{TWD} Rick Katz/Bittersweet Hybrid Brownies

On any given day, following just about any recipe, there's a good chance that I'll make an error. Sometimes big, other times minor. There's never a guarantee that I can pull of a recipe in the way that it- or I - intend. When it happens in a Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, however, I have to admit my mistake right here on my blog. So, here's my confession: although I had my book open to page 91, "Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia" - this week's assignment for TWD - my eyes strayed to the brownie recipe on the facing page ("Bittersweet Brownies" on p. 90) and I followed that one part of the time. The result was a hybrid combination of the two recipes (quite tasty, I might add!)

n.o.e.'s notes:

- I'm not certain how much of the time I was following the page 90 recipe and how much the page 91 recipe. Luckily they have the same amount of flour, eggs, and butter. I do know that instead of the 4 oz unsweetened chocolate and 2 oz bittersweet chocolate of the Rick Katz recipe (6 oz chocolate total), I used 9 oz bittersweet chocolate, as specified on the facing page.

- I used the quantity of sugar from the Rick Katz recipe, so I'd guess that my hybrid brownies ended up a bit sweeter than either recipe would have been.

- I did use the correct method for Rick Katz brownies, and I'm glad because it was an interesting technique, even if it did take longer than the average brownie recipe and require me to get an inordinate amount of bowls and pans dirty.

- Half of the sugar is added to melted chocolate/butter mixture, and the other half is added to the recipe's eggs. Then half of the egg mixture is added to the chocolate mixture, and the other half of the egg mixture is beaten until doubled in volume before being added to the chocolate mixture. Finally the dry ingredients are gently incorporated.


- Since the early reports were of gooey, underbaked brownies, I decided to bake some of my brownie batter in a smallish loaf pan in addition to a 9x9 pan as specified in the recipe. Even though Dorie specified a Pyrex pan if possible I used metal pans because I never have great luck baking brownies in Pyrex - they seem to take much longer to bake completely. I lined both pans with a parchment sling, in case the brownies needed a bit of help releasing from the pan.

- My brownies baked for about 28 minutes. I used the King Arthur "divot test" to check for done-ness. I have to say, this test has made all the difference in brownie baking success for me. Previously I agonized about getting my brownies to the right stage, but no longer!

the verdict:

Although I didn't bake the assigned brownie recipe on page 91 or the brownie recipe on the facing page, the combination-of-the-two-recipes-brownies that I did bake were quite wonderful: fully baked yet fudgy and intense in chocolate flavor! My enjoyment of learning the technique of these brownies was not dimmed by the piles of dirty dishes in my kitchen by the time I finished baking. The Rick Katz brownies sound quite good, so I will go back at some point and bake them with the amount and type of chocolate actually specified in the recipe. But in the meantime, I have a bunch of my "hybrid" brownies in the freezer, to dole out as needed.

If you would like the recipe for the Rick Katz brownies, you can find it on page 91 (not page 90, mind you) of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours or on Tanya's blog, Chocolatechic.