Brownie fail, made up for by awesome turkey curry
So, I found Mom-mom’s recipe for brownies, and I blew it. They are too crumbly and have a weird crusty thing going on. I think that I beat the eggs too much. There are no directions on the card, so I guessed at the order for adding the ingredients, so that may have been the problem, too. This is what the card says:
Brownies - the hallowed recipe card
- 2 c sugar
- 1 c short.
- 4 eggs
- 2 c. flour
- 1.2 t salt
- 4 sq. choc.
- 1 t. vanilla
- Bake 350 degrees 9×13 pan
What I did:
I beat the sugar with the shortening, then added the eggs one at a time, beating in between each. Then I added the melted chocolate and the vanilla. I beat that in, and then added the flour and salt together little by little, put it into a pan, and baked it for about 35 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle came out clean.
Brownies?
My first hint that something was wrong was the color – they were very pale. The second hint was the crust – there was a sort of hard, puffy crust on top that collapsed like a fallen souffle when I pulled them out of the oven. The third problem was the texture – they are sandy and crumbly, not fudgy like Mom-mom’s brownies always were.
Any suggestions? I’m going to try again as soon as we get more eggs.
Thanksgiving, on the other hand, was not a fail at all. It was just the three of us (well, two of us, because the baby was asleep by the time we ate), but we were able to have a great nearly-all-day Skype video call with the Reinsel clan in Fairfax, VA. It was almost like being there, but without the hugs. I made brined turkey breast, pork and apple bread stuffing, cranberry relish, maple-orange sweet potatoes, and green beans almondine. Everything turned out great, especially the cranberry and the turkey. For dessert, we had a small apple pie. Nearly everything came from the Flint Farmer’s Market. We are especially fond of the pork from R&R Farms. Joe used the unseasoned sausage to make his own sausage, which we used for the stuffing and had for breakfast! It was awesome.
Last night, I used the leftover turkey, celery, apple, raisins, almonds, and cranberry relish to make THE BEST TURKEY CURRY EVER. Sorry, Debbie, but yours held the title only until I tried this one last night. Here’s an approximate recipe:
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 cup onions, diced
- 3/4 cup celery, diced
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (plus some cayenne pepper if you want it spicy)
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1 lb. cooked turkey breast, diced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup (or more, if it looks dry) chicken stock
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
Heat the oil over medium high heat. Saute the onion, celery, and apples for about 5 minutes. Add the curry, salt, pepper, garlic, raisins, almonds and turkey breast, and saute for another 5-10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, and deglaze the pan with the chicken stock. Stir in the coconut milk, and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Serve with rice, toasted slivered almonds, toasted coconut, and cranberry chutney.
On the baby front, Leo is learning how to sit up more and more every day. He can now hold himself in a sitting position for a couple of seconds before falling over. He’s having trouble sleeping through the night again, and we can’t figure out why. It might just be that he doesn’t like sleeping in his own room yet. Too bad for him, if that’s the case.
Please leave me any suggestions you have for “Brownies, Round Two” in the comments. I want to try them again soon.