An Almost Disaster

Matt asked for cookies. And how can I say no? As Mr. Editor now, he can call the shots plus I certainly don't mind this type of request.

I wanted to make something I hadn't tried before, naturally, so I pulled out "White Chocolate Brownie Cookies". Let me start off by saying that the recipe looked off from the get go. The proportions of flour and eggs were strange and the chocolate was definitely in overload. But I have made many off ingredient recipes that have totally worked and the picture looked so convincing that I blindly forged ahead.

As an aside, Josh and I have decided to curb our grocery bill spending as it has become horribly out of control. We both have grandiose plans for work week dinners that never come to fruition and I end up throwing out alot of produce. We also have a horrible habit of shopping brand name and for top of the line ingredients. All of this has caused a constant sucking on our budget and is not really necessary. So we have picked the same magic number that most couples our age seem to choose - $400 a month. I thought that was alot of money, turns out it isn't. So when I had to spend $6 on Cadbury Dream Bars and use 2 cups of chocolate chips for this recipe, I suddenly realized how much out of my budget that is and how important it was that this recipe turn out right.

Well the whole thing was quite a disaster. The recipe says to beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for 15 minutes until it looks like plaster or has doubled in volume. It was also supposed to be thick like merengue. With the egg yolks in the mix, how is this supposed to be possible? I did beat it forever but it stayed liquid and only slightly doubled. Then you fold in the chocolate and butter gently and finally the puny 1/2cup of flour. Well the mixture was extremely thin, like cake batter, and I was very skeptical. The final step is to let it rest in the fridge for 5 minutes to let it grow air bubbles and look like mousse. It did rise, slightly but as soon as I stuck a spoon into it, the air deflated and it turned soupy again.

Enter Josh, who cannot possibly understand why a recipe will not work. He insisted I bake a batch of "cookies" to see if they would work. I compromised and spooned one tablespoon of the stuff onto the cookiesheet and it spread out immediately into a 6" pancake with a sad chunk of white chocolate sticking up from the pool. Seven minutes of baking later and I had a flat, burning pancake that was stuck to my sheet.

In utter frustration I greased a 9x13 pan and dumped the remaining batter into it. The name on the recipe is "Brownie Cookie" so why not make brownies? And sure enough, it did make brownies. Average, would never bake them again, brownies. The top of the batch formed a sticky skin that sticks to your fingers and then underneath that is a fudgy brownie type substance filled with my wonderful white chocolate. Oh well. Sometimes you have to just throw in the towel.

I will not post the recipe because I think it is inherently flawed and would not want to foist that upon you. Suffice it to say, they were yummy enough to eat but not yummy enough to make again.

Josh emailed to say that the office loved them but I think they don't want to hurt my feelings for fear I may stop sending baking altogether. Some people are so silly....
Ciao!