547568 Mon Aug 11 08:35:09 -0700 2008 2 31 Home Cooking 0 3946834 just a few questions that i'm sure you all can help me with... hopefully this isn't too redundant on these boards. i made the splendid table brownie recipe out of noticing that it's relatively simple and offers some great chocolate flavour. didn't hurt that it came so well recommended. well... apparently it wasn't simple enough for me and i screwed up in the end. first, my butter clarified itself while i left it over the heat from steaming water and the minor amount of chocolate (in comparison to butter) resulted in butter oil dimpled with melted chocolate dots. did i perhaps leave it alone too long and should have mixed it continuously to get a smooth and unseparated mix? is there just too much butter and not enough chocolate? secondly, i dumped in the flour before adding the chocolate and noticed that it took much longer to bake, say over 10 more minutes and i've still got a bit of a "wet cake" rather than chewy dense brownie... is this because of the order? second... martha stewart can't be wrong right? i made some oatmeal cookies with this recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/oatmeal-raisin-cookies?lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD and i did make two changes: subbed half a cup of flour for spelt flour and being sans brown sugar, used white sugar and a teaspoon or less of molasses. my cookies turned out cakey rather than chewy or crisp or remotely cookie like. what could have caused this? does spelt flour bake up significantly differently? thanks! Mon Aug 11 08:35:11 -0700 2008 10634 pinstripeprincess 1 3946975 brownies: didn't matter if the butter had clarified or not. You just needed to keep stirring until the chocolate was completely melted & mixed with the butter. Ingredient order is important in baking recipes--if you added the flour before the butter/chocolate mixture, you change the chemistry of the recipe entirely. oatmeal cookies: no, Martha's not wrong, you just hacked her recipe, so you can't blame her for your result. You made TWO substitutions, both impacting the cookie's texture. White sugar plus molasses is quite different from brown sugar, as the molasses ph, water content, and sulphured/unsulphered state all must be accounted for in the recipe. Furthermore, making the recipe all wheat flour rather than adding spelt as initially specified changes lots, too. If you really want to understand baking chemistry, get a copy of Shirley Corriher's CookWise. She's a biochemist who explains how recipes work. Mon Aug 11 09:15:54 -0700 2008 3946834 12023 Hungry Celeste 2 3947320 not blaming martha, i can't imagine that she'd put up a recipe that hadn't been tested umpteenth times. just looking to understand the science of how my changes and mistakes changed things or not. thanks for the book suggestion. Mon Aug 11 11:00:04 -0700 2008 3946975 10634 pinstripeprincess