Blondie + Brownie = Meh

For Christmas, Tom also gave me a copy of Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions: a Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations. Having already let almost three months pass by without trying any of the recipes from the book, I decided on Monday night to give the Congo Brownie recipe a shot.

Braker's Congo Brownie recipe (after I googled it, I found another blogger who had reviewed the cookbook and printed the recipe here) is a two-layered confection of blondie on the bottom and brownie on top, finished off with a bit of chocolate ganache drizzle.

I was a little distracted as I was putting the bars together (this is what happens when you try to bake and watch Intervention at the same time). You are supposed to make the bottom blondie layer, sprinkle on a cup of walnuts, and then press the walnuts into the blondie batter before baking. I completely forgot about the walnuts until I pulled the partially baked bottom layer out of the oven, so I just mixed the walnuts into the brownie layer instead.

The finished product definitely had more visual interest than a regular brownie -- both because of the differently colored layers, and the ganache flourish. It's quite a looker! However, these bars tasted exactly like... a walnut brownie. I don't think that the bottom blondie layer actually added anything in terms of taste or texture. So while these bars were moist and tasty enough, they weren't really anything special flavorwise. Or, to put it more succinctly, meh.

Recipe: "Congo Brownies" from Baking for All Occasions: a Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations, by Flo Braker; recipe available online here.