This will be a relatively brief post to describe my attempt at making the March/April 2010 Cook's Illustrated Chewy Brownies recipe (see, I really am trying to use my cooking magazines more!). First, I have to say, compared to a number of Cook's Illustrated recipes, this baked goods recipe didn't actually require using a number of new techniques or adding several steps beyond a "standard" recipe to achieve a good end result. Sometimes after making their recipes, I admit that I actually pretty tired from all of the effort I put in to their dishes 🙂 However, despite that brief respite that the editors allow us, the recipe called for baking the brownies in a pan that was covered in a foil "sling" — so two large pieces of foil that covered the entire pan, and supposedly allowed one to remove the brownies easily from the pan to allow the brownies to cool more quickly on a wire rack. Removing the foil sling from the brownies once they were fully cooked though ended up being a HUGE pain, and I had to scrape away the foil in some places, despite the healthy coating of cooking spray I had used to coat the sling.
The final result was pretty fantastic — true to the recipe's description, the brownies had a shiny, hard coating on top, just like the brownies that you get when you use a semi pre-made box version of brownies. The brownies were also very dense and fudgy — perfect for any true chocolate lover. While they were a little rich for my taste, the brownies were quickly gobbled up in the office and I think they'll be added into future potluck/picnic/birthday celebration baking rotations.
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