Momma Told Me: Why not Sugar and Spice?
Chubby Hubby, Chicken and Waffles, Hawaiian Pizza, Chocolate Dipped Pretzels, Maple Bacon, and Freshly Dunked French Fries in a Frozen Chocolate Shake. What did these food combinations do for you? I ask, because, much like the children of our youth, adults have a surprisingly guttural reaction to that which sounds abnormal. How many times have you heard of a pregnant woman craving the strangest combinations, such as pickles and ice cream? How often do you hear of those same women learning to crave those items long after their pregnancy? It's a simple fact that our 'adult' culinary minds are often closed off initially to what is not considered mainstream. This is why I love cooking and baking in the privacy of my own home; I can experiment without stigma. And believe me, not everything I crank out of my kitchen has been a whopping success- there was the time I thought I could deep fry tortillas into ice cream cones, can you say M-E-S-S? But there is something time proved I can always count on. Salty does go well with sweet, it is simply a matter of deciding which flavor note should overpower the other.
As you likely already know, I love to create unusual sweets, and time saving meals that are easy on the chef and well rounded for the family. Sometimes I like to deviate from what is considered 'proper,' and experiment with ingredients that are less than 'healthy.' Don't get me wrong, there are all types of potato chips, and I'll be happy to wrap this series with a homemade, baked, recipe- but, today, we will begin this series of Potato Chip Recipes with something purely frivolous. Chocolate chips? It's already been done; I have a bag full of tiny black semi-sweet morsels in my pantry. Oh, you mean chocolate AND chips- well, I've actually had chocolate dipped potato chips on several occasions and the combination is surprisingly tasty. In fact, when I made my 'BLT' birthday cake, for my father a few years back, I hand dipped Ruffles Ridges chips in yellow dyed white chocolate, and it was easily one of the tastiest sweets I've had since. I actually champion white chocolate (I know, not 'real' chocolate), for dipping chips, as the extra sweetness really balances out the salt on thicker ruffled chips.
But I digress. There I was the other week, staring at a disappointing bag of
Chicken and Waffles Lay's, when it hit me; I could create something much tastier, and far more intriguing. So I set out to present my wonderful readers with a series of 5 potato chip themed recipes spanning desserts, appetizers, and snacks. Welcome to post 1: Double Chocolate Potato Chip Brownies, you're welcome World! Of course, there will be some skeptics. The truth is, you could just as easily crumble some chips on a boxed brownie mix, prior to sending it to the oven. But 'potato chip brownies' just don't seem as 'cool' unless they're homemade; and this recipe will offer a richer, cocoa flavor, that will highlight the salty notes within the crunchy shards. Yes, I know 'shards' don't sound appetizing, but that's one downfall of baking chips, extra salty crunch (just remember how you used to fight to eat Cap'n Crunch, as it scoured the top of your mouth). And, of course, you can control the crunch factor by altering the size of the chip crumbs you sprinkle, smaller crumbs will be easier to integrate, while larger chunks will have a more dramatic appearance and offer a bolder sweet to salt flavor.
So how did my glorious golden shard (I'm sticking with shard) brownies turn out? This was my first time baking from scratch with melted chips and cocoa in the recipe. The result was a much gooier brownie the first run. I put the second batch in for an extra 10 minutes and they cooked to a 'springy' texture that was still quite dense, but a bit fluffier. I think it's purely preference how long you cook them past the initial 30 minutes. I rather like the gooey first batch, which was perfect for a scoop of ice cream a-la-mode. I also drizzled a little extra melted chocolate over the chips after removing them from the oven, this helps hold them in place and add that extra 'wedged' sweet and salty experience. Just remember, chips do go stale, and they will get soft of chewy if left out exposed to humidity and air, so keep them well sealed when not being devoured!
What Daughter Says: Have your cake, and eat your chips too, with this sweet and salty recipe that's sure to have guests turning heads.
