Turtle Brownies

I've had the Martha book for over a year now so you'd think that I would know better than to not heed her advice. Always, always, always listen to Martha!

Assembling the brownie batter was not that difficult. Pretty standard stuff, actually. I was frustrated that HEB did not have ANY Ghirardelli baking chocolate in stock but the Hershey's worked out fine. I think next time I might try melting the chocolate and butter in the microwave rather than the double boiler because I'm rather clumsy and one day, I will seriously burn my hand. As Alton Brown would say, "Not good eats". That, and I have a hard time scraping all of the chocolate out of the bowl I use for the double boil. I want to use every single drop or at least as much as I can. Grandma would not be impressed by my bowl scraping abilities. The brownies baked up nicely and I had no trouble toasting and chopping the pecans myself. The major challenge with this recipe would be the caramel topping.

I have worked with sugar before, but not to the point of peanut brittle or other hard candy. I've made a few batches of my non-baking-inclined grandmother's peanut butter fudge and can confidently say that I've mastered that recipe with one minor modification - taking Alton's advice by adding a bit of corn syrup to avoid the recrystallization of the sugar. And not stirring it after it starts to boil. The result is consistently smooth and creamy. I guess I was a little too confident going into the caramel stage of this recipe. One tiny step overlooked nearly ruined the whole thing. Once the sugar started to boil, she said to stop stirring and to brush the sides down with a damp pastry brush. I'll admit that my kitchen is too tiny to have every single recommended gadget, so I don't own one - yet. After the disaster that ensured, maybe it's time to invest.

Sure enough, crystals started to form on the side of the pan. And they just kept getting bigger and bigger, like I was trying to make rock candy or something. I tried scraping them off with a clean spoon but that didn't really help. Now, I realize that I could have stopped what I was doing and started over. That's what a responsible baker would have done. I had plenty of sugar and enough time. But I didn't want to pour molten sugar down my drain and start from scratch. So I made it work* and added the cream and pecans once the color was right. I'm still not sure if it was truly light amber - it's so hard to tell. I cut the brownies once the topping was cool and could tell that the texture was not quite right, but it tasted OK.

In the end, the brownies were still a hit, even with the disclaimer that the topping would be a little grainy rather than smooth. I'll give this recipe another go and see if I get better results.

Next time, on OSC: baking with Grandma! For real this time.

* Thanks for the inspiration, Tim Gunn! When does Project Runway come back?!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

We had another birthday in the office today so I baked another batch of cookies. Although these were a special request, I have worked through this recipe one time before. It calls for the usual fare, but it also includes wheat germ, which adds a little something to the cookies. I had the hardest time finding it at the grocery store - I had no idea where to look for it! First, I assumed it would be in the bulk food section. Some of our local stores have fantastic bulk foods and I can only purchase the amount that I need if it is something that I don't use that often. But they also have choices for different types of salt and flour but I haven't branched out into that yet. The stores closest to me did not have it the bulk area and the clerks were useless. I called another store and asked and they were able to direct me to which side of the aisle to find it. I felt rather silly once I found it because I realized that the closer stores also carried; I just didn't know where to look. In case you're wondering, it's in the cereal aisle, usually near the end and on an upper shelf.

This batch of cookies reinforced the idea of thoroughly checking the ingredient list and making a list before going to the store. While I did have the elusive wheat germ, I forgot to check my supply of raisins! After combining the dry ingredients and getting the butter into the mixing bowl, I realized I didn't have enough raisins. I had to turn off my oven and run to the store. I hate running to the store for just one item - it makes me look like such a scatterbrain and fate will always put me in the slowest line possible if I'm in any sort of a rush. I made sure to buy the large canister of raisins, in case I have any emergencies!

Once everything was in order, the whole batch came together nicely, although my count was a little short of Martha's projection of 5 dozen. I ended up with 4 dozen, which still is a lot of cookies. Mine were also a little thinner and crisper than the picture in the book - I'm blaming the wonky temperatures on my ancient oven. I'm serious, my next major purchase will be a new oven.

As always, the cookies were a big hit. Check 'em out...

I always get a nice little assembly line going. :)

The whole batch.


On the plus side, I learned how to turn off my flash (nevermind that I've had the camera for like 4 years!) since all of my attempts at close ups washed everything out. The texture on these was amazing.

Coming up on One Smart Cookie... Actual baking with Grandma! Yes in a few short weeks I'll be heading north, experiencing real spring (as opposed to our 1 day of it) and working on making those yeast rolls whose recipe she keeps in her head. The last time we made them, just as the dough was ready for the first rise, I noticed that she didn't use any eggs. Her response, a very cute, "Well, not this time!". I'll be taking copious notes. I just had an idea, I might even record it for posterity! And of course, I'll be sharing the whole adventure with you.