I hope everyone this general area of NC enjoyed the beautiful winter weather we had this weekend. It was so wonderful to see the sun out in full force after all the gray skies and rain we had last week. The McHusband took advantage of the nice weather as well as the sunny forecast and washed our cars so I’m looking forward to driving mine when it’s all shiny.
Since the sun has put me in such a good mood, I’m going to share TWO treats with you on this lovely Monday.
First up: brownies. I made these last week and sent a boxful of them to Bri for her birthday. In other words, I baked a batch of browned butter brownies for Bri’s birthday. Say that three times fast.
I was very intrigued by the recipe and wanted to see how they compared to the brownies I make with a little help from my pal Duncan Hines. I’ve got no complaints about the ones I make from a box; in fact, they are quite good. But for a birthday treat, I wanted to do something special so Browned Butter Brownies it was. (Sorry for the phone pic.)
These were fudgy and dense and had a very rich chocolate flavor. I used half a cup of Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder which intensified the flavor. These weren’t difficult to pull together, just a little more time-consuming because of the browned butter, but I would say they were worth it. I won’t be ending my friendship with Duncan Hines, but I will be be making these again.
Next up: Momofuku Cornflake Chocolate Chip Cookies. Chelle made these last weekend, and while the flavor was amazing, the texture left something to be desired. The cookies spread waaaay out so that the edges were caramelized and chewy-crunchy while the rest of the cookie was thinnish and chewy-crispy. They were also a little greasy because of how much butter is in the recipe and while I have no problems at all with a decadent dessert, I don’t necessarily want how bad the treat is for me shoved in(to) my face.
Anyway, I decided to make the cookies the next day and see if I could get different results. At first I thought I’d decrease the amount of butter, but then I changed my mind and decided to make the original recipe myself before playing with it.
I got the same results as Chelle – wonderful flavor but less than ideal texture.
I Googled for a while and read up on what during actual baking causes cookies to spread and tried a few different things – freezing the dough, raising the oven temp, flattening the dough more – and got the same results. In order to salvage the rest of the cookie dough, I smooshed all the dough balls together in a pan and made bars.
Best. Decision. Ever.
All the flavor of the cookie but in a much more pleasing texture.
I love the crackly, crispy exterior that gives way to the chewy interior.
So my recommendation? Make these cookies, but make them as bars. Bake ‘em for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees and try not to eat the whole pan at once.
{Brownies adapted from here}
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