Oatmeal, [pecan] and Raisin Cookies, Wedding Fingers, and Goober Cookies- UPDATED

You know when you're waiting for something to toast, and you're standing there staring at the toaster, expecting it to, I don't know, burst into flames or something? So you've been standing there staring at it for a good minute, when it POPS up, and you're scared HALF TO DEATH? Like you had no idea it was coming? Yeah, that just happened.

Anyway, what does a toaster have to do with cookies, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. Nothing. I'm just eating an English Muffin and like to share my very deep philosophical thoughts with you. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

It took me a little while to decide in what order I wanted to talk about each of these recipes. I thought about writing about them in the order in which I made them, but decided in order to keep you in the most suspense, to write about them starting with the "worst" one and ending with the "best." (I use quotation marks because even the "worst" cookies were pretty damn good, but oh, there I go diminishing suspense, so let's just get to it, shall we?)

First up, the Wedding Fingers.

 butter, caster sugar, vanilla, flour, ground almonds, walnuts, confectioner's sugar (not pictured)

Let me preface this by saying, I was in a foul mood when I made these, which only got worse as the recipe went on. Sounds like fun, right? I can just tell you guys are excited to read about my crappy attitude. To prep, I ground some almonds in my food processor in an attempt to make "ground almonds" that would be fine enough to sift.

As the almonds continued to spin in the processor and started to form a sort of paste, it dawned on me that perhaps I could just buy already ground almonds. Because there was no way these nuts were going to get fine enough to sift through a fine sieve.

 But oh well, too late now. I will just make do with what I have [meanwhile, I just consulted the "translations" (British to English) in the front of the cookbook, and ground almonds=almond flour. Great. Good to know NOW]. I did the best I could and even put the ground almonds into the sifter, as if somehow I could just squeeze them through the holes.

 Yeah, I don't think so. 

I ended up just dumping them in the bowl with the sifted flour and hoping no one would notice. I also put the walnuts in the food processor and pulsed until they were finely chopped,

and added these to the flour as well. 

I lightly creamed the butter, sugar, and vanilla together, pretending I knew what it meant to "lightly cream" something. 

Once the mixture looked somewhat creamy and incorporated, 

I slowly added the dry ingredients, until the dough was just combined.

I turned the dough out onto some plastic wrap (my idea, not included in the recipe) and formed it into a log.

My thought process regarding the plastic wrap was that it would help hold the dough together and wouldn't create such a mess, and I think I was pretty successful overall. Of course, I'm feeling pretty happy with myself at this brilliant idea when Dan came to inform me that my log was definitely not 1 inch in diameter (stupid measurements). I half-heartedly tried to squeeze it out further, making a thinner log, but the dough was threatening to seep out the ends of the plastic wrap and it just wasn't working, so I basically just gave up and decided I would deal with the log I had. Next, I was to cut discs 1/2 inch thick. Again with the measuring. I then had to roll each disc into a little mini sausage, 5 inches long. Seriously? Seriously.

The pieces of nuts, even though they were very small, made the dough incredibly hard to roll out as it kept sort of falling apart, meaning I was getting more and more annoyed as I worked. Always a good thing when there are so many sharp pointy objects around. I was in way too bad of a mood to give a shit about all of these damn measurements so I sort of half-assed it and tried to estimate and measure using my finger (as if I knew how long that was), but eventually I just gave up and at least tried to make them all the same size, which were, of course, a little too big. The dough became very soft, since I was handling it so much, which made it even harder to handle and prompted me to consider just chucking the whole thing. But finally, each cookie was rolled out and I put them on lined baking sheets, and into the oven.

Only after they were already baking did I re-read the notes at the bottom of the recipe: "If the dough seems soft or sticky, roll it in a little flour to form the log, then chill before shaping the fingers." Super. My afternoon just kept getting better and better.

The first two trays of cookies spread a little too much, probably due to the dough being so soft, and the bottoms of the fingers browned heavily. I think this may have had to do with the older, dark pans I was using, since the final tray was made of aluminum and came out much more evenly colored.

Yeah, these were the good ones

Once they were out of the oven, I was to roll them in confectioner's sugar while still warm. Of course, by this time, I was so over the whole process, that I just wanted to be done with it, and rolled them a little too soon. This caused the sugar to melt slightly and clump, making the cookies look even less attractive.

