Christmas Goodies Part 2

Alright, so this next Christmas goodie is something that I've had a little battle the couple times I've made it.  A little background first:  Me and brownies have never really gotten along.  Yes, even the easy out of a box brownies, I struggle with.  It's not the batter I have trouble with, it's cooking them the perfect amount of time.  For me, I have found that there are three ways brownies can turn out: First the "super gooey and have to be eaten with a spoon because they're too undercooked to even be cut into pieces" ; Second the "watch out, you might break a tooth on this too hard, overcooked brownie" and Third the "perfectly cooked to where it's not too gooey to where you can cut it into perfect squares and not too hard to where you would break a tooth eating it".  I don't think I have ever made brownies to where they've turned out the third way.  That is why making these candy cane kiss brownie bites  took more than one try.

Like I said, it is not the batter part of the brownie that I mess up, it is the cooking time.  See, look how pretty this looks:

Totally looks like it should, right?  Well, then comes time to put them in the oven.  The original recipe calls to bake them for 20-30 minutes.  Wow, is that way off from my oven.  So, the first batch turns out to be the second type of brownie (you could have seriously broken a tooth).  I had extra batter, so I was able to try again.  I decided to subtract 5 minutes from the time.  Second batch: the bottom of the brownie was a little too hard for my taste, but Scott really liked it, so I guess it turned out okay, but I still wasn't satisfied.

I first made these for a get together we had with some friends at our house.  I threw a graduation lunch party for Scott a week later and decided to try making them again, determined to get the cooking time down perfect.  I'm not going to lie, I don't think I'll ever get the timing down right for any kind of brownie recipe.  This last batch turned out better, but I was still unsatisfied.  I tried cooking the first batch for 13 minutes and the second batch for 10 minutes.  The 13 minute batch still seemed to hard for my taste and the 10 minute batch was a little too gooey, so apparently it's either 11 or 12 minutes that's the magic number.  I think I am done making these for right now.  Maybe I'll try it again next year.  Scott still tried to convince me that they turned out great, but I guess I am picky when it comes to how I want my brownies to taste.  I am satisfied though, with how they turned out in the way they look. Pretty and festive.