#SOL24-8 Brownies

It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
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FEELING COCKY

For years and years and years, I have baked homemade brownies, only homemade brownies, yummy homemade brownies. It’s really simple. I can be a little snooty about it, refusing to cook from a packaged mix.

I use the simple recipe on Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate for ‘one bowl brownies.’ I always stir in a bag of chocolate chips as my final step before baking. (Is it possible to have too much chocolate? I don’t think so.) These are a crowd pleaser and I can basically make them with my eyes closed.

Be careful of what has become too ordinary for you. 

I set the oven, got out my bowl, and began to measure the ingredients. I got out a small second bowl to beat the eggs. I suppose Baker’s Chocolate Company would be disappointed in this second bowl, but one must put their own flourishes on recipes. Over the years, I have learned that I prefer to beat the eggs separately, rather than try to do so while combining them with the chocolate and sugar. 

Measure, mix, stir, yum. Everything is going well. I stir in the chocolate chips as the final step.

CONFUSION

Hmm. The mix looks a little different. Thicker. I can see the granules of sugar, and I don’t remember that being so before. I guess I haven’t made these in a long time. They’ll melt into yum in the oven, I reassure myself. 

Into the oven they go. I set the oven for thirty minutes and begin cleaning up the cooking mess.

Two minutes into their baking, I find the separate bowl of eggs. As in, sitting on the opposite end of the counter. As in, never stirred into the batter. Step 3!! Yikes! I rushed to the oven and took out the pan and prayed the brownies hadn’t cooked too much. Two minutes? That can’t be a big deal, right? 

I scraped the mixture into a third bowl. Bowl one was in the sink with soapy bubbles. Bowl two had the eggs. Oh my. 

I quickly mixed in the eggs – not at all easy to do, when flour and chips are in there, too. I’ve heard that you shouldn’t beat brownies too much…it makes them dry…ugh, there’s no escaping this now, I must beat in the eggs.

Done.

I popped them back into the oven, and set the timer for 25 minutes, so they wouldn’t overcook.

GOBSMACKED

I’m out of the room when the timer rings, so my dear husband turns it off. I jump over to the oven and speak to him with frustration – “Look! You turned off the OVEN, not just the timer! I may need to cook them longer.”

“I thought I hit the timer button not the on/off for the oven, sorry!” 

I open the oven door and it is cold. As in, no heat whatsoever. Brownies haven’t cooked at all. The oven hasn’t been on! What?!

I put the uncooked brownies on the counter, exasperated. I thought about my process . . .

CONTRITION

Oh my goodness. The mistake was TOTALLY MINE. Back when I rushed to the oven to grab the brownies and then mix in the eggs, that is when I myself must have turned off the oven. In haste.

(A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.)

I apologized to my husband for my snippy tone; it was not his mistake. 

I am beyond frustrated with these brownies, and with myself.. These ‘simple’ homemade brownies! My ‘go-to’ favorite! Oh my.

I turned the oven on. Waited for it to reheat. Popped the brownies back in. Again, I set the timer for 25 minutes. I double-checked that the oven was heated. I went back to my writing and waited for the timer to go off. 

In a matter of minutes, the room began to smell so heavenly. They were definitely cooking this time around.

EPILOGUE

Don’t they look delicious? 

No, they were an epic fail. 

Dry, crumbly, possibly overcooked. They were impossible to cut. 

One star for flavor.

Boo hoo. 

Served with ice cream, everyone was complimentary. But I knew better. (Still cocky, I guess.)

Simple recipes are meant to be simply followed.