prep time: 50 minutes (includes the 30 minute trip to the store)


• Cooking time: 0 minutes


• Total time: 1.5 hours (includes cooling)



Modifications

I used butter instead of margerine. You all know how I feel about margerine.

Improvements

Well, since these are not brownies in my book, I think that making an actual brownie with all of the stuff in it may be a better option.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 4 (I did have to go to the store)
• Difficulty Rating: 2
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 4
• Texture: 2
• Flavor: 2
• Overall Rating: 2 (these are NOT brownies)

Posted by jamm at 08:34 AM | Comments (3)

March 16, 2007

Week 18: Grasshopper Brownies

Even the brownies are getting read for St. Paddy's day. Chocolate with green creme de menthe frosting. Just like a giant Andes candy.

Analysis

Another amazingly simple recipe. And because of the chocolate syrup, this was truly a one Kitchenaid bowl recipe. I didn't even have to add things in stages. The instructions said to cream it all together at once and it was portioned for a 9x13 pan. AND I got to purchase some Creme de Menthe! My kind of recipe!

Of course the weird part was the chocolate syrup again. It seems to make the brownies kind of spongy. This time I made sure to get two bottles so I wouldn't run out. And there were nuts to chop, but the rest was so easy I didn't care. It did take an extra 12 minutes to cook.

Even the minty frosting was a snap. Add butter, powdered sugar and creme de menthe and beat it up. It was yummy. Add a simple butter and melted chocolate icing on top and it was done. The recipe didn't specify what type of chocolate to use, so I used a nice dark chocolate. Should be good with the mint, not sure how it will mingle with the brownie, but we can always just eat frosting.






• Prep time: 30 minutes


• Cooking time: 42 minutes


• Total time: 2.5 hours (includes frosting & cooling)



Modifications

I used butter instead of margerine. You all know how I feel about margerine.

Improvements

Not sure yet. I might make a brownie base with melted chocolate instead of syrup.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 2 (I did have to make frosting.)
• Difficulty Rating: 2
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 4
• Texture:
• Flavor:
• Overall Rating:

Posted by jamm at 08:38 AM | Comments (2)

March 09, 2007

Week 17: Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Any recipe that calls for mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups can't possibly be bad. If nothing, else, I can console myself with the left over peanut butter cups (I bought the big bag just in case).

Analysis

This recipe couldn't have been any easier, even if I created it. Simple ingredients (ok, minus the chocolate extract), dump it all in a bowl and voila! In less than an hour, Brownies!

The only strange thing was the chocolate extract. I didn't know such a thing existed. I also was unable to find it, so I used an extra square of chocolate instead. Can't leave out any chocolatey flavor.

Chocolate was melted in the microwave and added to the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, egg mix. Next went flour and peanut butter chips. Top it off with quartered mini peanut butter cups and pop it in the oven. It was too easy. There must be a catch.

• Prep time: 12 minutes
• Cooking time: 36 minutes
• Total time: 1.5 hours (includes cooling)

Modifications

I used an extra square of baking chocolate to make up for the illusive chocolate extract.

Improvements

Where do I begin? This recipe could morph in a bunch of different ways, such as using Reese's peanut butter baking cups. They are sooo cute and its like having little peanut butter cups in your batter.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 1 (this was so simple my 7 year old could do it)
• Difficulty Rating: 2
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 2
• Texture: 4 (a bit dryer than I like)
• Flavor: 4
• Overall Rating: 5

Posted by jamm at 07:55 AM | Comments (4)

March 02, 2007

Week 16: Macadamia Mocha Brownies

The title sounds wonderful, the recipe does not. There is no melted chocolate, no eggs and no butter. How can they call these brownies?

Analysis

How hard can it be to find unsalted macadamia nuts in a large quantity? They come dry roasted and salted, mixed with cashews, mixed with pecans, and even covered in chocolate, but apparently not unsalted here on the main land. I guess they only exist in Hawaii (where General Daniel, Ret., the recipe's owner, resides). I had to settle for purchasing 2 small tins of roasted and salted macadamias and washing them to remove the salt.

I didn't look very closely at this recipe until I went to make it. As I was pulling out the ingredients, I noticed 2 missing items, eggs and butter. I re-read the instructions several times to make sure the editor didn't let another omission slip (see Week 1). Unless they made a huge error, these 2 ingredients were no where to be found. It was at this point I went, 'uh oh'.

