Half-Baked

My beloved chocolate chip cookie at Paradis has fallen on hard times. Some days it is perfect, just underdone enough in the center and crisp around the edges. Some days it is hard and dry and not too flavorful. A few times it has seemed so raw I've felt a little ill (but not ill enough to stop!). I'm a baker, so I know it can be hard to get it right every time. I intend to keep giving the cookie second (etc.) chances, but I decided to vary that by giving some other desserts there a chance.

The brownie I tried was rich and sweet, but barely holding a form. It almost existed in some confectionary netherworld as both brownie batter and bar cookie at once. The richness was more a result of the density than an expensively deep cocoa flavor.

The top of the brownie was a dark, warm teddy bear brown turned slightly craggy and flaky in the oven and topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. It and the bottom of the brownie formed the thinnest structural crust.

In the center: almost black granular brownie batter, slightly hardened into a fudgy, large-grained rectangle. Milky chocolate flavor, fudgy and moist texture melting under the tongue. There are lumps in this brownie -- chocolate chips in the batter, perhaps, but no nuts that I detected.

I am guessing that the brownies' quality/density/chewiness may vary as the cookies' do (from batch to batch or day to day). If you're in the mood for a nearly raw brownie (as I sometimes am), try one and let me know how you find it.


p.s. I should have heated it up a little. I bet it's even better warm.