Is it wrong to lick the crumbs off your plate?

Trust me - this picture is awful (and unfortunately was the best of the bunch) but the brownies themselves are simply decadent.

Chocolaty, fudgy brownies on the bottom, topped by chocolate chip cookie, recipe courtesy of Dorie Greenspan.

Most of the blogs that I follow, drool and envy, have all been cooking with Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my home to yours. The pictures and descriptions talked about from this massive tome were wonderful. Beautiful pictures, mouth watering baked goods, and rave reviews. How could I resist running out to get myself a copy of the book?

(Actually I did resist, so close to Christmas - then I was given a gift certificate at a book store and ran, ran, ran!)

Now 'regular' readers know that I have a self imposed rule about my cookbooks - read them first, then go back and make stuff from them. Occasionally I am so tempted by something I break that rule.

When I started reading Dorie, I had a hard time not heading to the kitchen as soon as I started reading the book. I actually wondered if it was a bad idea to start at the beginning of the book and just bake and read in tandem. Really. Would that be a bad idea? (Other than for the waist lines of those of us who live here.)

On to the recipe. It isn't complicated. It's brownies and chocolate chip cookies, baked together.

Chipster-topped brownies

For the brownie layer
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (I left these out)

For the cookie layer
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store bought chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 35o degrees F. Butter a 9x13 baking pan, line it with wax or parchment paper and butter the paper. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the brownie batter, put both chocolates and the butter in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stirring occasionally, heat just until the ingredients are melted, shiny and smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the sugar and eggs on medium high speed for about 2 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy. Beat in the salt and vanilla extract. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate and butter, mixing only until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then, still on low speed, add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the batter. If using the walnuts, use the spatula to fold in the walnuts before scraping the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.

To make the cookie dough, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Working with the stand mixer in the cleaned bowl, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. One at a time, add the egg and the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat int he vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Still on low, mix in the chopped chocolate. Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls over the brownie batter and, using a spatula and a light touch, spread it evenly over the batter.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the cookie top is deep golden brown and firm and a thin knife inserted into the brownie layer comes out with only faint streaks of moist chocolate. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.

When the brownies are completely cool, carefully run a knife between the sides of the pan ad the brownies, then invert them onto another rack, remove the paper and turn right side up onto a cutting board. Cut into bars about 2 inches by 1 inch.

I actually came pretty close to following this exactly. I was short 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate, and was using all 6 ounces of bittersweet that I had, so used 1 ounce of semi-sweet chocolate and reduced the sugar by a bit. Didn't measure, so not sure exactly how much.

I omitted the nuts, but then I always do.

And 1x2 inch squares were so small that after the first one, I cut larger. Even larger I still had brownies for lunches, desserts and whatever snacks all week.

Now to get back to reading the rest of the book. After all, I only had the willpower to make it to page 94 of the book before I had to go bake from it. There are almost 500 pages of recipes in this book though, so I doubt I will make it to the end before I bake from it again.

Oh well! Breaking rules should always taste this good.