A Southern Grace: brownie fail

August 28, 2009

brownie fail

Yum

Sometimes you have a great idea that works out marvelously.

Sometimes you have a great idea that fails miserably.

Lovely crystalization, wouldn't you say?

This is a tale of the latter.

I hadn’t eaten or given away all those mints I made for Independence Day, and I wanted to get them out of my freezer. My brilliant idea? Use them in cream-cheese swirl brownies.

I picked David Lebovitz’s recipe, knowing it would be a good one. After checking out his ingredients for the cream cheese filling (cream cheese? check.)(sugar? check.)(vanilla extract? mint instead, but check.)(egg yolk? negative.), I decided it was worth a shot to add a yolk and blend until everything came together. Also driving this experiment was my knowledge of the color wheel--red plus blue makes purple, a color I enjoy very much.

Holy lilac-tinted ooze, Batman!

So, what were the results? Thanks for asking! I think the photos speak for themselves, but in case the images aren’t enough, I’ll give you a description of what I pulled from the oven: The outer edges were baked quite nicely, but that’s where the good news ends. The middle was still essentially in liquid form, with the top crust floating on a sea of purple-hued cream cheese. Between the edge and the iceberg of baked brownie crust, a bubbling circle of said cream cheese threatened to take over the entire pan.

Waiter, there's a crater in my brownie...

What was I to do? If I baked it further, the edges would’ve become as hard as a rock. I tried to cut the middle out so it could continue to bake, but that just didn’t work. So, I abandoned the pesky brownies. It pained me, but I did it.

No doubt the batter was undercooked, so I refrained from eating the entire batch myself. 'Tis a sad day when something I make can in no way be salvaged. In hindsight, I realize what I should've done was bake regular brownies and use the broken-down cream cheese mints as a frosting. Duly noted.

52 comments:

Foodie with Little Thyme! said...

OH, so sorry. I hate to throw food away. I do the the frosting idea.

Leslie said...

Lol...I do believe this MUST be your first fail as talented as you are!!!

Anonymous said...

Sorry the brownies did work for you this time. These things happen to us from time to time. Earlier this week I tried to make a yogurt mousse with a weird horned melon fruit and the consistency turned out just awful, watery. I was quite disappointed as this fruit is not often available. Hope next time it will work better :)

oneordinaryday said...

Oh, it makes me crazy when things like that happen. That last pic reminded me a little of a lava cake. : )
Good job keeping your sense of humor and sharing it with the rest of us. And the bright side is that those mints aren't taking up space in your freezer anymore!
~Michelle

Kate at Serendipity said...

It's a lovely color, though.

Thanks for sharing this with us. It takes a brave woman to show her failures! I bet it tasted good, though.

shaz said...

Oh dear, I hate wasting food too! At least you got to feed the brownies to the blog. (Liked the salvage cake by the way)

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Oh no what a shame Grace! :( And it had such promise too!

lisa is cooking said...

Too bad it didn't work out! A sea of purple-hued cream cheese doesn't sound like an entirely bad thing though.

maybelle's mom said...

Oh, i hate when a dish is unsavagable.

Lindsey said...

I hate when that happens. But I love your reference to the color wheel, and purple is my favorite color, so bonus.

Pam said...

I hate it when that happens! Sorry it wasn't able to be salvaged.

Lyndas recipe box said...

I just hate it when an idea doesn't work! Such a shame because who wants to throw out a pan of brownies, of all things!

The Blonde Duck said...

Awww! What a shame!

nora@ffr said...

too bad!! sometimes my idea also doesnt work when m trying to make a new recipe!

Melanie said...

BUMMER! At least you tried, though. I give you an A+ for effort.

pigpigscorner said...

ooo...it looks gooey

Deborah said...

We all have disaster every now and then! At least you don't have the mints taking up freezer space anymore!

Chef Jeena said...

Sorry about the brownies Grace.

But your post did make me chuckle....not because of what happened but because you write it so funny! It happens to us all....I had flash backs of my fair share of ''crusts floating on a sea of purple-hued cream cheese''....

You should be a stand up comic you really would make a mint. :-)

Kimberleyblue said...

See, what a shame! It happens to all of us, but it still sucks.

They sounded tasty...I probably would have eaten them anyway, undercooked and all. They look worth the risk!

Anonymous said...

oh dear :( sorry it happened.
i hate it when it happens to me!
so i can totally feel you.
would it work it you baked it longer at a lower temperature?
it wouldve been so awesome if it turned out well!
thanks for sharing anyway dear :)

Anonymous said...

sorry they didn't turn out. it's always such a bummer when you have to throw something away. but you never know unless you try, right? :-)

Delicious Dishings said...

