Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Brownies to go...

I had been eyeing these new stand-alone baking cups from the Reynolds foil people for a few weeks now and wondered how they would really hold up for baking.

I was going to be needing a portable snack and I've been wanting to try another recipe from the One Smart Coookie cookbook. I browsed through it and found the recipe, Coffee White Chocolate Chunk Brownies, and was drawn to the recipe. I thought about changing the name, as to me it is more of a blondie and I used espresso powder instead of coffee, but we'll leave it as is. The recipe does not use a lot of dishes and it gave me a chance to use the chunk of white chocolate I talked about earlier. The brownie/blondie has a crackly top with the insides being chewy and sweet. I am hesitant to call them "fudgy" as I would use that for a chocolate recipe, but they are definitely not cake like. The espresso powder did not make them have a strong coffee flavor, but you can tell it is there and I found it to punch up the creamy white chocolate.

You could bake them in a 8x8 square pan, but because I used the fun shapes, I was able to get 12 decadent and perfect sized individual serves. I found the foil cups to be pretty sturdy, but they can lose their shape if you are not careful moving them around. I set them on a large baking sheet before filling them and that seemed to solve any issues. I sprayed half of them using Pam with Flour and left the other half naked. After I let them cool, both kinds came out very easily! I think the best part is that if you were to have any issues, the foil just peels away surprising easy. Happy with the results, I already have plans to use these again later in the week!

Tomorrow is National Licorice Day... Who knew there was such? I never really liked licorice growing up, but Jeff as it turns out, ate it quite a bit!


Red Vines was kind enough to send us some to try - I had and really liked the pink strawberry twists - but I have a feeling Jeff will be finishing the rest as he already hid them!

Red Vines also has a contest out - have some fun and enter something!

6 comments:

  1. Joe - I'm not a big licorice person. Dean on the other hand takes after Jeff. But Strawberry Red Vines sound intriguing.

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  2. Thanks for the review on those baking cups! I keep meaning to pick some up, but wonder if they will bake up evenly and end up changing my mind.

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  3. Great looking brownies, Joe! I haven't seen those cute baking cups yet...they look fun to use.

    About Red Vines...I'm a Twizzler person myself and think they taste much better than Original Red Vines :-) Although the pink strawberry ones look like they might be good. Might have to give those a try!
    Val

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  4. Hi Joe! Nice looking brownies. I had a great time using my Fun Shapes baking cups this week, too.

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  5. I love trying out new products but here in Guam, I haven't seen them yet. Thanks for the head's up.
    I'm not a big fan of licorice either! lol

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  6. Ed - I still have to try the other flavors...

    Erika - I really did like them and can't wait to use them some more!

    Val - Thanks!

    Nic - They are "fun" stuff huh?!

    purplecupcake - I bet you get much more different things to try out than we do though!

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