Thursday 26 January 2012

Baking Curry Brownies

I've had moderate success with cooking but not so much with baking. Baking is what my sister does and the whole family loves her banana bread and white chocolate chip cookies. Whenever I bake everyone kind of half-heartedly eats it so I feel less bad about myself.

But, I've been trying to practice my culinary skills and now, I need it's time to try and bake something. Microwave brownies don't count, it's time to try actual brownies. Mich posted a recipe for brownies on her blog the other day and what made these brownies unique was that she added curry powder to it. She insists that they're amazing so let's find out.

Assuming I don't screw up.

Ok, even I'm not this derpy.

And actually, I kind of did mess up. To start with, I somehow misread sugar as "flour" on step one and bam, things aren't looking too good.

Hoping that my brownies aren't completely ruined I try and compensate by mixing in the remaining ingredients one after another (as opposed to in the proper order and in their separate respective bowls) and I think it looked ok?

And I had yet another surprise when I opened the can of coconut milk and instead of liquid, I was greeted with this dense, white solid at the top. Confused, I just spooned this white substance into my batter and kept going.

So far so good/bad?

Later I would find out that there WAS liquid, the actual coconut milk was underneath this, this, I don't know, what would you call it? Coconut butter? Fat? I hoped for the best and dumped the batter into the oven.

In the meantime, I tried to make the icing. It didn't look like icing. I'm not going to even show you guys a picture, it was pretty gross and sad. It somehow managed to be watery with clumps of coconut "butter" floating around. If you're really curious, take a bottle of hair conditioner and squirt some of that into a bowl of water, give it a stir and that's what my "icing" looked like.

Needless to say, I threw it out. Especially when it transformed and became this watery, grey sludge.

Sigh...

But wait! Don't lose hope for me yet! We still have the main attraction to reveal. While I was messing around with the "icing" I had the brownie batter baking in the oven. 40 minutes later, I open it up, dump the contents on a plate and....

Viola.

Hey! It doesn't look too bad. I think. I don't really bake that often and this is my first time baking proper brownies. So I have no idea if it's supposed to look that way. I also opted to use mint chocolate chips instead of normal ones. Because I love mint chocolate.

Taste-wise I think it also turned out decently. The center is nice and moist and no hint of curry. I'm sorry Mich but I don't eat brownies that much so I can't tell if there was a difference caused by the curry. Or maybe any benefit of the curry was negated due to my horrible mixing skills.

So there we go, I didn't fail too hard. Yay for me. Any suggestions as to what to bake/cook next? I'm open to almost anything.

91 comments:

  1. So, if there's no detectable curry taste, why is there curry? Is it pointless, like Adam Sandler movies and the Electoral College? Or, without it, life as we know it ceases to exist?
    Looks great to me, though.

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  2. I'm not sure but I think the curry is there to make the other flavours POP!

    Looks good! Congradulations! And when you do it again it'll look better! (the key to success is, of course, to keep repeating things till you get them 100%!)

    Good luck!

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    1. Oh, now that makes sense. Although I think I bought wrong type, "Tim" Curry. It doesn't make the flavors pop, but I want to dress up in drag.

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  3. it doesnt look that bad.. try these 5 minutes microwave brownies :D

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  4. curry brownies sounds terrible. Anyhow check out my blog tomorrow I have an amazing recipe queued up. It's flexible so you might be able to satisfy all the picky eaters in your family.

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  5. Ohhh that does look delicious!!!

    What to cook next? Hmm.... I vote for valentine's day cupcakes.

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  6. haha wow even i would think to put a tray below it >.< FAIL

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  7. pineapple upside down cake

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  8. that fail photo is a riot:) curry brownies i've never had. sounds good, tho.

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  9. That looks yummy! Brownies are awesome. Doesn't look like a fail at all :D

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  10. I think look delicious but really I never have made to add curry(lol) but I love curry why not? I have a pepper black chocolates cookie that always I wanted make...soon, tres original!

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  11. Good job dude. :) I'm in your boat, I fail consistently at baking cupcakes and the like. :/

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  12. Awesome work with the baking man although curry brownies is definitely an odd choice in my opinion. I'd love to try some of your sisters baking too, white chocolate chip cookies are my favourite and I love banana bread too.