 HEINOUS

Again, I had to seriously restrain myself from just throwing the entire tray into the trash, pan and all. I was so frustrated, feeling like a failure, and had just wasted all this time and all these ingredients, and for what? Cookies that looked, and would probably taste, like crap. On top of all of this, I was planning on giving these to Dan's mom as a birthday gift, but they just looked so terrible and I was feeling so disheartened that I couldn't even fathom doing that.

And then, I tasted one.

And...Wow.

It was sweet and rich and buttery, a bit crumbly, not too dense or light, and the nuts were small enough that I didn't mind them. With my renewed faith in these cookies, I took the last tray out of the oven and they looked much better than the first two, with a more even, golden brown. Instead of rolling them in the sugar, I patiently waited until they were warm but not hot and then sifted the sugar on top of the cookies to get a more even and prettier coverage. Thankfully, this last batch turned out beautifully, and I packed them up in pretty ribbon-tied bags for Dan's mom, hopefully to enjoy with some tea. She said they were delicious. :)

muuuuch better

See, even the "worst" weren't really that bad. Although, I'm not sure if I just continued to have negative associations with these cookies or what, but I just didn't really want to eat them. I would be craving something sweet and think about them sitting on the counter, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat one. Every time I would try, and take a bite, I would be reminded of just how good these were and yet...they just weren't my favorite. Maybe it's because there was no chocolate. Or peanut butter.

Which brings me to my next confection: Goober Cookies. I have no idea why she named them this, but whatevs, we'll go with it.

butter, caster sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, peanut butter, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, rolled oats

I was in a much better mood when I started these cookies, which was already an improvement from the Wedding Fingers. Plus, I was really looking forward to eating these, what with all the peanut butter and sugar and such. I preheated the oven and started by creaming the butter with both sugars until pale and fluffy.

I promise this was fluffy before I smushed it all into the center of the bowl

I beat the egg lightly and added it a little at a time to the butter mixture, creaming it until smooth. Then, I added the vanilla and peanut butter, mixing to incorporate.

Ah, creamy

I sifted the dry ingredients together twice and added the oats. Adding a little at a time, I added the flour to the butter mixture, using a wooden spoon to combine.

Quite a workout for my arms

I started scooping the dough and rolling it into balls, spacing them out on the cookie sheet, about 2-3 inches apart. I had a feeling these would turn out pretty thinly since eventually you sandwich them together with icing in the middle (I KNOW, right?) At first I was worried I was making them too large, but I ended up with 28 cookies and the recipe makes 30, so I couldn't have been that far off. I did the best I could and made 3 separate trays of cookies, thinking that they would probably be fine.

Clearly, I was wrong. Please note where the parchment paper folded over and took a bite out of that cookie in the corner. Perfect. Just what I wanted.

The proposed cook time was only 15 minutes, but the first two batches took more like 25-30. I've come to expect the cooking times in this book to fall a little short, but I was still surprised by how long these took. The last batch only took about 20 minutes, probably because I wasn't having to rotate the pans and continually opening the oven door, letting all the heat out (uh, ya think?). 

While the cookies cooled, I made the filling.

butter, peanut butter, confectioner's sugar, salt

I creamed together the butter and sugar using the whisk attachment for my mixer.

 preeeetty

I added the peanut butter and salt and mixed just to combine.

The recipe actually calls for salted butter for this (in lieu of the salt), but I only buy unsalted butter and didn't really want to buy a whole different kind just for one dish. So instead, I just added a pinch or two of salt. Aren't you sooo impressed with my culinary skillz?

Once the cookies were completely cool, I flipped half over and schmeared a little icing on each one, making sure I had enough for all of them.

Don't even ask what shape this one in the bottom right corner is. Pac Man perhaps?

Once half the cookies had some icing on it, I spread it out just using a butter knife and sandwiched them together with another, non-iced cookie.

Glamour Shot! Gowgeous Dahling.

At this point I was all set to eat BOTH those cookies, you know...for research. The cookies were nice and crispy, with just a hint of peanut butter. I barely noticed the oats, and suspect they're really just there to give some structure to the dough. The icing was very, very sweet, and not really as peanuty as I wanted it to be. It's possible I needed to add a little more salt, or Clark may use a more natural, less sweet peanut butter than I did (Choosy chefs choose JIF!). There's a little note at the end of the recipe that you can also add mini chocolate chips to the cookies for a slight variation, which I'm sure would be really good. About halfway through the first cookie I discovered that dipping it in milk was particularly satisfying. It was also then that I knew there was no way I was going to get to that second cookie; they were just too rich, but still very very good. I saved it for lunch the next day though, of course.

