Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Let the blogging begin!

Over the past year or so I've become the "brownie girl" amongst my friends. BBQ? I'm bringing the brownies. Dinner party? I'm bringing the brownies. Family party, pot luck, you name it - I'm bringing the brownies. It's become my trademark. I've been trying out different combinations of mix-ins over the year too - some more successful than others. I'm always on the lookout for new & unusual combos.

Some of the more successful combos:

  • Dark chocolate with peanut butter chips (classic)
  • "Elvis" - banana peanut butter mixed into the brownie batter plus peanut butter chips
  • Cinnamon with white chocolate chips
  • Mint chips (another classic)
  • Heath Bar toffee chips (with cinnamon or without)
  • Yogurt cheesecake swirl - not everyone's favorite, but I like the zing the yogurt cheese lends to a cheesecake batter
Combos that didn't work out as well:
  • Red velvet cream cheese swirl - sorry, Sunny Anderson, but I wasn't as happy with your recipe as I hoped to be
  • Rocky road - too many marshmallows in the mix, so they floated to the top & basically formed a chewy crust instead of the gooey bits I was anticipating
  • Cinnamon chips - cinnamon in the batter = good; cinnamon chips, not so much
The inspiration for this blog was driven by this year's birthday present from my friend Brian. He knows me well, and he's a regular taste tester for my wacky mix-in combos. (I must pause to tell you that Brian's inspiration for this gift was partially from his roommate & our mutual friend, Sean, who in turn was inspired by Oprah and her "favorite things".) Anyway, Brian's perfect gift to me this year was a brownie pan - specifically for brownies. One of those ones with the grid that you press into the batter before baking - not only does it pre-slice the brownies (so they're all perfect rectangles), but it also gives every brownie edges & middles. Since this pan has inspired me to bake more brownies, I decided that I needed to start logging my endeavors, and starting a blog seemed like the perfect way to track my successes & failures, as well as share ideas with my reader(s). (Sue, I know you're out there!)

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