After 40 years (mom got me going early) as a highly iconoclastic cook, I think about recipes the same way that Captain Barbossa thinks about The Pirates’ Code: they’re more like guidelines than actual rules. So, here is what I did with a brownie recipe (eight-inch-square pan) from The Hershey’s Cocoa Cookbook tonight:
Being of a long-time earthy-crunchy bent, I used all whole wheat flour and substituted applesauce for one half the butter. (I don’t always have applesauce, but produce is so expensive right now, I’m going through a large jar of unsweetened sauce.) I reduced the sugar slightly to offset the sweetness of the applesauce, and I increased the cocoa by a third, because there’s never enough cocoa in these recipes. Then, I added one cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. (I tend to prefer my brownies without nuts, and anyway, between me and the cats, there’s more than enough nuts around here already.)
That would have been quite delectible, as is. But then…I started looking at a bottle of pure peppermint/mint extract sitting on my shelf–actually inherited from someone else. In an adventurous spirit, I reduced the vanilla extract by half and tossed in a teaspoon of the mint extract. I ended up with–double chocolate mint brownies. And yes…they are good. Even with whole wheat flour and applesauce, believe it or not! (And no transfats, and the eggs are organic. They’re health food. Because I say so, that’s why.)