Outrageous Brownies

Ha. So what's the point of having a food blog, if you're not going to post?

So after I made my spectacular announcement that I would be reopening this blog, my computer dies. I mean DIES. All I know is that I ran AdAware, and then the next time I restarted the comp -- it didn't allow me to login. Then, when I managed to login, I had no administrative privileges. I couldn't use any programs, access the Internet, nothing. It all came to an end in mid-JULY, when I reinstalled the OS. Gosh, what a pain in the butt.

So what does that have to do with food or Ina or anything? Nothing. Movin' on.

We're making Outrageous Brownies today!!! I mean, how can they be outrageous and not have three exclamation points?

First up, the mise en place:


I've actually never made brownies from scratch before. I've heard that it's very easy though. Check it out! I splurged and bought some Scharffen Berger baker's chocolate, so I am guaranteed to make good brownies right?

First up - melting the chocolate for the batter:

That's right. Butter and chocolate. Like my makeshift double boiler?

Next is mixing the base for the brownie. In go all the wet ingredients:


Here's the dry ingredients that I have to add to the batter to thicken it. I don't have a proper sifter, so I have to sort of sift it through this strainer. Not the fastest use of my time, but it will leave me with silky flour.


Ooh, lookie! My chocolate has transformed into smooth, glossy molten goodness!

You know, I've given this some thought. You hear about Cleopatra bathing in milk to stay young-looking. If I ever got Hilton-type money, I am going to give a chocolate bath a try. If anything, the caffeine will stimulate my skin.

So here is the final batter. I've added in the flour and melted chocolate and some walnuts.


All ready to go into the oven:


And about 40 minutes later, here is the finished product!


So Joel has been really excited to eat this. It made the whole apartment smell really good, even when it was sitting and cooling on the kitchen table. When I finally cut into the brownies, he actually cheered.

Here's my brownie. I graciously let Joel have the corner piece. He might like baked edges more than me.


Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This brownie is so good. I can't even describe it. It's very moist and cake-like. Not as chewy as some people might like it, but I like the more cake like consistency. The Scharffen Berger chocolate really made the difference. You could really taste how rich and decadent these brownies are. Considering that there are two sticks of butter in this baby, you can hardly eat a large piece since it's so rich! I would go so far as to say that this may be the best brownie I have ever eaten.

Since we have this whole pan, I'm going to wrap up half and freeze it. I've heard that it freezes well and then you can thaw it and heat it up again. Good as new.

Thank you Ina! These brownies are truly outrageous!

Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

So why another potato recipe so soon? Well, I actually wasn't planning it, but then Joel and I got inspired by recent Food Network programming and decided to hold our own mini-Thanksgiving for two. I cooked some turkey cutlets with pan gravy, baked up some cornbread, sauteed some green beans and opened that old can of cranberry jelly stuff. Since we were having turkey, I thought it would be appropriate to do mashed potatoes, and the Barefoot Contessa has a few great recipes for mashed potatoes.

First we start off with the ingredients:


I will warn you right now. There is a lot of FAT in these smashed potatoes. I'm not even going to try to cover it up. I think the potatoes will turn out tasty because of the fat, but personally, I think it's excessive. Butter, half and half, and sour cream. That's a lot yo'.

Boil them 'taters. I'm kind of obsessive, I take off all the blemishes and imperfections off of the potato. I know I can leave some of them on, but... anyway, those are the little gouges in the potatoes you see.


While the potatoes simmer away, I'll melt the butter and mix it with the half and half. God. I never have half and half in my house. I don't use it in my coffee. I don't know how else I'm going to use the rest of the carton up.


Shhh. the recipe says to heat it on the stove, but I heated the mix in the microwave.

Here we go! Smashing the potatoes are quite satisfying. It makes you feel like you are truly putting effort into your food instead of just throwing something together to eat. I hear kneading bread dough is similarly cathartic. Here, you can see that the potatoes are pretty dry. I've only added in a little bit of the butter mixture. It should get creamier as I add more fat.