I should have been tipped off by the 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs, but I was assuming that since it was a 'brownie' recipe, that it would have the basic ingredients. Boy, was I wrong. I think this is the strangest baked good I have ever made. Graham cracker crumbs, sweetened condensed milk, chopped macadamia nuts, vanilla, instant coffee crystals, and chocolate chips. Nothing that resembles anything I've ever baked before.

At least this was a true 1 bowl recipe. Everything went in the Kitchenaid and got mixed. The resulting batter had the consistency and texture of wet cement. It was a struggle to get it out of the bowl and spread into the pan. It was popped in the oven for 43 minutes, 13 minutes longer than suggested, and it was done. It cooled for a short while and then was cut into squares. Powdered sugar was sprinkled on top when it was cool. I think this is done to hide the fact that the brownies aren't brown, but a tan color.

Brownies, these are NOT!!! They taste like some weird bar thing that you find on the dessert table at a pot luck. They feel like they have coconut in them, but taste of macadamia nuts. And you can definitely taste that they were made with sweetened condensed milk. This recipe is in no way a brownie and doesn't belong in this book!

• Prep time: 25 minutes (includes the 10 minutes for washing and drying the macadamias)
• Cooking time: 43 minutes
• Total time: 1.5 hours (includes cooling)

Modifications

None.

Improvements

Take this recipe out of the book. It doesn't belong.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 3 (washing the macadamias was a pain)
• Difficulty Rating: 2
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 3
• Texture: 3
• Flavor: 3
• Overall Rating: 2 (these are not brownies, they are something else)

Posted by jamm at 07:07 AM | Comments (2)

February 23, 2007

Week 15: Banana-Fana Brownies

Banana-bana-bo-bana-fee-fi-fo-fana - BANANA!

Bananas, peanut butter and chocolate. The major food groups all rolled into one yummy package. And no nuts to chop!!! Smells good, lets see how it tastes!

Analysis

This recipe was extraodinarily simple and could have hit the one bowl mark if I used the hand mixer. Good thing too, because after the twin set of giant chocolate chip cookies, I was not in a creative mood and just wanted to 'get 'er done'. Although it did give me something to do while the cookies were baking.

Melt the chocolate and butter, add everything else and presto, brownie batter. Of course I had to grease the pan. The PITA factor went up there. I never realized how much I dislike greasing pans. Thank goodness for the 'mash' setting on the KitchenAid (#9). No more forks and banana mushing (Have I mentioned how much I adore my KitchenAid?). These came together in under 15 minutes.

These are definitely cake-y brownies. Not much fudge going on here. The texture is good and the flavor is nice. You can taste the banana and a hint of peanut butter and chocolate. To me, you can taste that the bananas weren't as ripe as they should have been, so you get a bit of that green banana sensation in your mouth. These would be a yummy, easy snack to take to a picnic or potluck.

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cooking time: 37 minutes
• Total time: 1.5 hours (includes cooling)

Modifications

I melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave and added it to the peanut butter, sugar, egg mixture, instead of melting it on the stove.

Improvements

More peanut butter! Maybe a peanut butter frosting or glaze.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 1 (only because I had to grease the pan)
• Difficulty Rating: 1
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 2
• Texture: 6
• Flavor: 7
• Overall Rating: 7

Posted by jamm at 08:11 AM | Comments (5)

February 16, 2007

Week 14: Lemony Favorites Brownies

Hmm, lemon and chocolate. I wonder... but there is only a little bit of lemon and a little bit of chocolate. Can't wait to find out how the two flavors mix.

Analysis

All I can say is "Where's the lemon?" You would think I left it out. It is so well hidden as to almost be not there. I re-read the instruction three times and it definitely said only 1 1/2 teaspoons.

Between the 40 cupcakes for the birthday party, the 40 cupcakes for the Girl Scout meeting with custom chocolate candy toppers, wrapping birthday presents and final preparation for the Thinking Day ceremony, it is a wonder these brownies got made this week. And I'm still trying to taste the lemon. (It was a nice one too, not too tart and very lemony)

This recipe was pretty simple and almost hit the one bowl mark. (It would have been only one bowl if I used the hand mixer and not the KitchenAid.) Super simple brownie recipe, but only 4 ounces of chocolate. At least this one was sized for the 9x13 pan from the start. The one thing that was a pain was juicing the lemon. I know, I know, I could have bought the stuff in the little plastic lemon, but that always goes bad because you can't use it fast enough. The need to sell single serving lemon juices, such as a 12 pack of 1 teaspoon servings, each individually wrapped in little pouches, like string cheese. That way, you could freeze them and then thaw when you needed them and not end up wasting so much. But I digress.

