I Blog What I Bake

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake…”  Often times, this kinda how I feel (and probably look) when I am cooking something up in the kitchen. However for this post I did not set foot in the kitchen, but just wandered around Chelsea Market in downtown New York.

I love the name of this little bakery and before Sunday I had never heard of it. Apparently it’s got quite a following. I loved being in the dark about this place because I had no one’s opinion, judgement or review to go on but mine. I wasn’t excepting a transcendental food moment nor was I expecting the brownies to suck. For the record, they did neither.

I should mention that all Fat Witch Bakery makes are brownies. Appropriately they are called “Witches”. Cute, right? Not being one to limit myself, I bought a Java Witch, Fat Witch(original), Red Witch(cherries) and Smores’ Witch. The brownies were $2.50 a piece.  I didn’t consider this too pricey since I have seen smaller cupcakes sell for $3.00 and I have bought brownies before that actually cost upwards of $4.00 a piece (MISTAKE!). Anyway, I unwrapped all the brownies and my husband and I attacked them with enthusiasm. Overall, I really enjoyed them and they were far better than the brownies I reviewed previously from The Vermont Brownie Company.

The Java Witch was my favorite, it had the best texture an the chocolate flavor was PERFECT. Not overwhelming and not super sugary. The Smores’ Witch was good, but only for two bites. After that I couldn’t even look at it because of the sugar overload. The Fat Witch was the most fudgey and the Red Witch was the most “meh”.  That one didn’t do anything for me, I did not like the texture of the cherries in the brownies. I should also mention that my husband didn’t like any of them. At all. They were too rich for him. So, would I recommend this place? Yes. But limit yourself to one Witch at a time.  :)

Witch Graveyard…

In the mood for something different?

Since returning to the full-time corporate workforce I have had minimal time to actually bake. I get really excited if I am able to bake once a week. So, in lieu of recipes I am going to do occasional posts on baked goods I have tried, kitchen gadgets I find useful and the like.  In the spirit of trying something different, I bring you Dark Chocolate Chevre (goat cheese) Brownies from the Vermont Brownie Company.

At the Vermont Brownie Company all of their brownies are made from scratch using local, natural and preservative free ingredients. I came across these curious little brownies watching Throw-down with Bobby Flay on the Food Network. Personally, I love love love goat cheese and was completely fascinated by the idea of dark chocolate goat cheese brownie. The episode wasn’t even halfway complete and I was already online, credit card in hand, ready to order the brownies. That was until I saw that it cost $23.00 for six brownies ($30.00 total with shipping).

Despite the price, I went ahead and bought the brownies. By this time I wasn’t just curious about the goat cheese brownie, but about why a brownie would cost so much. I figured this would probably be the best brownie I had ever eaten. (You all already know where this is headed, don’t you?)

The brownies arrived on Friday and I was as excited as a 5 year-old on Christmas morning.  Seriously, I was so giddy I was practically skipping. They arrived in very cute packaging and I am a sucker for packaging.

Each brownie is individually wrapped to assure freshness. And the whole thing is wrapped in neat crisp tissue paper and stickers. At this point I was assured, at the very least, that I got $23.00 worth of packaging. After taking a few pictures I tore into one of the brownies.

Let me start by saying this is one HEAVY brownie. I should have weighed one.  Now, there are two schools of thought when it comes to brownies. There are those who love thick fudgy brownies and those who love cakey brownies. I am of the the latter opinion. Maybe that was part of the problem.

Anyway, I bit the brownie expecting some kind of outter body experience.

Well… It wasn’t that these brownies didn’t taste good, they did. They were super rich and super chocolatey. So much so that I didn’t even taste the goat cheese, which was disappointing. I also couldn’t get past the density. I stuck it in the microwave for a few minutes to see what they would taste like warm. It was a slight improvement, but they got too moist. Almost like they were under-baked. I loved the big chunks of dark chocolate and visually these are beautiful brownies, but they just didn’t blow my mind in the taste and consistency department.  I also had no idea why they were so expensive. Yes, I know local farm ingredients can cost more because they are not produced in mass quantities, but $23.00 for six brownies?? I just didn’t get it. But since taste is subjective, I have given the brownies to a few friends who I hope will, in turn, post their feedback in the comments section.

The Vermont Brownie Company has a host of different brownie flavors and I encourage you to check them out for yourself. As for me, I am becoming increasingly wary of the Food Network.