I haven’t posted a major disaster in a long time, so I was definitely due. I found this recipe for Iowa Brownies in the Penzey’s spice catalog. They sounded good – made with sour cream — something really different. Teen Martha (who is interning part-time at a lab at the med school this summer but has whole days with nothing to do other than download music for me and watch My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding) decided to give it a whirl since I am in the middle of madness trying to write a book in a month (details to come).  Total disaster. The recipe says to bake in a 9×13 jellyroll pan. It just barely fit and then it overflowed all over the oven. In mid-bake we (and by we I mean Mr. MarthaAndMe who gets called in for the really big disasters) transferred to a 9 inch square baking pan. Huge mess. It’s all over my oven which smells like burning cake whenever I turn it on now.

The frosting didn’t work either. It was dry and clumpy and she had to add more liquid. The end result was a brownie that tasted like cake (did not have brownie texture at all) and frosting no one liked. Total fail. I don’t think this recipe was tested by Penzey’s.

I haven’t posted a major disaster in a long time, so I was definitely due. I found this recipe for Iowa Brownies in the Penzey’s spice catalog. They sounded good – made with sour cream — something really different. Teen Martha (who is interning part-time at a lab at the med school this summer but … Read more →