You should also probably know that I'm eating one at this very moment. Jealous?

And now for the big moment. Drumroll please (except there were only 3 cookies and we've already gone through 2 so you obviously know which ones were the best. Whoops.) Still,  dududuudududududududduuddudu (that's my drumroll) Oatmeal Raisin!

I know, you're all "...Really? Oatmeal Raisin? They're like the redheaded stepchild of the cookie world. They're always the last ones left on a variety tray." And believe me, I totally agreed with you. I'm particularly not a fan of the raisins because usually there's just not enough cookie for such a plump fruit. Oatmeal chocolate chip though? Now that's an oatmeal cookie. But I'm telling you, one bite of these Oatmeal Raisin cookies and you will be a believer. Although then you'll really never be able to eat any other Oatmeal Raisin cookie again because no other will compare. Ok, enough with the hype.

dark brown sugar, caster sugar, rolled oats, dried cherries, raisins, pecans (not pictured because I didn't use them because ew), vanilla, butter, eggs, flour, baking soda, cinnamon

**Edited to add: when I was buying ingredients for these cookies, the person checking me out busted a small hole in the caster sugar, but failed to notice as he put it on the conveyor belt to the bagging area so sugar started spilling out everywhere. I fortunately did notice, and yet all I could think to say was "Oh. Oh my God. Wow. Hi." Hi. Sometimes even my eloquence astounds me.

I preheated the oven and combined the two sugars with the oats.

Next, I added the raisins, cherries, and vanilla.

Although there weren't instructions to do so, I chopped the cherries because I thought they were a bit large. I was also worried they would all clump together and fail to incorporate fully into the dough, but as soon as they were coated with the sugar mixture, they dispersed nicely. Also, the measurement for the vanilla is a capful. So I have to measure out the oats by the gram, but I can just toss a capful of vanilla in? Ok...

I melted the butter and added this plus an egg to the mixture.

sticky

I sifted the dry ingredients together twice and then added them to the rest of the ingredients. At this point, I switched to mixing by hand. And by hand, I mean by hand

  Who says feminists can't enjoy baking cookies while wearing pearls in the kitchen? I draw the line at aprons though

I divided the dough roughly in half and formed 10 balls from each piece, placing them on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Do these look a little big to you too?

Because they definitely looked big to me and I started to get a little nervous. The recipe notes that these cookies don't spread as much as others, so you can flatten them with a damp spoon if you want. But I was so sure they would all widen and form one huge mass of oatmeal that I just left them as is and hoped for the best. I put them in the oven and timed them for 14 minutes, turning the trays halfway through. Once the 14 minutes were up, I checked and the cookies were still a very light brown, so left them in for another 3 minutes and then removed the tray that had spent the most time on the top rack. The second tray took one more minute, and then they were done as well. Amazingly, the cookies spread just enough so that they looked nice and plump, but hadn't spread enough to even touch each other.

Let me just reiterate what you already know, these were the best oatmeal raisin cookies I've ever eaten. They were crunchy on the outside, but soft and chewy inside. I thought I would have a problem with the raisins and especially with the cherries, but the cherries blended right in, adding a bit of a tang. And there was so much cookie that the raisins really weren't overpowering, which I think can be a problem in other oatmeal raisin cookies.

I brought these into work and they were a huge hit. People were surprised that they liked them so much, even though frankly, they were even better the night before when they were fresh out of the oven. Someone even asked me for the recipe, which I of course had to convert from weight measurements into traditional (3 oz is how many tablespoons, and then .75, and 1/2 teaspoon, carry the 1....), but I was happy to do it (although secretly I hoped mine would still be the best and she would wonder, "HOW did she DO it??")

UPDATED: I baked the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies again (of course because ohmahga soo good) and this time replaced the pecans with about 100g of semi-sweet chocolate chips. The combination of raisins, cherries, and chocolate was delicious and each was balanced by the other with flavor that was too overpowering. I think subbing white chocolate or definitely dark chocolate would be equally delicious.

