Sunday, October 4, 2009

Weird Brownies

OK, so part of the reason I've been a bit absent (diffusion/confusion aside) is that I've been on the opposite of a roll - rolling down the gutter, really - recipe-wise. Case in point:















There it sits, all innocent.

Brownies. Pretty straightforward, one might think. I had some lovely raspberries and had seen a recipe for raspberry brownies on a BBC website.

That, says my cousin Kathryn, was my first mistake. To me, the BBC is a pillar of wisdom. But, as she wisely pointed out, they are British, and the British know nothing about brownies. Clearly.

The Recipe: Raspberry Brownies
Strongly disrecommended, but here it is anyway.

Thoughts/Tips/Mistakes

My first misgivings came when the recipe said to put in 9 oz of butter - that's two and a bit sticks! And then you're also using chocolate, not cocoa powder, so there's all the fat in the chocolate too. But I'm obedient. And it looked OK - pretty, even:





























It took a while to bake, and when it came out seemed... sweaty. Maybe it's the silicone, I thought. Lots of people don't like silicone. And the recipe did say that it'd be fragile and should be allowed to cool.

So we waited. Finally, the big moment. They were greasy to the point of slimyness. And the raspberries, which had seemed like such a wonderful idea, were actually a little distressing - they're hairy, of course, and encountering a hairy pink thing in the middle of your brownie, I dunno, maybe it's just me, but there was something a bit horrifying about that.

I had made weird brownies. More than that (it hurts to say it) I had made repulsive brownies. An achievement, I suppose, just not the kind you hope for.

But it's a testament to the awesome power of chocolate that we couldn't throw them away. They were incredibly rich and almost tasted good, in a "call the ambulance right now" fashion. They sit in the freezer, and occasionally when we're feeling incredibly sluttish we bring one out and eat it with reddi-whip.

6 comments:

Bob said...

... huh. Well, the picture looks good. But your description is a bit... worrying. I'm going to have to agree with your sister, don't take brownie advice from the BBC. It's like taking beer advice from someone from Florida, I'd expect. ;)

But, I have a brownie recipe you might want to try. It's a straight up chocolate one, made in America and modified by the son of a farm girl. The Brownies. I recommend it. Highly.

Kate said...

When I saw the post title - "Weird Brownies" I thought you might have added some mind altering substance to them!! :)

Shame they didn't work out, but in theory they sound fab.

Here's my Brownie recipe (it's slightly healthy - buttermilk and applesauce are used instead of butter.... but really, how healthy can brownies be?!):

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Ingredients
1/2 cup applesauce
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 egg whites
1 whole egg
2 tablespoons buttermilk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly coat a 9-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray/oil.
In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the applesauce, sugars, eggs and buttermilk. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the egg mixture and mix until blended.
Add cocoa powder and chocolate chips and mix until blended.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges begin to pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut into 16 squares and serve.

Yesica N. Cook said...

@Bob: Now that's a real Brownie recipe - thanks!

@Kate: You know me - just say nooooooooh!! Applesauce & buttermilk - intriguing - and sounds Amerian, but is it? I need you to vouch for its authenticity... :)

Kate said...

Definitely American. They're moist and chocolately and yummy. Made them a few times.

Not sure how they'd fair in a Brownie smackdown with Bob's though! They've always been a crowd pleaser of mine.

Yesica N. Cook said...

Could be time for me to overcome my fear of buttermilk... But then again Bob's the man... Will just have to make both!

Bobby said...

Hello!

Raspberry Brownies? Well, they look like a winning treat.

I wrote a blog about brownies and mentioned your recipe as part of a search for the best brownie recipe. What you think of my result?

http://www.bobversus.com/2010/09/16/bob-versus-chocolate-brownies/

Best,

Bob