Battle brownie

Some things just aren't supposed to be such a problem.

I mean, come on. Brownies? All the recipe said I needed to do was melt some butter and chocolate and mix in the dry ingredients.

The problem with brownies is the baking. You might have all the right ingredients and just the right mix. But sometimes it's hard to gauge when they're ready to come out the oven. The top might be deceptively crisped and cracked and looking like they're ready, but deep down inside they haven't quite matured yet.

I've never made brownies from scratch before, but I decided to have a go at it last weekend for my Iron Chef party. I wanted to wow my guests with some sort of goody that had that hot pepper, chocolate combination fairly common in Mexican cooking.

The problem was not so much with the brownies or the recipe as it was the fact I was distracted. I tried to throw my attention into my party spread, staying up late into the wee hours of the morning stirring polenta, simmering red peppers and cooking Italian sausage to take my mind off of it. I should have stopped there, but I couldn't. I figured the brownies were easy enough. I would get those ready before going to bed.

As I've written before, there comes a point in cooking where the distractions of chopping, stirring or mixing are gone. It's like the calm after (yes after) a storm. All you can do is wait, left alone with your thoughts and your brownies.

I sat there on my kitchen counter exhausted and tears welling in my eyes as I dwelled on my problem. The recipe said to cook the brownies for 40 minutes, but by the time they hit 30 I was tired of waiting. They looked done to me. I know the fork test doesn't work, but for some reason did it anyway. The fork came out clean. I put the brownies on a cooling rack. Whatever. I was ready for bed anyway.

The next morning I woke up and cut into them to discover they were soft and gooey in the middle. At first I tried to rationalize that there was nothing wrong. I told myself they were supposed to be like that because they were real brownies made with real melted chocolate, not a mix of dried powder. I took a bite of one of them and realized that despite my rationalization they just weren't working.

I thought I could try to salvage the batch and stuck them back in the oven. When I took them out 20 minutes or so later they were rock hard. I thought maybe they weren't so bad to serve to my guests. I would have plenty of other stuff to feed them, and it's the thought that counts anyway. Maybe I could make some whipped cream to serve with them and no one would detect their dryness.

I went back about my Sunday morning routine, but for some reason in some quick, spontaneous, split decision I just picked up the plate and chucked them in the garbage. Yes, maybe one could settle for brownies that were too gooey or too dry. But not me. I realized I just couldn't live with that. Some things that aren't working just aren't salvageable, and sometimes you just need to start over with something different.

I went back to Publix and bought some more chocolate and butter. I returned to my kitchen and this time with much more focus whipped up another batter. I stuck them in the oven, and waited the appropriate cooking time before taking out of the oven.

This time, they were perfect.