I often stop by the Safeway in downtown D.C. on L Street on the way home from work, and for the past few months, there has been a display of Sheila G.'s Brownie Brittle right at the entrance. Even though I have never purchased a bag (what can I say -- I almost never purchase baked goods, except from bakeries when I'm traveling), I have been quite curious about it. As I understand it, the inventor of brownie brittle is fond of crispy brownie edges, and she came up with the idea for a product with the texture of those crunchy edge pieces. I absolutely love the edges and corners of any sort of bar, but especially brownies.
So when I came across a recipe on the King Arthur website for "Brownie Crisps," I had to give it a try. Plus, it was so quick and easy, and all of the ingredients are items I keep on hand (even the baker's special dry milk -- I store a canister in the freezer). All you have to do is whisk some egg whites until frothy; add sugar, cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, oil, and vanilla; whisk in milk powder, followed by flour, baking soda, and salt; and then stir in some chocolate chips. You use an offset spatula to spread out the mixture as thin as possible on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and then sprinkle more chocolate chips on top.
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You take the pan out of the oven partway through baking and score the giant mass of brownie crisp into pieces (I used a pizza cutter, which worked well). Then you put it back in the oven for a few minutes to finish baking. After the crisps are fully cool, they break apart cleanly.
I found these to be totally, completely addictive. They are surprisingly chocolatey, and quite crisp with a little bit of chew; I found it amusing that the outer edges of the mass of brownie crisp were super crispy, to point that they were almost candylike. The crisps do in fact closely resemble the texture of brownie edges and they deliver the same intensity of flavor. I made a batch with gluten-free Cup4Cup flour as well and I think those were even better -- they were superchewy in the middle. I also tried a chocolate mint version (eliminating the espresso powder and adding mint extract), and it was also delicious; this recipe easily lends itself to all sorts of flavor variations and different mix-ins.
If you are a fan of brownie edges, definitely give these a try. You can enjoy the brownie edge experience with hardly any time or effort at all!
Recipe: "Brownie Crisps" from King Arthur Flour.
So when I came across a recipe on the King Arthur website for "Brownie Crisps," I had to give it a try. Plus, it was so quick and easy, and all of the ingredients are items I keep on hand (even the baker's special dry milk -- I store a canister in the freezer). All you have to do is whisk some egg whites until frothy; add sugar, cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, oil, and vanilla; whisk in milk powder, followed by flour, baking soda, and salt; and then stir in some chocolate chips. You use an offset spatula to spread out the mixture as thin as possible on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and then sprinkle more chocolate chips on top.
I found these to be totally, completely addictive. They are surprisingly chocolatey, and quite crisp with a little bit of chew; I found it amusing that the outer edges of the mass of brownie crisp were super crispy, to point that they were almost candylike. The crisps do in fact closely resemble the texture of brownie edges and they deliver the same intensity of flavor. I made a batch with gluten-free Cup4Cup flour as well and I think those were even better -- they were superchewy in the middle. I also tried a chocolate mint version (eliminating the espresso powder and adding mint extract), and it was also delicious; this recipe easily lends itself to all sorts of flavor variations and different mix-ins.
If you are a fan of brownie edges, definitely give these a try. You can enjoy the brownie edge experience with hardly any time or effort at all!
Recipe: "Brownie Crisps" from King Arthur Flour.
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