Ah.. we all have those moments! You make so many wonderful things, I wouldn't let it get to you!

pam said...

This is why I don't bake.

Tabitha Blue said...

Wow, that ooze is definitely un-appealing... like something I might make, lol. I just love it when something turns out right!

:)
~Tabitha

Jacque said...

Welp, now you know! I used to work with a guy who would wisely say "experience is the best teacher" after my many mistakes. Didn't help me feel any better, I'm afraid, LOL.

Sorry!

♥peachkins♥ said...

even the greatest cook fails sometimes... I bet you can perfect this!

Ron Merlin said...

Personally, as a food blogger myself, I LOVE it when folks post their failures, because we ALL have them, and I love to laugh at myself as well as others.... Here's a post I did some months ago, about a failure on MY part....

http://themerlinmenu.blogspot.com/2008/10/butternut-squash-soup.html

Love your blog by the way, it's been in my newsreader for probably 8 months now....

Keep it up....

Ron

http://themerlinmenu.blogspot.com

Jennifer said...

As a fellow baker who has also failed many, I appreciate and can laugh along with you! sorry they didnt turn out but for each failure I swear theres MORE wins! :)

Barbara said...

Well, Grace, I sure hope you ate the corners!
All I could think of when I read your post was a carrot souffle I made one Christmas. Perfect outside, wet in the middle. More cooking would have burned the outside for sure. We ate around the middle and everyone told stories of their funny failures. You have to have a sense of humor, don't you?
I have tried it since, lower oven temp and a bigger pan. It worked. If at first you don't succeed ....

Hornsfan said...

Maybe a fail in practice but the theory sounds so delicious...try try again Grace!

Kathy Walker said...

Oh, I am so sorry. I hate it when I have spent time preparing something and it doesn't cooperate.

I have lived something like this with a quiche I made...it would never set up...not certain why...

kellypea said...

Serious bummer. I'm generally brownie phobic if you can believe it because they just never quite come out the way I want them to. I always admire your ingenuity because I don't stray too far off the path with my baking. I have had some moments where I've had molten centers and yep. Cut off the edges and popped the undone part back in the oven. Think about it. You could reassemble it and slather it with frosting. Wink, wink. ; )

Lori said...

I feel for yah Grace. That sucks.I agree with barbara for her suggestions for next time.

Unknown said...

awww....well, if it helps, they don't look as bad as you say they were. I think you had a great idea and your remedy for next time is an awesome one! let us know how it works out! :)

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

I'm sorry to hear that! That can happen to anybody...

Cheers,

Rosa

The Blushing Hostess said...

Well, we learn from these things, it seems. And it seems like chocolate and sugar always taste delish even when they might not be so appealing to the eye :)

Marjie said...

We all have our failures. Most of us don't cheerfully tell the world about them and move on! It was a great idea, even if it didn't work.

Hungry Dog said...

Sorry the brownies did not work out but I loved this post! No matter how much one bakes or cooks, we all still make mistakes. Documenting them with photos makes them funny.

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

They still look great. Sorry to hear that.

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

Sorry it didn't work out. I hate it when things like that happen to me!

Kerstin said...

Awww, that's the worst. I'm sure you'll iron the kinks out next time though!

Robin said...

My momma said there'll be days like this...I have had many GOOD ideas like this that ended up in the trash. Better luck next time.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

A sad day in a Southern kitchen.

noble pig said...

Yep, that always hurts, especially the throw away part.

Velva said...

I enjoyed your blog post! This story reminds of the 6-quarts of rice pudding that I made not too long ago. It took me 1 1/2 days to totally remove the evidence-laugh.

Laura said...

Oh dear! I just battled with an undercooked pan of blondies so I sympathize.

vanillasugarblog said...

No throw-away! Girl you can use it in an ice cream base. Hello? Did you already throw it away? Girl, I'm telling ya....

Gloria Baker said...

grace, sometimes happen to me sometimes and I hate when happens, weel and all the work, and all, but, you always make beauty and yummy things so forget!!!(LOL) xxxgloria

Jessica@FoodMayhem said...

Oh no, my thought are with you. We've all had those days. =(

Emily said...

Oh man! Hey, don't feel too bad. You gave it a good try. I love your honesty!

Lisa said...

Apparently it happens to the best of us! Still it is always fun to try something new. You live, you learn, you share with others. It still makes a good post.

jillian said...

Well, it sounded like a good idea and it still kinda looks good :)