This baking project originated when I saw Smitten Kitten's white and dark hearted brownies. I thought these were adorable AND she was also using a recipe that was nearly identical to my go-to brownie recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (the only difference being BHG calls for a cup of sugar, so I did just under a cup on both).
I love that recipe.
Anyway, I picked up some white chocolate (Baker's) and got to work.
I was ready for bed when they came out of the oven, and knew I wouldn't be able to stay up long enough for the pans to cool down enough for them to go into the freezer, so I let them sit out overnight. When I first woke up, I put them in the freezer for a few hours. Looking back, I should have taken them out of the pans first because they were nearly impossible to get out of the pans when frozen.
Once they were out of the pans (the boy had to help with that one), I got started cutting them into portion sizes and cutting the hearts out.
As this picture shows, my heart cutter was not nearly as deep as it needed to be. I used the cookie cutter to make a "stamp" into the brownies and then used a knife to finish cutting out the heart. I used nuts in these (which Smitten Kitten doesn't call for), which made them really difficult to cut. Next time, I'll either skip the nuts (even though I don't think brownies are brownies without pecans) or use the really small pecan chips.
In the process of cutting out the hearts, many of the brownies came apart (probably because of the nuts). So, I decided to use only the heart cut-outs as my "Valentine's Brownies" rather than inserting them into one another, because all of the "frames" that the hearts would need to go into had fallen apart.
So, the boys and I will make sure those frames are very well taken care of.
Mine didn't turn out perfect, but I did have some cute results as well as some new knowledge to maybe do it the same way as Smitten Kitchen next year.
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