This is a do-over. Unlike in life, where history stays pretty much where you left it, when you re-brand your blog and start moving posts over, you can fix some things along the way. This has actually been a pretty popular recipe in the 5 years since I first posted it. It got stumbled on StumbleUpon, was accepted at a number of food photo sites and eventually got pinned on Pinterest, all of which brings a bunch of people to check out a post. I mean, who can blame anyone for thinking that they might like to bake up some chewy, lemon-ey brownies? Not me, certainly.
Plus there were people, like my sister, Louise who instantly fell in love with them, and baked them to share with friends and then sent the friends to my blog for the recipe. And as for me – I liked these a lot myself, and had made them enough times that I could do it from memory, without having to go back to the blog for the recipe every time. Or so I thought.
Because the fact was, once I got around to looking these up, to include here on Creekside, I realized that I had in fact changed them quite a bit as I was “remembering” the recipe over the last few years. What I had done was somehow “unremembered” it, and not only that, but somehow I managed to actually improve upon them at the same time. Apparently, I am that good.
I know the new recipe is better, because I whipped up a batch of the old recipe, and then a batch of the latter version. My crack team of taste tasters [that would be me and Larry] did a thorough analysis of both batches, and there can be no doubt – the new ones are better. A LOT better.
So, without further ado, here is the improved version:
- 4 ounces butter, melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- grated zest from 1 lemon
- 1 cup flour
- ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons chopped, toasted pecans, divided
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- Generously butter a 7 x 10 inch pan, or the equivalent, preheat oven to 350º.
- In a medium bowl, blend brown sugar into melted butter [I use a wooden spoon].
- Stir in egg and lemon zest.
- Measure remaining ingredients into bowl, except for the 2 tablespoons pecans, and mix until uniformly combined.
- Scrape batter into baking dish and spread evenly.
- Sprinkle reserved 2 tablespoons pecans over the top of the batter.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until top is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with maybe just a few moist crumbs, but no wet batter.
- Cool on a rack and slice 1 inch by 3 inch bars. Keep tightly sealed at room temperature for up to a week.
The changes have been slight, and entirely involve more. More butter, more lemon, more spices. And that is not a bad thing at all.
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