Forget the health food....time for brownies and pizza!

Maybe it's the cold weather and snow outside or maybe it's just my full-fat-loving alter-ego gaining control over my healthful side, but enough with the veggie and whole grains! It's time for some decadence.

As I buzzed around the food blogs the other day, I saw several references to brownies that got me itching to try a few more recipes.

First up, a recipe that I found over at bakingsheet. These sounded just like what I was looking for and I wasn't disappointed. They are chewy and crisp at the edges, but decadent in the middle. Mine, however, were a bit greasy on the bottom. All of the brownies that are a bit fudgy in the middle have turned out a bit greasy on the bottoms for me, so I'm beginning to think that I may need to stop spraying the foil with cooking spray. Perhaps it's the spray and not the amount of butter that is the culprit? I'd add flour to help absorb the grease, but I don't like bits of flour on my brownies. Perhaps powdered sugar? Bake them lower in the oven? These are probably the closest yet to my perfect brownie, but when you try so many recipes, it's hard to keep track. I will try them again and work to avoid the greasy bottoms and see what I come up with.

New Classic Brownie

The next recipe I chose was very different from the recipe above. I have not been very happy with cocoa-only brownies, but these cocoa brownies from Alton Brown have received quite a few positive reviews. They are definitely the best cocoa brownie I have made. When I tried to cut them, however, they fell apart pretty easily, so I stuck them in the fridge for a bit. They have a nice flavor, but they were too gooey - probably just needed to be cooked a bit longer. They are nice and chocolatey, but they are soooo different than the brownie above which I think I like better.

Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies

But wait, I wasn't done with the brownies yet. I decided to bring mini brownies with peanut butter cups to the Superbowl party since the Decadent Peanut Butter Cups went over so well at the last gathering. I used the New Classic Brownie recipe but added a bit of baking powder to see if I could get a bit more rise out of them, I added a little Dutch-Process cocoa powder to try to up the chocolate flavor a bit and give the brownies a richer color, and I added a 1/4 cup more flour to try to get a firmer brownie that would hold its shape well. I don't know if my additions made any big difference, but they end result was very good. When I first baked them for 12 minutes at 400º, they came out a bit too crunchy and the chocolate on the PB cups bubbled a bit. I lowered the temperature to 375º and baked them for 10 minutes and they were just about right and the PB cups looked nice and smooth, just as they should.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

So, today it was dessert before dinner. Yummy. However, after all the taste testing of those rich brownies, I was ready for some savory. We are making a caramelized onion, pancetta and Fontina cheese pizza and another one TBD. I will report on the pizza tomorrow as I have spent far too much time just posting all the brownie recipes and reviews.

I'm still struggling with photography. I know part of the problem is that I don't take time to be artsy. Heck, I hardly have time to cook and blog, let alone spend so much time with the photographs. However, I'd be pretty happy if the pictures would just be in focus! For some reason, brownies just don't focus for me! The peanut butter cup brownies focused just fine, but not the regular brownies. Odd. I finally gave up and posted them anyway.

Stay tuned for the pizza recipes and the VRC Soup round-up......