This week in the Tuesdays With Dorie bake-it-and-blog-it club, the recipe was chosen by the winner of the logo design contest! You see her winning design here on the side of my blog--It perfectly represents Dorie--the combo of France, baking, etc! I love it! The winning artiste is Lisa from Surviving Oz and she chose for this week's recipe the one on page 96 of Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours "Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies"
Just a reminder for those 'just joining us'--the Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD) club is a group who are baking our way through this cookbook. Every week a new (dessert) recipe. I've been out of it the past few weeks...so have not participated lately but was glad to hop back in the saddle with brownies!
I tried a brownie recipe-not one of Dorie's--back in April and it was a huge success according to Dear Husband (who just loves chocolate). Brownies are a fave in this house--so I was excited to try this interesting spin on them, in which Dorie adds both coffee and cinnamon to the batter. It also calls for nuts, which I normally omit in brownies--though I found new compromise by using finely chopped walnuts (vs coursely/rough chopped) and I think it added some welcome texture and flavor to this rich brownie.
They came together rather easily--I love the 'mixing bowl' recipes (vs hauling out the electric mixer). My pan is 9x9, not 8x8, so I kept checking them not knowning how the baking time would be affected--turns out I baked it about 5 min less than what was called for in the book, and they were baked to perfection!
I LOVE the texture of these--fudgy and moist! They really are an ideal brownie when it comes to texture and the chocolate taste/etc. The recipe is supposedly a fave of Kate Hepburn's (whose movies I just adore....and referenced in this post!) But, overall, for me, let's just say the coffee is not my cup of tea. They are basically 'coffee brownies' which is not a bad thing, but I was hoping for more subtle taste.
I can't wait to make these again and will admit I'll do so by removing the coffee/cinnamon combo and doing a classic walnuts/brownies. I think they'll rival the ones I made back in April for sure!
I would make the coffee flavored ones again, perhaps for entertaining or hostess gift for a dinner...they are really good, and its a neat twist, but it's just I'm a purist (read: boring, mainstream) who just likes her brownies chocolate, once in awhile with nuts and nothing else needed but a glass of milk.
Here is the other project I have going! The nursery is coming along!! 8 days until the due date...doctor appointment is tomorrow, I hope for progress, but seeing as I keep hearing "You haven't dropped yet" my guess is I'll be going past the due date..we shall see!
My very fave part of the nursery is the custom-made vinyl lettering/quote I ordered. I asked for the opening line of the best book ever: Goodnight, Moon and I think it came out great! It was hellish to get the thing up straight, but I am glad that I didn't give up (usually projects like this do not work for me..there was a very good chance the lettering would all have not stuck...or a letter be ripped/peeled off...but happily it's all up there-and looks like it'll stay too!!
Once the baby is here we'll know if we need a pink or blue rug/curtains/etc. In the meantime the next phase is framing up images/covers from favorite storybooks I remember loving when I was growing up. Books like Make Way for Ducklings; One Morning in Maine; Frog & Toad are Friends, the Little Engine the Could--I'm still deciding on the 'finalists'. I wanted a nursery that wasn't to 'theme' ridden, so figured just a few well placed framed children's book covers that were family favorites and this quote should do the trick! It's sort of a tip of the hat to my late mother, who was a librarian, loved kids books--and children in general--who had 5 kids of her own (I was 4th) and relished her role as 'Nana'. My baby may not know Nana in person--yet will be read all the stories that nana would surely have shared with them, just as she did with all of us.