Also, this past weekend, I got a flat tire. Well, not exactly flat so much as punctured with a screw, allowing air to escape. Of course, this is not the first time it's happened. Last time (only a few months ago), my stepdad figured out that my car was missing the integral wrench to remove the very specialized bolt that kept thieves from stealing my spare. It also kept us from getting the spare off my car. A few hours and a patch job later, the bolt had been removed by professionals and the spare was still on the back of my car. Luckily, no one had succeeded in stealing it since then, so when I noticed my tire quickly releasing air this time, I called Dan (duh) and whined to him to come help me (Ok, I was right outside his house and it was a beautiful day. Not exactly that inconvenient or torturous).

Ever since we met, he's been telling me he's going to teach me how to change a tire. Why? I ask. Isn't that what AAA is for? (Incidentally, this is exactly what both my mother and sister said) But now here it was! His chance to be all manly, and kneel down on the ground, and practically crawl under my car (Seriously, does he think I would ever ever do that? Even though I now know how to change a tire in theory, I am never going to lie down in the street, I don't care how flat that tire is.) I should also mention that my friend Chelsea was visiting that weekend, and she was all about some tire-changin'. She rolled up her sleeves and started unbolting and jacking and lifting. It was all very impressive. So Chelsea is getting the spare, Dan's jacking the car up, and I...am taking pictures.

And texting them to people.

I won't go into details about how my jack sucks and nearly gave out, almost crushing Dan's precious head beneath my behemoth vehicle. Because that would be worrisome. Or that Chelsea was actually the one who removed said sucky jack while Dan was getting his from his truck, since she didn't want him to risk getting it himself. Again, I just stood there and watched.

Next Indulgence: Baked Chocolate Mousse and/or White chocolate, Butterscotch and Macadamia Nut Whips

Blueberry Scones

Before we get to the baked goods, allow me to share a little tidbit of my day with you. Because everyone deserves a laugh. 

Dan is on duty at the fire station every Monday night so I pick up Dexter from his house when I get off work and drop him off again Tuesday morning, since having a boyfriend in medical school is apparently much like having your own personal dog sitter.

6:10: Get to Dan's house to pick up Dexter. It took forever to get there since I stupidly took the interstate home and it was a parking lot. But at least I get a sweet parking spot right in front of the house.

6:11: Put key in lock and see Jager (Dan's dog) come bounding down the stairs toward the door. Hmm, why is he out of his cage? Is Dan still here? Did one of his roommates let him out, even though they know what destruction he can do in so little time?

6:12: Try to fend off Jager's advances. Spot the Hershey's chocolate wrapper and open bag of marshmallows on the floor. Shit. Not literally.

6:13: Take Jager out and try to call Dan. No answer.

6:15: Run into Dan's roommate and ask if he let Jager out of his cage. He didn't. Jager is Houdini and wished his way out.

6:17: Go upstairs and get Dexter who is quietly laying in his cage with the door shut and locked. Jager's cage door is wide open. Try to call Dan again. No answer.

6:18 Let Dexter outside to play with Jager who is running around like a wild man, fueled by all the sugar he has ingested. Finally get a hold of Dan.

Me- "Did you forget to lock Jager up? Because he's running around the house and ate chocolate and marshmallows. Too bad he didn't find the graham crackers or he could have made himself a s'more."

Dan- "Uh, no I thought I locked him up."

Me- "Well you didn't and now I'm afraid he's going to get sick, and since he's not wearing a collar, I can't get him up to your room"

Dan- "Huh."

Me- "OK BYE."

6:23: Ask Dan's roommate to take Jager out later in case he is sick. Dan's roommate agrees but doesn't think he'll be able to get Jager back in the cage since he is a problem child (Jager, not the roommate) and doesn't listen to anyone. And has no collar because he's hidden it somewhere. Hmm, starting to think he is actually a very smart dog. Call Dan again.

Me: "Ok, Will is going to take Jager out later, but he doesn't think he's going to be able to put him back in the cage."

Dan: "But I can't just have him running all over the house. That's not going to work. He should just leave him in the cage."

Me: "But what if he gets sick? You know what, fine, text Will and tell him to forget it."

6:30: Let Dexter and Jager back inside. Jager still seems fine and not sick, although very hyper. Try to coax him upstairs. Dexter sits at my feet, obeying all of my commands, wondering why I keep asking him to "COME" when he's right here.

