Sunday, January 31, 2010

Bakin' with Bacon

Now, Nerdy Husband and I are very adventurous eaters. But this weekend, we took the plunge and tried something that is new and exciting even for us.

We put these things together:

Bacon Brownies

to make this

Bacon Brownies

Bacon brownies! See that bit of yummy goodness sticking out of the middle!

We got the idea from Bacon Today and decided to go for it. Honestly I think that NH was a bit surprised that I went for it, because I am trying to diet, but we took the precaution of inviting friends over, so that we would not eat the whole pan of brownies ourselves.

They tasted like brownies, with an aftertaste of baconny goodness (spell check says baconny is not a word, but I think it should be). If I were to do it again, I would cook the bacon until crispy, then cut it into small pieces and mix with the batter. The brownies kind of fell apart a lot. Not sure that we will try again though.

Since the urge to bake hits me every weekend, and the knitting group had a trip to Hanks, the most awesomest yarn store ever, I attempted to make Chocolate Chip Blondies last night.

Well, if your recipe calls for a 9 x 13 pan, and the biggest you have is an 8 x 8, you can't just put the batter in the small pan and think it will come out. If you trust the toothpick test, set the blondies out to cool, and try to cut them, the result is a gooey mess that is half raw, underneath perfectly cooked top. If you try putting them back in the oven for another 20 minutes, they will still be gooey in the middle and over cooked on the top and corners.

It takes skill to burn something and undercook it at the same time. Rather than risk giving my friends food poisoning with bad food, there were no treats. Epic fail.

Some research (looking at a brownie box) shows that using such a small pan requires cooking on low heat. Also, I could have split the batter between two pans. If this baking trend continues, I will invest in a full size pan again.

4 comments:

GrayPyre said...

I too have mastered the art of burning the out side of a food item while leaving the center raw.

Don't let me ever make you chicken.

Fru-la-la! said...

A girl after my own heart!!! Bacon + brownies = awesome!!!!

Jackie's Stitches said...

I had to laugh at your Blondie story. I've done the same thing. I have no idea why I was so surprised it didn't work.

Shevon said...

Thanks for the comments!

@Charlotte: I'll handle the chicken if you handle the baked goods...

@SillyFru: Just wait till you see what I have planned with cupcakes, brownies, and maple syrup frosting.

@Jackie: I have no idea why I just disregarded that. With the brownies the day before, I took some of the batter and made them as cupcakes to avoid this. Don't know why I didn't think to do that with the blondies.