As distracted as I was, I checked the amount of lemon again, because it sure as heck did not seem like enough. And it was only in the frosting, which was even weirder. Speaking of weird, the frosting was strange. It was like a cross between a true buttercream and a seven-minute frosting. There was an egg in it, butter and powdered sugar and the whole mess got cooked on the stove (minus the double boiler). I did forget to mix in the pecans, so those went on top. Hey, I was busy! Maybe they were the secret to bringing out the lemon flavor.

The taste was 'eh'. I will not eat a second one until someone returns the lemon flavor.






• Prep time: 45 minutes


• Cooking time: 35 minutes


• Total time: 2 hours (includes cooling and frosting)



Modifications

Improvements

More lemon. Everyone repeat after me: 'More Lemon!' Lemon zest in the brownie would help.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 7 (The lemon juicing on top of everything else just pushed me over the edge.)
• Difficulty Rating: 4
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 5
• Texture: 5
• Flavor: 2
• Overall Rating: 5

Posted by jamm at 08:20 AM | Comments (3)

February 09, 2007

Week 13: Strawberry Delight Brownies

Lucky #13! These brownies have lots of chocolate and strawberry. I'm hoping they are truly delightful.

Analysis

Well, here we go again with melted jelly and vinegar. I was just bummed I didn't get to buy and liquer.

These were really easy to make, just time consuming and requiring 3 bowls and chopping nuts and slicing strawberries. Wait a minute... I guess these were a bit more difficult than I thought. Plus, I left my husband with the shopping list and he purchased the smaller jar of seedless strawberry jelly, so I had to make the 10:30 run to Kroger to get another one. This just keeps getting worse!

Anyway, back to the baking. The basic brownie was simple, it just had many parts (and chopped nuts, ugh!). That went together pretty easily. The making of the jelly glaze on top was stymied by the lack of jelly and the trip to the store. This added another half an hour on to the time. Thank goodness for the timed cook feature on my oven, so I didn't have to wait around for the brownie part to cook before getting my jelly.

The brownies came out when "a knife inserted in the center comes out ALMOST clean". What does 'almost clean' mean? When does it go from being 'too dirty' to 'almost clean'? I've never encountered that one before, so I took my best guess. The jelly went on easy, I put the parts for the chocolate glaze in a bowl, left it in the microwave and went to bed. I was just too tired to wait for the whole mess to cool. I considered putting the glaze on while the thing was still hot, but then that would have been cheating.

Next morning the glaze was completed and spread over the top, strawberries were sliced and attractively arranged on top and it was done. I don't know if I should count the 5 hours of sleeping in the 'total time' count or not. It may be that this recipe causes sleepiness and I need to inform people to plan to take a nap between the jelly and chocolate glaze parts.

These were EXTREMELY fudgy brownies. The flavors were nice and subtle, and it wasn't a total sugar bomb like the Raspberry Supreme Brownies of two weeks ago. There was a hint of chocolate covered strawberry flavor that was good. I think the fresh strawberries sitting in a layer of chocolate frosting helped with that. I would make these again, except the next time, I'm going to do the shopping!

• Prep time: 45 minutes
• Cooking time: 25 minutes
• Total time: 2 hours (includes cooling and frosting. Add 5 hours of nap time if needed)

Modifications

I thinly sliced large strawberries for the top, because you can't get small ones in the store in the middle of February. Also, I doubled the recipe.

Improvements

More strawberry! These would be good with a strawberry frosting.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 6 (three bowls, the trip to the store, chopping nuts and no liquer helped on this. I would have given this an 8, but the nap helped.)
• Difficulty Rating: 6 (two layers with goo in the middle)
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
• Texture: 7 (great fudginess!)
• Flavor: 5 (good, but not very berry)
• Overall Rating: 6

Posted by jamm at 07:57 AM | Comments (5)

February 02, 2007

Week 12: Chewy Tropical Brownies

Chocolate, coconut and dates. Sounds pretty yummy (and chewy) to me.

Analysis

These were so simple, I have no comment. These are a one bowl recipe if you use a hand mixer and a microwaveable bowl. And finally, a recipe with no nuts and no frosting!