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  13. Hey, if it tastes good that's a pass. Flour = sugar though? That's bad.. As far was what next, I think you should keep it basic until you get it down. Maybe some special kind of cookie or something?

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  14. curry in the brownies??Oh, son, that sounded like tragedy from the very beginning :)

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  15. they look nice anyway. i recently saw a recipe for Irish Car Bomb muffins (like the drink) that looks really good

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  16. OMG! I laughed through the whole thing. No offence. And I totally thought those were the cookies you made in that oven there. Anyways, I would like to try and make curry brownies.

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  17. Those look soooo good! Brownies are both my weakness and the key to my heart. lol :)

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  18. If they were in front of me I would give them a try. I am a bit too lazy to cook them up myself.

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  19. You are a brave man. My Mom's the near-professional quality baker in our family and nobody else really tries. Yes, I make the occasional cookie batch for the kidlit, but that's about it. I've always wanted to make kolatches. They sound marvelous. I once tried (several times) to make a puff pastry for a Star Trek cookbook I wrote. The pastry was tasty, but it never turned out quite like it was supposed to. Sigh. The problem is, they can make these things look like whatever they want on t.v!

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  20. Curry?
    Brownies?
    ...this has to be tried

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  21. Final result turned out looking pretty good, made me hungry!! Curry brownies, interesting!

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  22. Never heard of curry brownies... Try .. snickerdoodles? Those are good.

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  23. Not a bad job, better than I could do. Everything would be sludge with me..lol

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  24. Baking with curry powder? What the herpaderp? I suggest cookies. I've not tried brownies but I'm not too bad with cookies. Maybe I should try brownies myself. Hope it doesn't go like this.


    No offence.

    Still if it tasted alright that's what matters. Assuming you live through the night.

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  25. I have to be in the mood to bake. For Christmas I made bacon cookies and zucchini bread. Just keep practicing and you'll get the hang of it.

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  26. You did it!! These look fabulous! I did have to giggle at your description of the icing though. Why don't you bake something you like to eat??? Chocolate chip cookies? You could use your mint chocolate chips again. Use the Nestle's tollhouse cookie recipe on the back of the bag (at least it's on the semisweet cc bag).

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  27. Heh the girls in my family are all great at baking to. When I tried to make my own protein bars and cookies they came out HORRIBLY lol. Good to see yours came out a hell of a lot better then mine.

    I would suggest and something with bacon for boss status or something like a cookie. To be honest idk how many things can be baked lol..

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  28. Woohoo for you and your baking. Glad to see you giving it a go. Looks good and I have no doubt that it tasted even better.

    Cheers & Boogie Boogie.

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  29. Wow that looks pretty decent for your first try, well done man!

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  30. These brownies look amazing! Sorry to hear the first batch didn't turn out so well and I've not tried anything with coconut milk so I can understand the confusion.

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  31. You really made the curry ones? still think it will be weird until i try some myself. For what to make next I have always been a fan of scones, when you put jam and whipped cream on them.

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  32. I often bake a banana cake when I was in my province and I realized that I missed doing it. Sigh!

    Try cheesecake! *grin*

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  33. Oh yum. This is interesting. Never tried curry brownies before.

    Bake a cheesecake! I want to learn how.

    http://myminibag.blogspot.com/

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  34. Anything tastes better with curry powder. :D
    ooh and try cooking roast potatoes.

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  35. Can you bake a sunrise? Sprinkle it with dew, cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two?

    If not, you're not a candyman yet. How about some scones instead?

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  36. cook something from Epic Meal Time :D

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  37. I'm a huge fan of baking and the most popular thing I make with my family is a simple Lemon Drizzle Cake: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-cake-recipe/index.html

    It's easy to do, and best of all, can be easily frozen and defrosted for long time storage. Whenever I say to my family that I am going to bake something, they Always ask for this.

    Also, congrats on your brownies! They look pretty damn tasty!

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  38. Woot! Semi-tasty brownies, lol. Good job, man. Better than I can do. :/

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  39. recipe for brownies lol very fail

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  40. I am sure your brownies turned out better than mine would have.

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  41. Curry brownies but didn't taste of curry, well that's a bonus, next time mac and cheese!

