Fat Fridays: Baked's Brookster Mix

I've never been to Red Hook's Baked, but I've tasted the bakery's sweet & salty and original deep dark brownies, and have made countless recipes from its first cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers In Baking. On Friday, I stopped at Williams Sonoma to replace a beat up Microplane and picked up a box of Baked's Brookster mix (the meeting of two classics- fudgy brownies and chewy chocolate chip cookies). Easily the most expensive mix I've ever purchased at $16.95, the box contains most everything needed to make 18 muffin-sized Brooksters (I followed instructions to the t and got 16 as opposed to 18) in the comforts of a home kitchen (butter and eggs are the only missing ingredients).

The box doesn't lie; preparation is a cinch. A package of microwaved chocolate chips and butter were combined with egg and brownie mix before being separated into the compartments of a standard sized muffin tin and put in the fridge to chill. The cookie half of the Brookster was assembled in similar fashion, cooled and flattened on top of the readied brownie. After several minutes in the oven and careful unmolding (careful is the operative word- more than a few separated...which didn't stop me from eating them), a delicious, highly addictive Fat Fridays treat was unveiled. Perfectly golden and crispy on top with a slightly gooey center.

A finished Brookster- one of the few that stayed intact during the unmolding process
The interior of a cooled Brookster