Baking Experiment

A couple weeks ago, Steph came across the Deceptively Delicious cookbook while I was working. (Apparently she'd been unaware of it, and the whole concept of deceptively delicious cooking, even though it's been a hot topic of discussion for several months now.) She thought it was a fabulous idea, and suggested that I make something from the cookbook and bring it to the next staff meeting. And today was our first staff meeting in ages, so I accepted the challenge and made the Brownies with Spinach and Carrots from the book. I did a little research on the World Wide Web before hand to find other people's thoughts on the dessert. After all, I have my reputation as a good baker of brownies to protect. I came across this website, and she gave the brownies high praise, along with a couple of tips for making them. As I was short on time, I had the bright idea of using baby food for the pureed carrots, but unfortunately they don't make spinach baby food, so I had to make my own. (Fyi, in case you ever make it, it takes almost 3/4 of a bag to make 1/2 cup of pureed spinach.) I also made the mint icing and chocolate glaze from this recipe.

Overall the reaction from staff members was very positive. They all commented on how moist and chocolaty the brownies were. I could smell the carrots in brownies, but I've always hated the smell of carrot baby food (next to green beans it's my least favorite). And no one else seemed to notice. I think the peppermint icing helped cover the smell. I thought the brownies tasted pretty normal for the most part, very chocolaty, but with a hint of ...something... different. But if I hadn't known what was in it, I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it. Karrie was the only one who was critical of them, and she said she thought they were too chocolaty! As if there is such a thing!