The brownies were very chewy, but lacking a bit in tropical flavor. The dates seem to have melted into the fudginess of the brownie, making them indistiguishable from the whole. The coconut added a nice bit of texture, but again, not much in the way of tropical flavor.

I would make these again for the texture and the ease of creation. Also, there are dates in it which are healthy and I could trick my kids into eating these (there's more than one way to force feed a child).

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 35 minutes
• Total time: 1.25 hours (includes cooling)

Modifications

I used chopped dates instead of whole ones. I didn't want to have to chop them and then roll them in flour. The chopped ones in the box are already rolled in something to keep them from sticking, so why waste my time.

Improvements

More tropical flavor. Maybe adding dried mango, papaya or macadamia nuts would help. Also, using the shaved coconut instead of the flakes to get a bigger coconut presence.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 1 (no nuts, no chopping, no rolling in flour)
• Difficulty Rating: 1
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 2
• Texture: 6
• Flavor: 4
• Overall Rating: 5

Posted by jamm at 09:01 AM | Comments (2)

January 26, 2007

Week 11: Raspberry Supreme

Yummy, yummy, chocolate, coffee, raspberries and cream cheese! Keeping up with the fruit flavored theme this week, we have Rasperry Supreme, brownies with raspberry jam and Chambord. How can that be bad?

Analysis

I figure any recipe that calls for me to buy a bottle of Chambord can't be all bad. I was a bit put off at first by the use of red raspberry vinegar (eeew, that sounds sooo wrong), but the rest of the ingredients made it seem ok. Hey, at least this one called for butter and didn't ask me to whisk anything. The double-boiler thing is still omni-present, though. I think making the cocktail before starting the brownies helped this time.

While there were 3 parts to this recipe, none of them were extremely complicated. The brownie part came first, with a wacky list of ingredients which included brown sugar, coffee crystals, chickory, and red raspberry vinegar. It sounded too gross to go on, but I hung in there. The batter turned out really thick and fudgy.

While the brownies were baking I made the "Icing in the Middle" (you have to call it that, because that is how it is referred to in the rest of the recipe. It's never just 'the icing'.) White chocolate, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and Chambord! The one questionable thing was the almond extract. I've avoided almond extract like the plague because it is always overpowering in a lot of recipes and I can't stand the flavor. I almost thought about leaving it out. But this is science, so I gave in and bought the almond extract. And the frosting was Yummy! Cream cheese frosting has never tasted so good.

When the brownies came out of the oven, I put raspberry jam over the top of them. It looked kinda yucky at first, like big lumps of jello, but it soon melted and I was able to spread it. After they cooled the "Icing in the Middle" put on top and the chocolate-raspberry glaze was made and put on top.

These went together really easily. There were no problems or parts where I just wanted to give up, unlike last week's debacle. I am looking forward to trying these.

• Prep time: 45 minutes
• Cooking time: 30 minutes
• Total time: 2 hours (includes cooling and frosting)

Modifications

Chickory?!? Where the heck am I going to find that? This is Michigan, not the south. I substitued extra coffee crystals instead. I melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave.

Improvements

Can't think of any, except finding a place to buy chickory.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 2 (even with the 3 parts, this one didn't piss me off)
• Difficulty Rating: 4
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
• Texture: 7
• Flavor: 9
• Overall Rating: 9

Posted by jamm at 07:13 AM | Comments (6)

January 18, 2007

Week 10: Choco-Cherry Brownies

Chocolate, Cherries, two great tastes that taste great together, what's not to like? Umm, wait a minute, who put these on the list...mini-marshmallows?

When I started reading the recipe I kept waiting for the part where it called for the Jello and the Cool Whip. Cherry pie filling, mini-marshmallows, just add the Jello and the non-dairy whipped topping and you have that thing that sits on the buffet table at so many mid-west holiday get togethers and family picnics. I'm not liking this...

Analysis

This recipe set me off from the get-go. The pie filling and mini-marshmallows were all I could think about and how much that turned my stomach. Oh, and I only had 1 8oz box of semi-sweet chocolate, so I almost had to make a late night run to the store. Luckily, I remembered that chocolate chips are also semi-sweet, and with at least 10 bags of those in the cupboard, I was ok.

The recipe was straightforward, although it did tell me to use a double boiler and a whisk to mix the eggs and sugar (hold on while I go get more wood to put in the stove so I can bake them). At least this recipe called for butter and I didn't have to substitute.