6:32: Go upstairs and get Jager's leash. Make a loop through the handle so I can loop it around his neck for a makeshift collar like I've seen Dan do. Jager sees leash and immediately thinks we're going for a walk. Start to feel guilty that instead of the lovely walk he's anticipating, he's getting locked up in his cage. Loop leash around his neck and pull him up the stairs. Get him into the cage and LOCK the door, but leave the leash on so Dan's roommate can use it later to wrangle him since I really don't want him getting sick in his cage.

6:35: Finally leave Dan's house with Dexter and get into the car. Call Dan.

Me: "Ok, I left Jager in his cage, but I looped the leash around his neck and left it on so Will could use it later, that way he can still take him out."

Dan: "I don't know if I like that...What if he hangs himself?"

Me: "What?! How on earth would he do that? That's so ridiculous Dan."

Dan: "No, it's true! They say you're not even supposed to leave their collars on!"

Me: "Dan, how the hell would he hang himself? What would he hang himself on inside his cage?"

Dan: "The cage itself."

Me: "Are you kidding? He would have to be the smartest dog in the world to do that."
Dan: "No, seriously, he's going to hang himself!"
Me: "He would have to loop his leash multiple times through the multiple wire holes in his cage to even get close to strangling himself, and even then, there's no way he would succeed. If anything, he would just restrict his own movement."

Dan: "Fine, but if my dog is dead in the morning, I'm blaming you."

Me: "Well if you had locked his cage properly in the first place, this wouldn't even be an issue, but fine, tell Will he can remove the NOOSE from around his neck."

The next morning I returned to Dan's house to drop off Dexter and see what kind of damage Jager had done throughout the night. Of course, he was perfectly fine, had not gotten sick, and was still breathing. His leash was lying beside him in his cage so either Dan's roommate removed it but for some reason left it in his cage, or Jager continues to be do amazing things even though he lacks opposable thumbs.

And now, after that long interlude, for those of you who stuck around, on to the scones! I was somewhat skeptical when I first read this recipe because she adds raisins to the dough. Or, excuse me she adds sultanas, sort of like when she adds treacle (molasses) or tells me to wrap something in cling film. Silly Brits; not only do I constantly have to refer to the little dictionary of translations in the front of the book, but she also uses these things (golden raisins and molasses) in everything. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but she uses them a lot. And at first, I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt since, you know, she was a pastry instructor at Le Cordon Bleu in France and now works at one of the best restaurants in the country. She probably knows what she's doing. What she doesn't know apparently is that I can't find golden raisins anywhere. I can find regular brown raisins, but apparently, those aren't good enough. Sort of like the regular (cheap) sugar that is below us as well. So as I'm standing in the store staring at all the raisins, I decide to just substitute instead. I had some leftover dark chocolate from the brownies, but really thought blueberries would be great. The package of dried blueberries caught my eye, but I really didn't want to end up with dry little dehydrated blueberries in my otherwise perfectly delicious scones. So I got some really great looking, plump blueberries and went on my merry way.

When I got home, I was reviewing the recipe, getting all my ingredients and equipment ready. Ok, let's see here. Mix, mix, add, right ok. Stir in the...and then...oh. Uh oh.

"turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead gently"

I didn't realize I would have to knead the dough, since I sort of forgot that dough for scones so closely resembles thick biscuit dough. And after all the kneading, there was rolling. Kneading and rolling those big fat blueberries. This could be a problem. Images of bright purple dough flashed before my eyes and I thought about switching to chocolate, but decided the potentially great results outweighed the costs. If I ended up with purple dough, maybe the scones would taste even more like blueberry, right? Right??

Hokay so. The ingredients:

flour, baking powder, salt, butter (not pictured), blueberries masquerading as sultanas, heavy cream, milk, sugar, eggs (also not pictured)

First, I sifted the flour, baking, powder and salt into a bowl.

I added the diced butter, and used my hands to rub it into the flour mixture until "it was no longer visible."

Nope, can't see any butter. Probably because I just covered it with all the flour.

I added the blueberries and mixed gently, still using my hands. I mixed the milk and cream together, and also added this to the mixture, stirring gently with a wooden spoon, trying desperately not to burst any of the blueberries.

