Brownies

[cjsmith]

No sooner did the kitchen get cleaned up than I had to go make it dirty again.

I chose to pitch pie number two, which is exactly the kind of thing that happens during futzing with a recipe, but still it never feels good to actually do it. (Pie number one is significantly depleted and won't last much longer.)

So I am assuaging my poor sad little feelings with a recipe I know never disappoints (and which needs absolutely no futzing whatsoever): Alice Medrich's "Bittersweet Brownies". MAN THOSE ARE GOOD.

Oh @#$!. The version of the recipe I just found online is noticeably different from the one in the book. FUTZING ALERT! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! ...I think I can avoid it though. Looking at the ratios, the one in the book -- the one I've done so many times the book has a crease -- looks to me like it'd come out better.

Danger averted.

Brownies imminent.

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Free time? A four-day weekend is the one time in the year I'll have me some of that. You should see how much I bake when I'm not holding down a job.

Plus, of course, there's the cultural brainwashing. Nobody can be a Good Person who doesn't cook. Holidays just wouldn't be holidays without an insane amount of kitchen mess, scads of dishes to do, many days of preparation and stress, and piles of reminders to non-cooks that we are second class citizens. It's no wonder we get into the kitchen.

[layer.livejournal.com]

that's so true. add to mine no scheduled house showings so i could actually dirty the kitchen a bit. man i will be happy when the house selling is over.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

No KIDDING. Hey, bake some bread? I hear it does great things for house offers, with the smell tickling the subconscious and all.

[layer.livejournal.com]

i've totally thought about it. the trick is to get the bread baked early enough so there's time to clean the kitchen after, but late enough that the house still smells yummy when folks show up. the recipe i used on friday was pretty quick and easy and may even be quicker and easier now that i've done it once already...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that does make it harder. You can always freeze several loaves of dough before the last rise, then clean up the kitchen. On the morning of the appointed day, pull one out into a clean kitchen as needed ;-)

(If there is a way to cheat, especially in the kitchen, I will find it!)