Tuesday, June 01, 2010

TWD—White Chocolate Brownies and Other Stuff

Our TWD recipe this week is White Chocolate Brownies, chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights.  She’ll have the recipe.  I halved the recipe and get this---followed the recipe exactly.  There’s not even any “except for this” or “except for that”.  I even happened to find some good raspberries on sale.  I don’t really like meringue, but I even thought I’d play along and do just as the recipe says.

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Bummer that they didn’t really turn out well!  I baked the “brownies” (it’s really more like thin, tender cake) for 40 minutes.  The meringue looked nice and toasty and I didn’t want to have it burn.  There really is/was no way to tell if they are done.  Many on the TWD P&Q mentioned problems with their brownies not being baked all the way through and the only reason I didn’t go longer is since I halved the recipe, I thought they wouldn’t take as long to bake.  Still, 40 minutes is more than Dorie’s suggested time of 30-35 minutes.  In fact, I’d have to say that the edge pieces were almost starting to be a little too done, while the middle was seriously just batter.  The flavor of the brownie is great.  I liked the not-too-overpowering raspberry here and there.  I’m just a little disappointed that the recipe didn’t work as it’s printed.  I even made the raspberry coulis.  The rest of that will be good on some pancakes or something.  I did swirl some in to some plain Greek yogurt a few days ago, then piled the yogurt with fresh blueberries and raspberries.  Mmm.

The meringue sure puffed up in the oven.

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I knew I should have gone with my gut instinct and made little mini brownies in my mini muffin tin.  I think they would have worked well with one berry in each one.  Then instead of the meringue, just a little dollop of whipped cream with maybe another berry on top.  I may try that sometime if I need  nice little bite-sized desserts, because again, the cake was good.  Scott ate a lot of the edge pieces.  He ate the ones used as my photo model.  All the middle pieces were thrown out.  I’m glad I only made half a recipe.  I’m not mad, I feel like I sound so short about it.  Live and learn.  I also heard that the brownies baked without the meringue were much better and timely about their stint in the oven.  Wish I would have baked them without it.

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I’m going to move on to other things now.  Catch ya next week with another Tuesday’s With Dorie recipe.

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We’ve had a lot going on over the last week or so.  Summer is in full swing here.  Besides it being way too hot already, the boys are out of school for the summer.

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Scott graduated 6th grade.  (I don’t remember any kind of a graduation hoorah when I finished 6th grade, but it’s a big thing now).  Gotta celebrate moving on from elementary school to middle school (which was called junior high where I come from, I think junior high sounds more cool).

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We felt pretty happy that we were able to get Scott to wear jeans that day and a Polo shirt.  (He would wear shorts and a t-shirt the rest of his life if he could!)  I found the whole “ceremony” quite interesting.  The girls (11-12 years old) mostly all wore dresses that to me looked like prom dresses, a lot of them strapless, really high heels and boy, the girls are a lot more “developed” that I ever remember or thought 11 year olds are!  Anyway, we’re proud of Scott and know he’ll do great in 7th grade.  The school he will be attending when we move to Utah is brand new, they may not even be done building it yet.  He is going to start playing the drums.  That will be great for Scott, he beats on and plays drums on EVERYTHING.  He actually has really good rhythm.

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Parker became a Bear in Cub Scouts.  He would be an Eagle already if it was possible!  Parker loves Scouts.  He constantly wants to be working on things in his Cub Scout books. 

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The theme for pack meeting was “In The Spotlight”, the boys got to share their talents.  Parker made a poster of some of his drawings.  It was so cute to hear him tell about them.  Parker is certainly not afraid of the “spotlight”.

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Great job, Parker!  (We didn’t take very good pictures or very many at pack meeting.)

I brought the treat for the pack meeting.  To go along with the theme, I made star sugar cookies and star shaped Rice Krispies Treats.  They were gobbled up. Here’s a link to my favorite sugar cookies and icing recipe.

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In continuing with Scout stuff, he recently made a wooden napkin holder with Kevin’s help.  And he painted it, too.  We think it looks awesome.

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On the left, two sweet lil’ strawberries we found in a patch we didn’t know existed in the back of this duplex we’re in right now.  On the right, a huge conjoined strawberry from the farmers’ market. 

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Lovin’ our Farmers’ Market!

26 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

Your meringue looks like mountains! Crazy that you halved it, baked it long, and it still wasn't done. Too weird.

Lisa Ernst said...

Sorry this endeavor didn't turn out as planned. Sounds like one of those recipes that wasn't adequately tested before being published. The idea of a white chocolate brownie with raspberry and whipping cream (rather than meringue) sounds great to me, and a nice departure from the usual.

