Tuesday, May 26, 2009

TWD: Chipster-Topped Brownies


This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Chipster-Topped Brownies. I think this recipe ties with the Sweet Melissa Sundays brown-out cake, which was a chocolate cake covered with brownie crumble, for most ridiculously decadent combination dessert. If you haven’t depleted your chocolate and butter supply and are in the mood for another fudgy treat, the recipe can be found here on Elyse's Confectionery Creations. Chipster-Topped Brownies are type of concoction that I would normally make a quarter or a third of a recipe just to try it out, but Mr. Penpen was going to see his friends on Saturday night and I figured these would be a terrific follow-up to the cheese steaks they were having for dinner.






After reading the Problems and Questions section on the TWD site, I was a little nervous about how these would turn out; there seemed to be some problems with the cookie dough sinking and/or baking quicker than the brownie layer. The top looked done after about forty-five minutes, but the brownies weren’t even close; I put foil over the pan and baked it for another fifteen minutes. The brownies ended up pretty moist, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I liked the crispy cookie layer. If I ever had the occasion to make these again, I would probably bake the brownies before adding the cookie layer for a more even consistency. These brownies reminded me of the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream flavor Half Baked, so I decided I should make ice cream to accompany them. I thought about making vanilla ice cream and mixing in bits of the brownies, but in the “playing around” section of the recipe, Dorie mentions adding peanut butter chips to the cookie layer, so I made Peanut Butter Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop.







This is the second week in a row that I have liked the TWD recipe more than I anticipated. Unlike Mr. Penpen, who thought I should add peanut butter cups to the ice cream, I am not normally one for over-the-top gooey desserts, but I thought these were delicious. However, they are a bit dangerous to have around, so I am happy I sent most of them out of the house! I gave this recipe an 8 for Deliciousness and a 3 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 2.66. Many thanks to Beth of Supplicious for choosing this fun treat. You can find the recipe on Beth’s site and see what the other bakers thought via the TWD blogroll.

Oh, so not exactly relevant to baking, but to this post: I lost all my process photos. I don’t always take process pictures, but I was baking on a relaxed Saturday afternoon, so I did. I recently acquired a DSLR camera, which I still haven’t mastered, but I have yet to purchase a decent-size memory card. I had a Canon Elph before the Rebel, and I could go for months before filling up my two one-gigabyte cards. However, this new camera eats up memory almost as fast as my dog devours her dinner, so I’m constantly erasing photos and reformatting the cards. Anyway, today I hit reformat, forgetting that I hadn’t transferred my pictures from Saturday to my computer. My devoted boyfriend diligently researched ways to recover the photos and found a couple programs that will do the job. Naturally, the free software he found didn’t work and we’re not about to spend $40 to recover pictures of brownies and our dog: I had a few treats left for the plate shot and Eloise is still cute.

24 comments:

Marthe said...

Now I feel like a failure after looking at lots of perfect Chipster-Topped Brownies... Yours look absolutely amazing!!

vibi said...

Perfect! Fabulous!

I guess when one comes well prepared, has taken the time to read carefully problems and questions, the only possible turn out... is such perfection! Bravo!

Jessica said...

Eloise is always adorable. Your brownies look fantastic and the peanut butter ice cream accompanying them sounds completely delicious.

Pamela said...

Sorry you lost the pics, but what you've shown looks wonderful. I think the PB ice cream looks terrific, too!!

Teanna DiMicco said...

Eloise is seriously so gorgeous! I love when you post pics of her! That peanut butter ice cream sounds SO good!

Megan said...

Loving the dog shot - she looks so relaxed, like she just ate a plate of brownies.......

PB ice cream with the chipsters? You are my HERO!

chocolatechic said...

I am with Marthe....mine flopped.

Anonymous said...

Eloise is really cute! And you're awesome - homemade peanut butter ice cream to go with your chipster topped brownie (which looks great!)!

Hindy said...

Dorie's bakers are the best. It's just not enough to have a sweet treat, we need home made ice cream. Well done! And a lovely puppy too.

Ras Yeti said...

Those Chipsters were incredible! It sure pays to roll with Mr. Penpen when he's got you in his corner. Thanks a ton for the hook up! You're the most.

TeaLady said...

You are a woman after my own heart. PB ice cream. Perfect. I thought about baking the brownies first and adding the cookie - but after the fact.

Yours look great.

And thanks for coming by.

Anonymous said...

Your brownie and ice cream look fabulous.
My husband is always saying "you know what would be really good in this..."!

Kayte said...

Your brownies look perfect! I think Dorie and I have the exact same oven because I always find that her baking directions work for me almost all the time (I do not, however, use a cookie sheet underneath like she suggests as they don't get done then). I am slow getting around to my favorite blogs this week...so I was happy to see you got to mine first and left that fun note about your boyfriend's mom baking every day when he was at home...teenage boys eat a lot...I never realized until I had them! My brownies firmed up a little the second day, not so mushy and moist as in the photo on my site...boys wanted to eat them warm, so I gave in and cut them warm...they loved them both ways. Love the doggie photo!

Babette said...

Wow...brownie perfection. And yes, Eloise is lovely and you were right not to spend money to recover brownie photos!

Leslie said...

I'm so glad these turned out well for you! I am jealous of your new DSLR. I'm saving for one (I also have Canon ELPH) and hope it will improve my photos (anything would improve my photos!) What kind did you get?

spike. said...

with pb ice cream?! sounds fantastic

Anonymous said...

Your brownies look ridiculously delicious!!! And your doggy is so cute!

Anonymous said...

Your brownies looks great, and PB ice cream would be SO good! I need to get going with the ice cream. Too bad about losing your pictures, but you'll get in the groove with your new camera. Your dog will be happy to pose for more pictures :)

Unknown said...

Your brownies look perfect! Oh, and I bet that ice cream was a fantastic topper. I definitely had issues with the cookie dough sinking into the brownie batter but they were tasty.

Losing pictures is the worst. Once I reformatted a memory card while my husband and I were on a cruise and we lost half of our vacation photos. It was so upsetting.

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

Eloise has go a good thing going on! Your brownies look great.

Madam Chow said...

You totally distracted me with pictures of your dog. I LOVE dogs, and yours looks so sweet!

TourGuideJenn said...

Of all the brilliant ideas our fellow TWDers have had, adding peanut butter ice cream to these is by far the most brilliant. I have the Perfect Scoop, so now I have to excuse myself to go look up that recipe and put the ice cream maker in the oven.

Great looking dog, btw!

Elyse said...

Oh man, Eloise is too cute! These bars look awesome, Margot. Seriously, I was staring at them and thinking how great they looked. I guess it makes sense that I picked the blackout cake...I think I like things in excess :) Great job!

Jaime said...

nice job. i wish i had some ice cream to go with mine like you did!