(It's hard to rely on your) Good Intentions

Anyone else remember that song? I believe it's Toad the Wet Sprocket - ah, high school memories. Anyhow, I entered the What's Cooking? recipe exchange with the best of intentions. For those of you who don't know, What's Cooking? is a fantastic cooking message board that I frequent. One of of the other WC? regulars, Katie, of the awesome blog Good Things Catered, arranged a fun recipe swap for us - basically we all submitted our favorite holiday dessert recipe, then Katie shuffled them up and redistributed them so we were all given a new recipe to try out and post about.

I was excited when I got my recipe - Fudgy Mocha Toffee Brownies from Cooking Light - because I have actually had this recipe set aside for several months but haven't gotten around to making it yet. And the trend seemed to continue, as with all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the holidays I almost didn't have a chance to make them for the recipe exchange either. But as luck would have it I ended up needing to prepare a treat for one of Joe's students and decided that I would seize the opportunity to make the Fudgy Mocha Toffee Brownies.

I got started Wednesday night after dinner and the gym. So it was kind of late and I was kind of tired, but I was making those brownies! I melted the chocolate and the butter, preheated the oven...then realized that I did not have any instant coffee. Hmmmm. My brilliant (yet obviously cloudy) mind told me that using regular grounds coffee would not yeild the same result as instant. But since I had already melted my chocolate and felt committed to these brownies, I decided that I would leave out the coffee and make them "Fudgy Toffee Brownies" instead.

I got back to work fully focused on my task - and then my mom called. Since I am normally the queen of multi-tasking, I saw nothing wrong with chatting on the phone while preparing my brownies. I got the batter all ready and scooped it into the pan. It was very, very thick. So thick that I re-read the recipe to see if I'd left something out. It seemed as if I had gotten it right, so I popped the brownies in the oven. 10 minutes later I checked on the baking brownies and they looked exactly the same as they had before I put them in the oven. Hmmmm again. I read the recipe for a third time and this time realized I had forgotten the baking powder. Not the reason for the super thick batter, but still a mistake! Not much I could do at that point, so I crossed my fingers and finished baking the brownies.

And you know what? They were delicious! Super dense and fudgy (I guess that's what a lack of baking powder will do) with a fantastic crunch from the toffee bits. Wow, I love toffee. So much that I began eating the little pieces out of the bag plain after eating a brownie. Yum! I need to find another recipe to use them in. Anyhow, I'm glad I finally got to make these brownies, and I will definitely make them again - maybe I'll even try to get it right next time!

Happy holidays!

Fudgy Mocha Toffee Brownies

(Source: September 2007 Cooking Light)

Cooking Spray

2 tbsp instant coffee granules

1/4 cup hot water

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 cup toffee chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Coat bottom of a 8x8 pan with spray.
3. Combine coffee granules with hot water, stir until the granules are dissolved.

4. Combine butter and chocolate chips. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute until butter melts; stir until chocolate is smooth.

5. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.

6. Combine coffee mixture, butter/chocolate chip mixture, vanilla and eggs in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.

7. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients. Stir until well combined. **the batter was really thick**

8. Spread evenly into pan and sprinkle evenly with toffee chips. Bake for 22 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.