Recipe #11: Prizewinning Pecan Brownies
Posted by Unknown
Well it's been over a week since I have been able to bake something due to catching the worst flu that is spreading like wildfire over the nation. Now that I have fully recovered it is time to get my bake on! I am baking a couple recipes today and have chosen two that do not require a mixer since I am still bitter about my KitchenAid mixer getting stolen.
I had a run in with a Dahlia cookie yesterday when my husband and I attended the Book of Mormon at the Paramount. They were serving a couple of different cookies and the infamous coconut cream pie. I asked my husband to pick what we would share and he chose the chocolate chunk cookie. I secretly wanted him to go with the chocolate truffle cookie because I knew I was going to attempt that recipe soon but I respected his choice. I was happy to discover the flavor profile matched the cookies I made recently. A couple of differences I noted which I will make sure to change next time is the size of the cookie and the size of the chocolate chunks (the difference being the size and chunks need to be bigger next time).
We have a great view of the water and ferry boats from our place in West Seattle and this morning is unusually foggy. Definitely a great day to bake up some goodies and turn on some Radiohead (The King of Limbs Album - so amazing). But first things first - I read over the recipe, cleaned the kitchen, and prepped my ingredients (including all cookware and utensils). I cannot stress the importance of doing this - it just makes everything so much easier along the way.
I put my new apron on that my husband bought me for Christmas from Anthropologie - they have the cutest aprons and he selected the exact one I wanted without even pointing it out. This one to be exact: http://anthrpl.ge/UIPbzh. Hilarious to discover it's supposedly a "kids" size.
The best part of making this recipe was stirring in the melted chocolate and butter. The mixture was so shiny and mouth watering - it reminded of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I just zoned out on the chocolate and imagined myself basically bathing in it.
The only snafu I had with this recipe was my oven.... yep, hate my old ass oven. I ended up baking the brownies about 20 minutes longer then the recipe called for but followed Tom's advice and was waiting for the top to appear dry. In the end I probably could have gone 5 minutes less.
The result: very rich and chocolatey (not sure if that's a word but I like to make up words sometimes so there it is). And you better like pecans because there are a lot of them. Next time I make the recipe I think I will opt for topping the brownies with the pecans but not mixing them in. They were also so rich that they reminded me of fudge and the first or maybe second taste to hit my tongue was salt. All in all a success.
For full recipe: See page 141 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook.
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