The worst part of this recipe was straining the cherry pie filling. This gooey, red, drippy gunk slowly plopping into the measuring bowl, yuck, especially since I knew what I needed to do with it. The batter was really runny, but after letting it set in the "foil lined, greased and floured (are we worried about this sticking?)" pan, it sort of turned hard and fudge-like. Probably good since I had to spread the drained cherries over the batter in the pan and then cover it with the rest of it. And it was into the oven to bake.

Now for the yucky part. I had to take part of the cherry pie filling liquid and mix it with the marshmallows. When the browines were done baking, this got spread over the hot brownies and covered so it could melt. I then garnished with some of the remaining soppy cherry. What a lovely looking treat!






• Prep time: 45 minutes


• Cooking time: 50 minutes (a full 20 minutes longer than called for. Must be the foil)


• Total time: 1.75 hours



Modifications

None made. I just couldn't stand to think about it. I had to plow through and just get it done.

Improvements

One. Don't make these.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 5 (The cherry draining was a pain)
• Difficulty Rating: 6 (two layers with goo in the middle)
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
• Texture: 2
• Flavor: -3
• Overall Rating: 0 (ok, I haven't tasted them yet, but I don't know if I can)

I'm worried about tasting these tomorrow.

P.S. I am NEVER making these again. They were yucky. I found nothing redeeming about them, not even the fact that there was chocolate in them. My kids and husband wouldn't even eat them.

Posted by jamm at 10:50 PM | Comments (1)

January 12, 2007

Week 9: Orange Mocha Brownies

We are entering a new phase of 'Fruit Themed Brownies'. I just hope there are no prunes. Orange and chocolate can't be bad, but I'm not too sure about those Folgers flavor crystals the recipe calls for.

Analysis

This recipe sounded great until I got to the part about the instant coffee. It brought back memories of cold Minnesota mornings and Dad making his cup of Folgers from the jar and of nasty weak coffee. Besides this was one ingredient I didn't have in the house and wasn't even sure they made any more.

This recipe sure had a lot of orange in it. Orange Liquer, orange juice, and grated orange rind. Because grating 2 Tablespoons of orange rind was enough to put me over the edge, I decided to create the Orange Mocha Brownie Martini to get me through the rest of the recipe. That part turned out really well.

The recipe was quite simple. The Oranges, sugar, butter and coffee went into a pot to cook. My fire was too hot and the coffee crystals too close to the edge, so they ended up a tiny bit scorched. The hot molten mixture went into a bowl over the chocolate to melt it (a small amount of the chocolate mixture went around the rim of the martini glass).

Eggs were added and then the flour, which was a snap, thanks to these AWESOME bowls from my sister for Christmas. The PourPerfect, especially designed for use with the Kitchen Aid. No more banging the measuring cups on the top of the mixer and having half of the flour end up on the counter. Chopped nuts (ugh!) went in last. It all went into a floured and greased pan (double ugh!) to cook at 325 for 40 minutes (10 minutes longer than called for, must be the air bake pan)

We will have to see how they taste, but the batter was delicious!

• Prep time: 45 minutes
• Cooking time: 40 minutes
• Total time: 1.30 hours

Modifications

None needed. I had everything and after the Martini, I didn't care.

Improvements

It was suggested to leave out the orange juice. It made it too orangy.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 2 (Hey, I had the martini)
• Difficulty Rating: 5
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 7 (lots of ingredients and instructions)
• Texture: 8
• Flavor: 8
• Overall Rating: 7

These were YUMMY!!!! Great texture, chewy, moist, awesome flavor. These rival the Trippple Chocolate Brownies made in Week 3. I would definitely make these again.

Posted by jamm at 09:15 AM | Comments (3)

Week 8: Peppermint Brownies

John just couldn't let the holidays go. Let's see if these bring some holiday cheer.

Analysis

Unfortunately, these weren't much to write home about. And peeling the candy canes just made the whole thing too much effort. At least the recipe was simple. Basic brownie with chopped candy canes and nuts. I discovered that the chopper (since repaired with electrical tape) works wonders on candy canes. I was not looking forward to the bash-em-with-a-rolling-pin-in-a-baggie method. Its always messy.
• Prep time: 25 minutes
• Cooking time: 35 minutes
• Total time: .90 hours

Modifications

Butter was used instead of shortening. It's just to gross to think about it all melted.

