Brownies

I have a tendency to lead conversations toward dessert with any and everyone. And usually the question, “What’s your favorite dessert?” gets asked early on. And what’s surprising, well not really, is that the main response is, “brownies.” Classic chocolate brownies.

And these are the absolute best. They are adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s favorite brownies, so of course they are. She describes them perfectly,

“My favorite brownies take 10 minutes to put together and embody everything I love in a brownie; they’re bittersweet and chewy, where so many brownies excessively sweet and fudgy (or worse, the dreaded cakey and chocolaty in color only). Like many of my favorite recipes, they’re defined not by what they have in them but what they don’t; there’s no brown sugar or brown butter, baking powder, Dutched cocoa, cake flour, nuts, coffee granules, chips or frosting. Seriously, I think if a brownie needs frosting to sing, it probably wasn’t a great brownie to begin with. There are seven ingredients and the most important one, as it should be, is the unsweetened chocolate. Why unsweetened chocolate? If you want a baked good with deeply rooted chocolate intensity without using a half-pound or more of chopped bars (these use just three ounces of chocolate, which means you can splurge on the best stuff), you’re going to have to start with unsweetened chocolate, every time. These brownies understand that.”

She sold me ages ago. Your turn! If you’re looking for brownies with a twist check out: Brownie Tartlets, Nutella Brownie Tartlets, or Chocolate Brownie Crinkle Cookies.

And for brownie imposters: Banana Brownies (Vegan) and Blondies.