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Thursday, December 8, 2011

S'more Cookie Brownies? Yes Please!

Okay, so this isn't exactly a story of baking success.  After all, us domestically inept people are bound to have a few failures now and then...or perhaps quite often.....Anyways, I've been dreaming of S'mores lately.  Unfortunately, its too cold to sit outside and build a fire on the patio and microwave S'mores just aren't as good.
So one evening I was browsing around on marthastewart.com (my favorite website) and found a recipe for Outrageous Chocolate Cookies.  I then began brainstorming and wondering if I could somehow incorporate the elements of a S'more into these cookies.  So below is my attempt at doing that.  I will say that although the cookies turned out quite delicious, they did not hold their shape all that well.  (I'll explain why later).  So then I decided to slather the batter into a baking dish and make brownies out of them.  These, I must say are quite good.  So even though they were meant to be cookies, they turned out to be better as brownies.  Thus, I give you...the cookie-brownie.

Lori's S'more Cookie Brownies
Ingredients:
  • 10 graham cracker halves
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
  • 2/3 cup AP flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 & 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 16 ounces dark chocolate chunks
  • 16 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup of miniature marshmallows
Directions:  
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F.  Break up the graham crackers and pulse in a food processor until ground into fine granules.  Measure out 2/3 cup; this will act as a substitute for what otherwise would have been flour in our recipe.  I think I'll call it, "graham flour."  Set the remaining graham flour aside.
Step 2: Combine the bittersweet chocolate and the butter in a heat-proof bowl and melt in a double-boiler over low heat.
Step 3: Stir frequently and melt till smooth and shiny.
Step 4:  Meanwhile, beat the eggs and brown sugar using a mixer on medium speed.  Do this until it becomes pale colored and frothy (2-3 minutes).  Add in the vanilla.
Step 5: Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, graham flour, baking powder, and salt

Step 6: Place the mixer speed on low, add in the melted chocolate and mix until well combined.
Step 7:  Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing completely.  Then add in the chocolate chunks and marshmallows.
Step 8:  For cookies, use a medium sized cookie scoop and scoop the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets.  Sprinkle a little graham flour on the top.
Here is where things start going awry.  After baking for about 14 minutes, some of the cookies came out great.  Others, however, split apart.  I think it's because the marshmallows melted and carmelized and created air pockets.  Perhaps less marshmallows would be better?
So after a few crumbly cookies, I decided to see if brownies would be better.  I greased an 8 x 8 baking sheet, slathered in the remaining batter and sprinkled some graham flour on top.  I then baked for about 25 minutes.  The brownies seemed to come out much better.  They are very chewy and they do taste like s'mores.  
I think I will keep tinkering with this recipe.  When (and if) I perfect it, I'll let you know.  In the mean time I would appreciate any ideas!

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