Improvements

Get rid of the candy canes, add peppermint extract.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 5 (The candy canes put this one up there)
• Difficulty Rating: 3
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 3
• Texture: 5
• Flavor: 3
• Overall Rating: 4

I didn't like these. The peppermint was too subtle and confusing to the taste buds. I'm not making these again.

Posted by jamm at 09:14 AM | Comments (2)

December 15, 2006

Week 7: Chocolate Heaven Brownies

Chocolate Heaven?!? How did it take so long for me to get this recipe??? John was holding out on me, although he did have a point about the chocolate syrup.

Read on to find out if these brownies live up to the expectations set by their name.

Analysis

This recipe was three weeks in the making. I actually made it for last week, but forgot to bring it in due to all of the other party things that were going on. I think I did better with this second batch.

This recipe was fairly simple and hit the one bowl mark. The only weird part was the chocolate syrup. I never thought of using chocolate syrup for baking anything, although my girls have tried it (with really yucky results), so I was a bit leery.

The PITA part of this adventure was twofold. First, I had the butter and sugar creaming away in the Kitchenaid, when I opened the refrigerator to discover that all of the eggs were gone! Luckily, my husband came home just about then and I was able to send him to the store (since he was the one who used them all, it was only fair). Then came the part where I found out that even though I had 3 bottles of chocolate syrup in my refrigerator, there was not enough in them combined to make the required 16oz. After about 20 minutes of the turn-it-upside-down method, I had to make a trip to the corner store at 10:30 to get more chocolate syrup.

After I had the missing ingredients, everything went really smoothly, and I had brownies in the oven in 3 minutes. I used the air-bake pan on these, so the cooking time was increased by 20 minutes.

The frosting was easy, but weird. I put butter (not margarine, thank you), sugar and milk into a pan and boiled it on the stove. Then added chocolate and voila, fudge frosting!

These taste pretty good, although the frosting is a bit too much like fudge for me. The brownie itself has a crumbly, almost dry texture, but is moist and will wad into a ball at the same time. It reminds me of Devil Dogs without the cream filling. I might make these again, but I'm not sure if they deserve the 'Heaven' part of their name.






• Prep time: 85 minutes total (includes the 2 trips to the store and the emptying of the chocolate syrup bottles)


• Cooking time: 45 minutes (20 minutes longer than given); 8 minutes for the frosting


• Total time: 2.25 hours (includes cooling and frosting)



Modifications

I used butter instead of margerine (eeew! Who uses margarine?)

Improvements

I don't know what I would do to these with that heavy fudge frosting. Maybe give it a lighter, fluffier one.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 2 (for actual recipe, 8 for running out of ingredients)
• Difficulty Rating: 1
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 2
• Texture: 6
• Flavor: 6 (Definitely chocolate, dunno about the heaven part)
• Overall Rating: 5

Posted by jamm at 08:53 AM | Comments (3)

November 17, 2006

Week 6: Cinnamon Fudge Brownies

The name of this one sounds ok. I like cinnamon. I like brownies that are fudgy. This should be pretty good. It was a last minute decision for this recipe based on my request for a brownie that had more than 1/4 cup of cocoa in it.

Analysis

This recipe was insanely simple compared to the past 2 weeks. It almost made the one bowl mark. There were actually 2 bowls required and I am really beginning to think these recipes were sitting around in peoples great-grandmother's basements before being submitted to the editors of the book. Every recipe has instructions for melting chocolate on the stove, in a double-boiler, no less. Hello?!? Can you say 'Microwave'.

In any case, this recipe had a low PITA score because it was straightforward. The only annoying part was the phone call from my mother during the mixing phase where I had to leave my 6 year old in charge of the mixer. "Can I turn it up to 10, Mommy?" This added 25 minutes onto the process.

Butter and chocolate went into the microwave to melt. Eggs, sugar and everything else in the mixer. Add the chocolate and nuts, put into a greased and floured pan and presto, brownies!

They actually taste ok. The cinnamon flavor is subtle and not overwhelming. The texture is good, but still a bit cakey. They are good, but not spectacular. I don't know if I will go back for a second piece.

• Prep time: 75 minutes total (includes the 25 minute phone call from my mother and having to stop and dig out the box of sugar from the bottom of my pantry)
• Cooking time: 35 minutes
• Total time: 1.75 hours

Modifications

I melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave.

Improvements

Can't think of any. These are ok the way they are. I can't think of putting something in that would work with the cinnamon flavor.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 2 (for actual recipe, 5 including the phone call)
• Difficulty Rating: 2
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 2
• Texture: 6
• Flavor: 5 (Cinnamon is a nice subtle touch)
• Overall Rating: 4 (These are ok.)

