Cranberry Brownie Fail

It had been such a good day…The BF and I had decided to stay in…lounge and maybe watch a movie (more on that later)…and then I decided to try a recipe I’d read last weekend.

See…my mom had bought me the Perfect Brownie pan awhile ago, and it came with a recipe book. There was a recipe for cranberry brownies with a sour cream swirl akin to a cheesecake swirl and I fell in heart with it. I happened to have a bag of cranberries so, game on.

As soon as I tasted a cooling brownie square I thought to myself, “WHY didn’t I just use the brownie base from that Smitten Kitchen recipe and go from there?!” Something I’ve come to learn is that, while you have to try new recipes and experiment…you should also be smart about it. My batter was stiff and I should have trusted my gut when I realized that. There was only cocoa powder, no melted chocolate…resulting in a very un-chocolatey, un-gooey brownie. The “swirl” didn’t swirl well and had a soupy consistency.

Most baking/cooking bloggers don’t post about their failed or bad recipes I’ve noticed. I’ve been baking for two years now…so when I pick a bad recipe, or external factors I cannot control, ruin a delicious treat (like humidity in a failed lemon bar experiment) I’m disappointed but I think it’s still a valuable experience. I’ve decided to share these moments with you…not just the big wins. I’ll compare the recipe with other ones I know have worked, or try new ones to find one that DOES work. My intention isn’t to slam the chef, cook, magazine, etc. that came up with the recipe, but instead to share some analysis so those of us sans pastry school experience can figure this shit out! (Plus I like to know WHY something didn’t work.)

Ah well. Now that I have visions of tart, tender cranberries floating around in gooey chocolate batter I’m going back for a second round using the above mentioned brownie base and maybe experiment a little from there. I’ll report back this weekend.

The movie we watched, by the way…Julie and Julia! So good! Even The BF thought it wasn’t that bad (or so he reported). I know, I know…I’m kinda late on seeing it. I haven’t been to theatre very much over the last year. OnDemand…I lurv you.