They’re from The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider, which is an interesting book not only because the title describes my polar opposite but because of the approach it has towards both the recipes and the layout of the book itself. For instance, the other day I made one of the recipes demonstrating what she calls "close-roasting", a pork shoulder braised in its own juices by covering closely with aluminum foil in a dutch oven and marinated overnight in a "mole-inspired ancho chile, cinnamon and cocoa powder" rub. This was but one of 4 variations listed under the category of close-roasting – the next variation? Duck. So the goal is to show you the technique and how you might apply it to anything you have on hand, so that you might – get ready for it – improvise! Amazing how that works. We’ll see how that works out for someone like me, what with my panic attacks at having a different kind of paprika than a recipe calls for.
Anyway, my lemon cake was almost gone and I needed something to keep me from reaching out to Little Debbie, (she’s so good to me!) so I plucked this recipe out of the back since Warren prefers brownie or other chocolate + flour treats. A word of caution – these tell you heaping tablespoon or 1/4 portions of dough. If you make these with the variation I have written, they are nearly too big to be comfortably enjoyed due to the richness. If/when I make them again, I’m going to scale it back to a heaping teaspoon instead (if you do it now, remember that smaller portion = less time in the oven.) Then again, I had half of one for breakfast and two after dinner, so…