Posted by jamm at 09:22 AM | Comments (2)

November 10, 2006

Week 5 - Carmelastic Fantastic Brownies

Well, the recipe title appears to tell all. Will have to wait and see how they taste.

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)

Posted by jamm at 11:59 AM | Comments (2)

November 03, 2006

Week 4: Trippple Brownies

Alright!!!! Trippple Brownies! With 3 'p's no less. These oughtta be good and chocolatey! Except one of the chocolates is white chocolate, which really doesn't count.

Coming next Friday: Caramelastic Fantastic Brownies

Analysis

Well, I asked for chocolate and I got it! A whole bag of melted chocolate chips plus white and milk chocolate chips in the batter. I was in heaven!

Once again, these brownies earned points on the PITA scale. It required that you melt the chocolate, sugar and WATER (weird) together in a pan on the stove. So there is one pot/bowl already.

Then you had to mix up eggs and butter in another bowl, let the chocolate cool (more waiting time) and mix it all together. Add the flour and then nuts (dirty chopper) and the chocolate chips. At least the majority of it was in one bowl.

What they neglected to mention is that you should probably put the chocolate base in the refridgerator BEFORE adding the chips. I had it cooled to what I thought was room temperature when I added the chips, but when I was pouring the batter in the pan, I noticed that the chips had disappeared. Poof! All melted and too late to make a correction for it.

• Prep time: 30 minutes (includes cooling of the chocolate. Should have waited another 10 minutes)
• Cooking time: 35 minutes (needed an extra 5 in my oven)
• Total time: 65 minutes

Modifications

This recipie was near perfect in the yumminess. I wouldn't change anything, except to add a cooling time.

Improvements

None needed. These brownies were truly one of the best.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 5 (anything that requires 2 bowls has one)
• Difficulty Rating: 4 (pretty straight forward)
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 4
• Texture: 8 (much closer to brownie gooey)
• Flavor: 9 (I finally got some chocolate!!!!)
• Overall Rating: 9 (I would definitely eat/make these again. I think I ate 3.)

Posted by jamm at 09:37 AM | Comments (7)

October 27, 2006

Week 3: Double-Double Brownies

When I saw this recipe sitting on my keyboard (they mysteriously materialize there on Fridays), I thought 'Wow! Double-Double brownies! We are finally going to get some chocolate!' Well, I was once again to be disappointed.


Coming next week: Trippple [sic] chocolate brownies

Analysis

These brownies are of the layered variety. A bottom layer of chocolate and a top layer of butterscotch (?). I was curious, but a little put off at the same time. It just didn't sound very butterscotch-y and once again, there was only 1/4 cup cocoa in the brownie part. When I am I going to get some CHOCOLATE???

These brownies immediately earned points on the PITA scale. First of all, there were 2 layers, which meant I would have to clean the bowl and beater between the batches. Secondly, there were nuts to chop. (I gave that one to my girls this time around, and they broke the chopper.) As you can imagine my tolerance for this recipe was fading fast.

Then came the instructions for the bottom layer. They called for melting the butter and the 1/4 cup of cocoa together on top of the stove in a pan. Like I was going to mess with that. That part was done in the microwave, thank you very much. Besides, this was the wackiest thing I've heard of. Why not just beat it all together in the Kitchenaid. That's what it is for.

The top layer, or 'butterscotch' layer, came next. The recipe looked less like a brownie recipe and more like the base for chocolate chip cookies, which made me a bit happier, because I absolutely love chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips. This part of the recipe was straight forward, standard creaming of butter and sugar, adding eggs and vanilla (2 TABLESPOONS), and then the dry ingredients and nuts. Beat together and drop on top of chocolate batter in the pan.

• Prep time: 40 minutes (I had to wash the darn bowl!)
• Cooking time: 35 minutes (needed an extra 5 in my oven)
• Total time: 1.25 hours

Modifications

I can't think of any mods to this other than adding MORE cocoa. I also thought that making a peanut butter layer instead of butterscotch would be yummy.

