As promised, here is the second edition of the Donkey Bar. Fresh on the heels of my KAF Fudge Brownie "win!", I was optimistic about a successful outcome for these. Using the KAF recipe (see previous post) for the brownie base, I assembled in a 9x13" pan as follows:- Brownie batter
- Cheesecake batter (same recipe as last time)
- Refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough (from a log)
I baked for 45 minutes, but they might have benefited from a full 50 minutes. When cooled, I topped with a glaze made by melting 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate with 2 oz. unsalted butter.
While the bars maintained definition in their layers, I STILL was not pleased with the result. Too...gooey. The brownie didn't rise, almost as if the weight of the other ingredients was too much for the structure to support. (No, I didn't forget baking powder this time!) It may have to do with using a "from scratch" brownie batter though. Topping it with so much other stuff was just tempting fate! I'm not sure if I should keep trying to perfect these, or if I should leave well enough alone and opt for simplicity. Plain brownies. Maybe with chocolate chunks. Or walnuts. But not both.
Donkey Bars must live! You can't give up!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you could bake in stages...Imagine if you were making each dessert individually, what times would you bake them for? If the chesecake was 30 minutes, brownies 20, cookies 10 then you could layer only the cheesecake for 10 minutes, then take out and add brownies for 10 minutes, then take out add cookies and cook for 10 more. Does that make sense? I dunno if it would help but it was the only idea I had.
Lindsey - No worries, I don't plan to permanantly retire the Donkey Bar right now. I had given the stage baking serious consideration, but chose to forgo it and opt for all-at-once baking. Bad idea, obviously. Next time I will listen to myself (and now you too!) and try it that way...
ReplyDeleteTry baking in phases. Brownie 1st, then cheesecake (1/2 way), then cookie dough on top. I used to work in a bakery and that's what we did for a 3 layer chocolate concoction using cake and cheesecake. (The last layer was mousse, so obviously no baking for that)
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