Tuesdays With Dorie: Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies

Long before the current landscape of fame, in which men and women become celebrities while having no discernible talent (I'm looking at you, Paris Hilton), being a Hollywood celebrity really meant something.

While there are still plenty of legitimately talented celebs out there - the Grammy and Oscar winners of the world come to mind - but when entertainment news tends to devote equal coverage to reality stars like Jon and Kate Gosselin as it does to Brad and Angelina, it makes me yearn for earlier days.

Sure, I wasn't born until decades after Hollywood's heyday, so maybe I hold a romanticized view of a past I wasn't even a part of. But when I think of true Hollywood glamour, I think of the heavyweights: Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Spencer Tracy, and Katharine Hepburn.

I have to admit, although I knew her name well, I didn't see my first Katharine Hepburn movie until I was in high school, when I watched "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" She acted with so much passion. It seems that she lived her life in much the same way.

According to Dorie Greenspan's introduction to this week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, Ms. Hepburn gave the following advice to her neighbour's daughter: "Never quit. Be yourself. And don't put too much flour in your brownies." Katharine Hepburn was my kind of woman.

This recipe, based on brownie recipes attributed to Ms. Hepburn, is unique in that it has a few secret ingredients: a bit of cinnamon and instant coffee, and of course, not a lot of flour. It's also heavy on the cocoa powder and sprinkled with chunks of chopped chocolate, giving it a rather dark flavour. The cinnamon and instant coffee add complexity, but aren't overpowering.

Some TWD bakers felt that this recipe turned out rather gooey. I left out the requisite nuts called for in the recipe and baked the brownies for an extra five minutes and found that they had a perfect texture: dense, chewy, but not undercooked. Chopped up into little chunks, the brownies were perfect in homemade vanilla ice cream.

Check out our special guest host, Lisa of Surviving Oz, for the recipe.