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  42. I have a good recipe for triple chocolate brownies with cherries, its nom noms. How about baking a summer fruits cheesecake? it's pretty fool-proof!

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  43. that looks nice. Well done. how much would you charge for a piece :P

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  44. I think the curry powder's purpose is to give it a slightly edgier taste as opposed to just a sweet taste. I once saw a recipe for soft bake cookies which called for a spoon of paprika (if I recall correctly).

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  45. Hello! I found your blog through WIP It. Banana bread is super delicious, and is zucchini bread. Your brownie looks really nice!

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  46. Those look okay.
    I'm a big fan of chocolate crinkle cookies
    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-crinkles-ii/
    They're not too hard to make, either.

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  47. Hahaha don't worry I've made plenty of mistakes with baking sometimes too.

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  48. This look tasty! I sure am gonna try this at home!

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  49. "somehow misread sugar as 'flour'"
    I love it. I've had my share of ingredients oops too!

    Glad it came out in the end.

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  50. Hello! Very interesting blog...I decided to follow Your blog!
    caucasusgeography.blogspot.com

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  51. i can do that! :D

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  52. I could eat 10 of those.

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  53. I like cooking. Baking is however a different story for me...
    Also great blog! Following!

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  54. WOW THAT LOOKS Good! brb hungry now

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  55. Sounds really interesting i gotta try adding curry powder to brownies someday

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  56. Funny and such an enjoyable post lol... you are a real entertainer ;-)

    I can't quite understand how you messed up the icing though - it would be interesting to know what went into it because it's usually so simple that it's almost impossible to mess up. Maybe this was a special icing of some sort?

    And you know, the final brownie looked good to me! Sounds good too... moist in the center and everything... yum!

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  57. Atleast you tried and tried to learn something new ;).

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  58. "Confused, I just spooned this white substance into my batter and kept going."

    This sentence made my day. How flipping adorable. :)

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  59. Mint chocolates? I really love mint and chocolates as standalone, but I just don't like it when the two is mixed together. I'm just glad your little experiment went fine.

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  60. Try another classic... oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies. You can do it! Practice makes perfect. :)

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  61. That pic was hilarious! Curry brownies sound delish

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  62. yeah, don't mess with the classic brownie :)

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  63. My mum always said that as long as the food looks nice and presentable then it will look more enticing to eat.

    Following!

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  64. I like chili in chocolate so curry in brownies doesn't sound too much of a stretch.

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  65. Wow haven't heard of curry brownies. Doesn't sound like anything I would eat but oh wells xD Its good to try new stuff.

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  66. I've never heard of curry brownies. Maybe normal brownies would've been a bit simpler :D try mac n cheese next!

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  67. Bahaha I hate cooking... I flop everything. Except cakes. I bake a lot of cakes..

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  68. never heard of curry in brownies. doesn't sound that appetizing tbh but I guess you have to try it.

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  69. You sound like me when it comes to cooking! If it comes out of the oven and doesn't taste absolutely awful i figure its a success regardless of the mistakes!

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  70. u should try making my sauce, details in todays post :)

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  71. Ive never had curry brownies, but Im going to ask my wife to make some haha! sounds tasty!

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  72. I am salivating at your end result! How amazing!! And I love the idea of adding curry powder to a super sweet cake like a brownie!

    WELL DONE YOU!!!!!

    How about baking bread - just a simple white loaf? See how you go with kneading dough and proving and all that malarky to do with bread making? GOOD LUCK!! Take care
    x

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  73. I have a sister who is an amazing baker as well. I can't compete with her. But I do bake. Cookies are a safe bet and a good place to start. You should see the very first pie I made. Your brownies are works of art compared to that.

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  74. Lots of such exotic spices taste awesome in small quantities in dessert. think of all the chili chocolate Mexican cakes. Great job, I would have a piece for sure.

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  75. Try to make some type of pastry or pies

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  76. Probs didn't use enough of the curry, but YAY your brownies looked yummy!! And yeah I should have mentioned that it's tough to get that icing to look nice (food colouring really helps)....

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  77. Well, there's always that infamous type of brownie that University students and hippies are renowned for, if ye catch me drift ;)

    Or do crepes. Crepes are always delish.

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