Improvements

They need chocolate chips in the butterscotch part.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• PITA Rating: 9 (washing the bowl, melting the butter and chocolate and breaking the chopper helped to make this one pretty high)
• Difficulty Rating: 4 (pretty straight forward)
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 6
• Texture: 7 (much closer to brownie gooey)
• Flavor: 7 (Tastes like gooey chocolate chip cookie. Not bad)
• Overall Rating: 7 (I think I liked these. I could definitely eat more than 1)

Posted by jamm at 09:10 AM | Comments (7)

October 19, 2006

Week 2: Malted Milk Brownies

When I saw the title, the first thought, was 'UGH! Whoppers'. And the second thought was 'Where in the world will I find malted milk powder?' (Saline Road Meijer, Aisle 13).

Coming next Friday: Double-Double Brownies

Analysis:

These brownies were definitely a disappointment. I knew something was off when the recipe only called for 1oz. of baking chocolate. Upon further reading, I realized that the recipe was for an 8x8 square pan. Who only makes an 8X8 of brownies??? I had to stop and start doubling the recipe to fit in my standard 9x13. Still, only 2oz. of chocolate? I had my doubts.

They turned out to be well founded. These brownies are devoid of flavor! If it weren't for the pecans (pecans again) in the mix I don't know that I would have tasted anything, especially not chocolate. The frosting had a bit more taste, thanks to the malted milk powder, but overall they were mostly just sweet.

The instructions were also a bit sparse. They called for you to take the brownies out of the oven while they were still moist. Immediately following that instruction they told you to put on the glaze. There were two problems with this. First, the brownies were really HOT, the glaze would have turned to melted butter soup. So I let them cool before frosting. Second, the brownies fell in the middle as they cooled, so there was a large lake of glaze in the middle and not much on the sides. (Sally you should have taken your piece from the middle)

* Prep time: 20 minutes (cake and frosting combined)
* Cooking time: 35 minutes
* Total time (includes cooling and frosting): 2.5 hours




Possible Modifications:


I don't know what I would modify on this recipe. I think it is perfectly yucky the way it is.

Improvements:

MORE CHOCOLATE! Possibly a chocolate malt topping. I still don't think anything would really improve them.




My Rating - scale of 1-10

* Diffculty Rating: 4 (I had to find malted milk powder that wasn't chocolate flavored)
* Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 2
* Texture: 4 (more like cake than brownie)
* Flavor: 2 (the only reason they get anything is because they were atleast sweet)
* Overall Rating: 3

Posted by jamm at 04:18 PM | Comments (4)

October 13, 2006

Week 1: Mississippi Mud Brownies

This was the first selection. At the last second, it beat out "Chocolate Malt Brownies".

Graciously prepared by Jennifer, who realized the recipe instructions called for pecans when none were listed in the ingredient list (Nice going, copy editor--what exactly did you get paid for anyway?)

Comment away! We're reading!

Coming next Thursday: Chocolate Malt Brownies

Analysis:

This recipe was fairly straightforward, as all good brownie recipes should be. It was a one bowl recipe, my favorite kind, although most of my recipes turn out to be one bowl, despite instructions. It was easy to make. The only drawback was the omission of the pecans from the ingredient list, neccessitating a second trip to Kroger and delaying brownie delivery by one day.

I guessed on the pecan amount and added 1/2 cup chopped pecans. It seemed to work out fine.

Putting on the marshmallow topping was a bit tricky. I suggest using small spoonfuls instead of big glops like I did. It took too long for it to melt.

• Prep time: 20 minutes (cake and frosting combined)
• Cooking time: 47 minutes (needed an extra 7 in my oven)
• Total time (includes cooling and frosting): 2.5 hours

Possible Modifications:

Next time, I would add more marshmallow. The recipe only called for 7oz of marshmallow fluff, but I probably could have used the whole 13oz jar. You couldn't really taste it over the frosting.

Also, I would cut down on the amount of sugar in the frosting, up the amount of cocoa and butter. It was too sweet and made the whole package a giant sugar bomb, completely covering up the taste of the marshmallow.

Improvements:

I think this would taste great with a thick layer of fudge on top of the marshmallow, or using a fudgier frosting.

John has suggested adding maraschino cherries as a decorative topping.

My Rating - scale of 1-10

• Diffculty Rating: 4 (you still had to chop pecans. Yes, I could have bought them already chopped but then I would have nothing to gripe about)
• Recipe Complexity (over a basic no-frills brownie): 5
• Texture: 4 (more like cake than brownie)
• Flavor: 6 (a bit too sugary for my tastes, esp. the frosting)
• Overall Rating: 6

Posted by jsterben at 10:55 AM | Comments (5)