Paula said...

I'll take some of that raspberry yogurt, please. :-)

Fun to read about the graduation. Seems like everybody gets a ceremony these days. Ironic that by the time they graduate from college--something that deserves a ceremony, kids often skip it.

Unknown said...

Sorry you didn't like these! The boys look like they're having a lot of fun! :)

chocolatechic said...

I totally changed mine up.

No fruit in mine, and no meringue.

Your meringue looks so lovely.

Nickki said...

That first picture looks delicious! My meringue puffed up like crazy too. I love your sugar cookies! :-)

Cindy said...

You are one busy lady--love the cookies.
Meringue is so pretty, I wish I liked it! I went with an orange buttercream glaze. Delish!

Lisa said...

Oh..I so wanted to try these since white chocolate and raspberry is my fav flavor combo..or one of my top 5. They do look incredible! Great, delicious and joyous photos as always!

mike said...

Amazing you can do all you do with all that is going on - after "all"! :) Wonderful brownies and wonderful photos of the goings ons!

Becky @ Project Domestication said...

your meringue looks awesome! i am loving your idea of the mini muffin pans...i need to try that next time.

Marthe said...

Boy, where these brownies ever controversial!! The mini's worked way better for me! I think these would be great with whipped cream!

Jacque said...

I'm glad to hear you only make 1/2 batch, since they didn't work out all the way... less disappoinment that way, huh? This was an interesting recipe, to say the least.

Congrats to your boys! I know what you mean about the girls... my oldest is also moving to middle school, although it starts in 6th grade here... anyway, some of the girls in his class are as tall as me and are well into puberty (ugh!) Lucky you to have an enthusiastic scout... I have to push and prod both of mine.

Liz said...

STOP THE PRESSES, KATRINA DIDN'T ALTER A RECIPE! Be on the lookout for flying pigs next. :)

Kidding, kidding, but seriously--I can't believe the one time you followed a recipe, it totally failed! Too bad, but I do love your creative and awesome variations.

Gourmified said...

Oh my goodness! I totally want to know WHAT that farmer did to get their strawberries so big! Whenever I've grown some, I can only get mine itty bitty like the ones on the left. Sad, but oh so delicious!

Bella Baker said...

awww, the boys are just adorable! I made my brownies without the meringue and I loved em! Yours look yummy, even if they didn't come out perfectly for you!

Hindy said...

I'd love to know how everyone can do everything right and still have the gooey batter problem. Someone should ask Dorie. Yours look delicious, though, with the puffy meringue.

CookiePie said...

I'm sorry the TWD recipe didn't work out. But I love the pics of your boys, and your star-shaped treats are darling and look so delicious!

Kayte said...

Congratulations to everyone! My what a lot has been happening over there. My meringue looked just like that...and then it all caved in and the whole thing fell apart in transport from pan to cutting board. At least yours look baked all the way through. Cute treats, you must be the most popular mom going.

Leslie said...

Boo for batter-middled brownies. Sorry these didn't work out right. We weren't thrilled by these either but they were fun to make. Sort of. :)

Mimi said...

Fun stuff with your family. I can't believe that they are out of school for the summer already. Our schools don't get out till the middle of June.
Without the meringue these, so not brownies, have some potential.
How soon do you move?
Mimi

Valerie Gamine said...

Wow, I'm not a fan of meringue but yours looks so puffy and delicious! Sorry these didn't work out for you, I hope you eat off that meringue. :)

spike. said...

looks like you all have been busy! so much for making the recipe as written, eh?

Mary Bergfeld said...

Katrina, I'm sorry the brownies were a disappointment. I hate when that happens. I loved to see the pictures of your family. You are smack dab in the middle of life right now. It's a busy and exhilarating time. I can tell you enjoy it all. I hope you and your crew are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

Megan said...

Ha, loved the post. I work at an elemntary school and today was our 5th grade and kindergarten graduation. Wasn't like that when I was growing up. And last year my daughter graduated from 8th grade and it was all prom dresses and high heels.

Bummer about the brownies. They look delicious!

Unknown said...

Love that shot of your meringue! I skipped out on the meringue so I could tell when my brownies were finished and they did bake all the way, but still weren't a favorite. Oh well better luck next week :)

Congrats to the boys! We had a big celebration thing when I finished 6th grade too but it didn't involve prom dresses, a bit more low key. Gosh that was so long ago, I'm getting old!

Anonymous said...

Your pan of puffy, meringue-topped brownies looks so nice. Too bad they didn't bake well. I wonder what was up with this recipe! Your idea of minis with whipped cream sounds wonderful.