At this point, the recipe says to turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead, but it was also at this point that I realized the caster sugar was still sitting on the counter. I read and re-read the recipe but there were no instructions to add it. Given how dense and biscuit-like scones are, I really thought I should add the sugar, to give them some much needed sweetness. Sugar is the last item in the ingredient list, which is usually organized in the order in which you use each ingredient. So, right before I turned the dough out onto the counter, I added the sugar and mixed the thick dough as best I could.  I dumped it out onto the counter and kneaded gently. The dough was extremely dry and crumbly and I had sudden feelings of hopelessness that this crap would never form the "smooth, soft dough" it was supposed to. Not to mention, I was also trying not to crush the blueberries, which hadn't incorporated into the dough all that well. Finally, I came to a point when the dough was mostly sticking together and decided I was done.

Smooth? Soft? or Dry! and Crumbly! Hmmm

I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and chilled it in the fridge for an hour, after which I preheated the oven and prepared the egg wash. I combined an egg, an egg yolk, and some salt and then put the mixture through a fine sieve, and put it aside.

Although I was dreading it, I began to roll the dough, trying not to press too hard. It was still pretty dry and not a breeze to roll out. Some of the berries did break, but surprisingly, most stayed intact. Apparently these were super berries. I rolled the dough to about 3/4 of an inch thick, a little thinner than the 1 inch the recipe describes, basically just because I have no concept of measurements and really need a tape measure.

Attractive, what with all the seeds and smushed blueberries.

I was supposed to use a 2 inch cutter, which of course I didn't have. Silly me, I sort of assumed this would be the size of the top of a drinking glass. Which is actually about 5 inches. Whoops. So, while the dough chilled I did some research and looked around for something that was about 2 inches in diameter so that I had a good estimate. I used a knife to make my rounds, which were closer to about 3 1/2 inches in diameter, so I ended up with 12 instead of 16 scones. At this point, I was frustrated and not optimistic.

I put all of the scones on a lined baking sheet, turned them over as the recipe says this will help them rise more evenly, and brushed them with the egg wash.

The scones were in the oven for about 10 minutes when I took one out and broke it open to check the doneness. It was still gummy and the tops weren't yet brown, so I left them in for another 3 minutes. At that point, I tested again and they were done.  The scone pictured in the book has a bright orange top, which at first, I thought was some sort of jam, until I realized it was actually the crispy top of the biscuit. Mine didn't look anything like that, but they still looked pretty good.

It looked a lot more golden and a lot less jaundiced in real life.

Dan said these were the best scones he had ever had. I'm not sure I agree with him (I still remember these blueberry scones my friend's aunt made when I was 13 and we visited her in Albany. She sent them with us on the plane home and they were amazing), but they were very good, and I was really happy I had used the blueberries. They were dense and biscuit-like, as scones should be, but I thought they were actually a little too dense. The juicy berries added a needed lightness and sweetness to the thick scones, and next time I may add some sugar to the top for an even sweeter touch, or serve them toasted with some butter or sweet jelly.

Later, I gave Dexter a bath.

 He was THRILLED.

*Cue that unbearable abused animal commercial music...now*

Next Indulgence: Oatmeal, [pecan] and Raisin Cookies, Wedding Fingers, and Goober Cookies

Oh, also, I found my whisk attachment for my mixer. It was in a drawer in the kitchen. I know, shocking right? Imagine that. I think I can actually feel my mother flashing back to all those times when in the midst of a crying, wailing, screaming fit because I couldn't find my favorite shirt or keys or some other absolutely essential item that was GONE FOREVER but I needed RIGHT NOW, and can you feel the hysterics starting to build, when oh...

here it is.

Cue sheepish laughter now, and that face my mother always gives me at these moments that seems to say "I will smother you with that T-shirt if you ever do this to me again." Love you, Mom!

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Thanks to all of you who commented on my last post. Of course, I am delusion and still believe that there are other readers out there who are just too shy to comment, and that's ok. But at least I know I have at least 5 readers, and that's more than enough for me. And I say 5 because I know my mom does read my blog, it just usually takes her a while to catch up with my new posts. Right, Mom? Right???

So after I posted this, I came home from work to a spotless house. I mean SPOTLESS. Cleaner than I had ever seen it before. Yes, even the kitchen. Clean doesn't even begin to cover it. I mean, there was always a lot of clutter everywhere and now it's just GONE. I don't think any of my roommates read my blog, but maybe I'm wrong. And maybe I should write about how disgusting the house is more often. Or maybe they'll kill me in my sleep.

