TWD: Chipster Topped Brownies

I love hypothetical questions. Anything is possible, and I like being able to make up decisions for these made up sets of situations and perameters. One hypothetical that I always seem to have problems with is the old standby: what would you eat at your last meal? This one is always really difficult for me because there are all sorts of things that I love to eat and I have trouble working them into a cohesive meal plan for one last indulgence. However, one thing has always made my list and that's a chocolate chip cookie.

I really, really like chocolate chip cookies . . . to the point that they're really not safe in my presence. I hardly ever make them because I have absolutely no control around the cookies and I can demolish a batch in the space of about 24 hours. I'm not exaggerating. I do have my favorites but no chocolate chip cookies are safe in my presence. I will eat a Chips Ahoy if it's looking at me and I've been known to indulge in those chocolate chip cookies from the stands in the mall -- you know, the cookie sandwiches with the big gob of icing between 2 cookies? In case you ever wondered what sort of a nut buys those, now you have your answer: me! I do love the uber Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie from the New York Times and that probably wins my all time favorite cookie prize. At any rate, I love a chocolate chip cookie, I would definitely eat them (a whole lot of them) at my last meal, and in that aspect alone, I was thrilled about this week's pick by Beth of Supplicious. Added bonus: brownies are also pretty high on my list of likes so this combination of two very good things has always caught my eye as I've flipped through BFMHTY.

These were the first recipe that I made out of the May rotation of recipes. I made them just as soon as I turned in my papers for the semester and returned my library books! I don't have a 9x13" pan and I just had a feeling that I'd love these and I didn't want to cut the recipe in half. So, I decided to make them in muffin tins. Now, Dorie's instructions say first to grease and then to line the bottom of the pan with wax paper and I wasn't sure how to sidestep this step for making the muffin brownies. On the one hand, I loathe cutting out circles of wax or parchment paper -- it's so boring! On the other hand, I know firsthand what can happen when I blithely ignore such instructions, the Berry Surpise Cake comes to mind. So, I used the top of my Pam to make little circles of waxed paper to put on the bottom of the muffin cups for half of them and the other half got cooking spray only. Now, my muffin tins are nonstick, too so there were many precations against the dreaded stick-factor. Other than that and the need for an extra mixing bowl for my Kitchen Aid, these were so easy to get together. I just filled up the cups about halfway with brownie batter and then I used my cookie scoop to put a dollop of cookie dough on top. I wasn't in the mood to try to spread it out, and you might notice in the pictures that my cookie dough looks sort of like an odd growth on top of the brownie. I think that if I had spread it out then it would have been prettier but I kind of like it the way it is. To be honest, I was still really out of it from the end of semester push when I made these brownies and I forgot to set the timer when I put them in the oven. I know that people had trouble with underbaking so I wish that I knew how long I left them in the oven. I just know that I put them in and when I could smell them I stuck a tester in and they were just done. Sorry for that oversight and next time I'll pay attention.

Oh yes, there will definitely be a next time! I loved these brownies so much and they wouldn't have been safe in my presence. Luckily, I left for Texas the next day and I gave all of them to Dudley to eat while I was gone. He gave them the thumbs up, too. Thanks to Beth of Supplicious for picking this fabulous recipe!