A little while later, the potatoes are smashed sufficiently and are nice mixture of fluffy/creamy. I don't like super fine pureed potatoes and enjoy them when they have a bit of texture. Anyway, now I'm ready to fold in the sour cream and Parmesan cheese. Seriously, I don't think you can make these potatoes any richer. And, I love calorie-laden carbohydrates.


Parmesan smashed potatoes. You can catch a glimpse of the rest of the meal in the background.


The review

The smashed potatoes are excellent. I didn't have a doubt they would be since the ingredients and preparation were very simple. They have a nice smooth texture without being gluey. The use of red potatoes works well. I like the difference that the peels make in the final product. However, as I mentioned above: THIS IS A RICH DISH. I don't think that the use of the three different fats were needed. Basic mashed potatoes contain butter and milk. Sometimes I substitute sour cream instead of the milk. I've never put all three into mashed potatoes before, let alone half and half and a large dose of cheese. This recipe could be significantly lightened with minimal taste discrepancies. Save this one for a special occasion or party.

The recipe makes 6 servings. I used the leftovers to make Shepherd's pie the next night. Potatoes were still quite tasty and didn't become grainy or lumpy overnight.

Cheddar Dill Scones

Here at the Barefoot Kitchen, we like to bake. This is because we love baked goods. We feel that the world would be a happier place if people baked a little more.

Our executive officers, in particular, highly endorse the creation of scones. This endorsement is based solely on the word's entertaining pronunciation.

I say, "skohn"
You say, "skon"
Skohn- [skohn!]
Skon- [skon!]
Let's call the whole thing off!

The Barefoot Contessa cookbooks have several recipes for scones. I decided to start with a recipe for Cheddar Dill Scones. Now, I'm not particularly fond of dill. I really don't use it very much in my cooking and know nothing about it. Well, I know its really aromatic and is used to flavor things I don't care for; like pickles. I do like cheddar however, so I figured that any sort of cheese-tasting biscuit had to be decent and a little dill could be overlooked.

Here are the ingredients. The original recipe makes 16 scones. I don't need that many scones, so I cut the recipe in half.

Yes, that is a bag of shredded cheese that you see in the picture. I confess that I Semi-Ho'd it instead of grating my own cheese. I was too lazy to grate 1/2 lb. of cheese and it was on sale. Will do better next time, I promise.

The first step is to make the dough which is basically flour and butter.


And, here it is:

The dough is very sticky, but you can see the chunks of butter in it. Hopefully this will make the scones light instead of dense, heavy bricks.

Add the cheese and the dill to the dough:


Roll out the dough and shape the scones. Ina likes to make triangles. I am following suit. Here they are, glistening with egg wash and ready to be baked golden-brown:


20 minutes later the apartment is filled with the heavenly scent of cheese and bread. Seriously, I think cookies baking are the only smell that trumps the smell of baking bread. My first observation of the scones were that they looked wonderfully crusty and flaky. Now, I've never had flaky scones, but I'm not going to turn them away either.


Cheddar Dill Scones:


The Review
I set them out to cool, but Joel found them. He tottered into the bedroom, where I was folding laundry, mouth full, saying, "This is pretty good." Like myself, he had been wary of dill-related flavors. I took a bite of the scone he had on his plate. It was lighter than most of the scones I've previously had. More fluffy and biscuit-like than usual. I think this is because there was less cream and more butter in the recipe. Still, it was very good. Since I usually have fruit scones, it was different to have a savory one. The dill itself was not overpowering, but definitely had a strong presence. I smelled it more than I tasted it. The cheese part was delicious as I expected it. Over all, I liked the scones but am not in a hurry to make them again. They did not convert me to dill and honestly, I'd prefer it without the herb. However, if you like dill, feel free to partake as this recipe was easy to make and quite tasty.