Anyway, I was praying it would stay that clean at least until Saturday so I could actually get some cooking done, because that would be FANTASTIC. I felt like putting signs everywhere about how CLEAN everything was and how GREAT that was, so people would maybe get the hint and not mess it all up in the span of 12 hours, as they are wont to do. I managed to restrain myself however and just hoped for the best. Guess what it looked like on Saturday.

No, really, guess.

I can tell you're not guessing and are just scrolling down to figure it out so fine, here you go:

FREAKING FANTASTIC

And since my kitchen (and whole house) looked so great, I was finally in the mood to do some baking. And after such a long hiatus, there was only one thing I wanted: chocolate.

So, let's get started. First, the ingredients for the Chocolate Fudge Brownies:

 Dark chocolate, eggs, vanilla, dark brown sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, butter 

Ever wonder what 7 ounces of butter looks like?

 Yeah, neither did I

All the dry measurements in this cookbook are by weight, which is really a much more exact method of measuring, which is so important when baking. I really like the precision, and am tempted to start weighing all of my food. However, I feel like that would quickly turn into an obsession, not so much in terms of restriction, but more in terms of curiosity. So this is 7 ounces of butter? How much cheeseburger could I eat to equal the same 7 ounces. What about Jell-O? And then hellllooo stomachache.

Anyway. I melted the butter, and then divided the chocolate in half, melting half and chopping the other half into small(ish) pieces.

I combined the brown sugar (what! 280 grams!?! Do you have any idea what 280 grams of sugar looks like?!), eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of my mixer, and "whisked" (aka used the paddle attachment since I still can't find my whisk, dammit. I know I have it somewhere, Mom! I KNOW!) them until they were pale and doubled in volume.

This didn't really look like it had doubled in volume to me, but the mixer had been on for at least five minutes, and I just didn't think I was going to get much of a change. At least it was pale. I sifted the dry ingredients together and folded them into the sugar mixture.

I combined the melted butter and melted chocolate and folded this mixture into the batter as well.

Lastly, I folded in the chocolate chunks.

The recipe also calls for pecans, but I don't like nuts in my chocolate, so I left them out. Because I can.

The batter was very thick, and lighter in color than your traditional brownie batter, so CLEARLY, I needed to taste test it. What really came through wasn't the chocolate; it was the brown sugar. It actually really reminded me of chocolate chip cookie dough which is so rich in brown sugar. I poured the batter into a prepared pan, smoothed it out, and placed it in the oven.

The recipe calls for using an 8x12 inch pan, and I think we all know given my history of looking for the correct baking dishes, that all I had was a 9x13 pan. Super. I figured that given the shallower pan, the brownies would just take a little less time to bake, and the recipe specifically notes not to overbake these to ensure optimal gooeyness (OK, so she doesn't say gooeyness, but that is the technical term). I timed the brownies for 15 minutes (the recipe says they'll take 20-22) and waited. When the timer went off, I was all ready with my toothpick, but it was completely unnecessary; the brownies were basically still just batter with a crunchy edge. 20 minutes, no change. 25 minutes, getting there, but still not cooked. I was beginning to think this was going to be the never ending recipe, but at 30 minutes I finally tested them with a toothpick with just a few wet crumbs sticking to it. At 33 minutes they were finally done.

Finally!

Definitely the most unconventional thing about this recipe was all the brown sugar; I had never seen a brownie recipe that used so much before. These were light and cakey, but surprisingly the chocolate didn't really punch me in the face like I wanted it to. Ok, a little masochistic, but I think you get the point. I wasn't sure how I felt about them at first. They were good, but not great. Adding chocolate ice cream helped.

What really improved the taste and texture was time. The next day, these were even better. Denser, and the chocolate flavor had really intensified, but they still somehow kept a light, moist, and tender quality about them.

I brought half of these into work to share with my office, and one of my co-workers, who doesn't have a huge sweet tooth (I know, I know, but don't judge her. She has other good qualities) said they were the most chocolatey, fudgey brownies she'd ever had. Ha, amateur. Dan, on the other hand, wanted even more chocolate, so next time, I may add more chocolate chunks or use more melted chocolate so the batter itself is more chocolatey.

Next Indulgence: Scones