stack o' goodness

I made these tonight after finding the recipe in the December 2007 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. They're called "Brownie Thins" and the recipe is from a book called "Homemade in a Hurry" by Andrew Schloss. I tried to get a copy of it at Borders today but they said you have to order it. Oh well. Christmas is coming. :)

A couple of things to note: the original recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract and - well kiddos, we all know that this chica is allergic to nuts - so I just doubled up on the vanilla extract and used 1/2 teaspoon total. It also suggested putting chopped pistachios on top (which sounds really yummy) but we know where that suggestion went. [insert sound of toilet flushing here]

Before I go on with the recipe, I think I should also explain that -- if, let's say, you end up getting the book and later read the "real" directions, you notice that I skipped a couple of [rather complicated seeming] steps -- I used an ice cream scoop to put the batter onto the baking pans. Seriously, his method sounded way too difficult and I love using these different sized ice cream scoops (a very handy gift from our stepmom) for all sorts of recipes because it just takes the guess work out of exact proportions, etc. I think they sell them at places like Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel.

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (see my notes above)
• pinch of salt (I used sea salt - is that bad?)

Directions:

1. Position rack in the lowest third of your oven; preheat it to 350 degrees.
2. Butter 2 baking sheets. (You might want to read my comments/see the photo below.)
3. Place the butter pieces and chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium-high power until almost completely melted, about 1 minute. (You may have to do it again for like 15 second intervals until it's melted.) Whisk until smooth.
4. Add sugar and egg; whisk until smooth, about a minute.
5. Add flour, vanilla, and salt; stir just to blend.
6. Let batter stand 10 minutes. (At this point, the batter seemed really runny, so it's important to let it sit in the bowl for the 10 minutes. It thickened up like pudding. Cool.)
7. Okay, so here's where I skipped around his fancy dance of getting the batter onto the baking pans -- basically, I used the ice cream scoop and just skimmed batter off the top of the surface, then plopped it onto the pans. Very simple.
8. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until slightly darker at edges and firm in the center, about 7 minutes.
9. Cool on sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. (Note: they come out rather cakey and so it helps to clean the spatula off after transferring three cookies so that you don't mess up the edges.)
10. Have designated taste tester grade your performance. :)

Oh so good!