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.

Week 44: Kahlua Brownies


Week 44: Kahlua Brownies

Posted by jamm at 09:36 AM | Comments (3)

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 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


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


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

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.

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