The recipe is officially titled "Blondies with Chips" for anyone wanting me to be precise. The first thing I noticed was that the recipe called for an 8x8 baking dish. Obviously, if history tells us anything, I don't have one of those. Then I caught myself and I was like, "8x8? How many brownies is this recipe supposed to make?" Answer: 1 dozen. That didn't really seem like the appropriate amount to bring to a picnic that was sure to have at least 20 people. So the easy solution to the lack of an 8x8 pan was to double the recipe. Then I started doing the math to see what size dish I would need (I have what I deem small, medium, and large rectangle dishes and I am too lazy to look up the exact sizes for you readers). So an 8x8 would make 64 square inches of brownies so then double that...you know what? Medium sized looks about right! For all of you about to say "but you're a stat person! You were a math major!" you should know that I don't do mental math and I avoid doing math at all after 6 pm. It was already 9 pm when I started the baking. Nuff said.
So, the reason I was baking this late at night was because I had class till 5 pm and then I hit mad traffic leaving campus because of the UConn football game and stupid teenage drivers who can't drive. I also had to stop at my friendly neighborhood Big Y to buy some ingredients. The first thing on my list was whole wheat flour. Oooooh. According to the recipe, the consumers of these brownies will "never suspect that one of the ingredients is whole wheat flour"! I strongly considered not buying it at all if people weren't going to notice but the small package was only 2 bucks so I deemed it worthwhile. Next on the list was canola oil which I was surprised to realize I didn't already have. Then, honey. I have always wanted a good excuse to buy that little bear shaped container of honey. I didn't previously have an excuse because I do not use honey in any way, shape, or form normally. And before people start claiming that honey is God's gift to tea-drinkers, let me just say that I love tea but adding honey makes it way too sweet. Tangent over. So I bought the little bear shaped container of honey and it made me smile. I also had to pick up some chocolate chips because apparently I use them every time I bake. I really need to start buying them in bulk.
And now we come to the baking itself. Combining the dry ingredients was easy as I am now an old pro at that. Then I had to whisk the eggs, oil, honey and vanilla. Let me tell you, honey is kinda a pain in the ass. That little bear is really hard to squeeze and the honey comes out sooooo slowly. Then it pours out of the tablespoon sooooooo slowly. And I had to use 4 tablespoons. I seem to recall a trick that's either for honey or cream cheese and involves either plastic wrap or wax paper but I couldn't really remember so I took the slow approach. Then I had to actually whisk the ingredients together which was kinda annoying at first because honey is awfully thick and didn't seem to want to combine with the oil but then I took to whisking just like my daddy taught me and voila! Nice evenly combined wet ingredients.
After that, I had to stir in the dry ingredients "just until combined" and then the chocolate chips. The recipe warned me that the batter will be thick. They weren't kidding. That honey really thickened things up because I could barely stir it as all the batter congealed into one sticky ball in the center of the bowl.
We interrupt this blog post for a brief movie review. Halfway through writing this, I took a break to go see Lion King 3D. Now, let me say, I hate 3D. I generally think it's pointless and expensive and when it's done poorly it gives me a headache. However, I was told that the 3D would be worth it and I went in with an open mind. Wow. The Lion King rocked my socks when I saw it in theaters in 1994 and it was even better now. I got chills hearing the first note of "Circle of Life" and I was completely engrossed in the film the entire time. Which is pretty impressive for a film I can pretty much recite verbatim. And the 3D...wow. To say that this was a work of art would be an understatement and would insult the film in its original form which was already a work of art. But the 3D actually took the film to another level and was beautifully done. So to me, this was $12 well spent on a movie that gave me newfound respect for Disney 3D. Amazing. Go see Lion King 3D. End of aside.
Now where was I? Ah, complaining about how annoying honey is. Ok so the last step before baking was to, of course, put the batter into the baking dish. This was a slow process that I will again attribute to the honey. Plus, it just looked like too little batter for the dish. I managed to spread it out to at least cover the pan but it looked like I was going to be having some pretty thin brownies. After baking and letting the brownies cool, I carved them up and decoratively piled them on a paper plate to bring to the picnic:
I also tasted one. So delicious. Sweet, but not overpoweringly sweet and the only thing I would change might be to use slightly fewer chocolate chips. They were pretty amazing though. I had another two at the picnic. Overall, success. Honey won't defeat me.
Critical Reception:
Those absolutely deep dark chocolate fudge cookies went over like gangbusters. People love them and think they're delicious and keep comin' back for more of them. There are a few left and they're the current emergency "Oh my God, I don't think I can grade any more of these damn Minitabs" snack in my office. They were pretty easy to make too so maybe I'll make some more at a later date to send to people who are farther away from me. =)
It's really interesting.
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