All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

While this quote is attributed to Charles Schulz, I think most people will agree that chocolate is one of our favorite "go to" comfort foods. And what better form of chocolate than a brownie??? Most of you probably have your favorite brownie recipe, or we had settled on using the Ghirardelli Chocolate "Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix" available at Costco as our usual solution. That all changed in June when Katelyn suggested we do a "Brownie Bake-off". The recipes and results follow:

First off, which brownie recipes to try? Katelyn came equipped with her favorite "healthy" brownie recipe, and (unfairly maybe) we put it up against the "old favorite" recipe from my sister Liz, and a "Classic Brownie" recipe from Cook's Illustrated which I had always wanted to try.

While results were mixed, they leaned strongly toward the Classic Brownie recipe, so I guess we have a new family favorite! What I love about Cook's Illustrated is THEY do all the research for you. In this case, they tested things like what size pan (most recipes call for an 8x8 pan, they elected to use 13x9). Clearly, I missed that part of the recipe when we did this bake-off, so I had to guess on how long to cook them.

They also experimented with the amount of butter, type of flour, type of sugar, chocolate options, and mixing methods. I love reading their results. For instance, they tested cake flour vs. all-purpose flour and decided cake flour makes more tender brownies. Who knew? Of course, I don't know about you but I don't usually have cake flour on hand, so looked up an emergency substitute. Substituting cornstarch for 2T of the all-purpose flour (per cup) seemed to work just fine, although I might try cake flour next time around. I learned that it is milled from softer wheat and contributes less protein, or gluten, to a recipe.

The most adventurous I had gotten before was omitting baking powder to make a more chewy brownie (hint from Liz's recipe). In the CI testing, the inclusion of baking powder gave the "just right" texture between cakey and fudgy.

They tested different types of sugar, and decided granulated sugar was the best option because brown sugar lent a flavor that was "distracting" to the brownie tasters. My biggest learning was on the chocolate. I usually stock unsweetened baking chocolate in cocoa form, and rarely have solid unsweetened chocolate bars on hand. Since I was going to some trouble for this recipe, I did buy the chocolate in bar form. Later when I made another batch (because the first batch went so fast!), I substituted cocoa and butter as I usually do and it made a marked difference.

They include nuts in the recipe (I leave them out because certain members of my family don't like them) and in their testing they learned that including them in the batter led to a "steamed" nut that became soft. They sprinkled them on top, and even toasted them first to make them crunchier.

Last but not least, I learned something new about "toothpick testing". I always thought you wanted your toothpick to come out "clean", but according to their directions it is overbaked if it is completely clean, underbaked if it still has batter clinging to it. What you want a few moist crumbs clinging to it, I guess. Learn something new every day!

Here are the recipes:

Classic Brownies

Source: Cook’s Illustrated

Makes 24 2-inch brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped medium (optional)

• 1-1/4 c cake flour

• ½ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp baking powder

• 6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine

• 12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six 1-inch pieces (I used salted and reduced the amt of salt, probably a no-no).

• 2-1/4 cups sugar

• 4 lg eggs

• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract (Yes, that is tablespoon!)

Directions (simplified):

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees, adjust rack to middle position. Grease a 13x9” pan. They had a complex process using foil to line the pan (makes it easier to cut them and extract them from the pan.) I didn’t bother.

2. If using nuts, spread on rimmed baking sheet, bake for 5-8 minutes, set aside to cool.

3. Whisk dry ingredients to combine in small bowl (flour, salt, baking powder).

4. Melt chocolate and butter in double-boiler or microwave in large bowl (45 seconds, then 30 seconds, then 15 seconds at a time, stirring in between).

5. When chocolate mixture is smooth, whisk in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, whisking in between until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla.

6. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completed smooth and homogeneous.

7. Transfer batter to pan, sprinkle with nuts (if using), and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 30-35 minutes (when I accidentally baked them in a 8x8 pan it took MUCH longer, at least 50 minutes).

8. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, cut into 2 inch squares and serve. Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days (leftovers? hah!)

While this recipe did result in the best brownies according to many people who tried them, the recipe below is also really good and had been my favorite for many years. I think I wrote it out in high school, and you can barely read the recipe card anymore, so good thing I'm recording it electronically for future reference! It says the source was my sister, Liz, but I bet she'll have no recollection of giving me this recipe. Take my word for it, it's good!

Brownies

Source: Liz

Makes 16 2-inch brownies

Ingredients:

• 2 oz (2 squares) chocolate or 6T cocoa + 2T butter

• 1/3 c shortening or oil

• 1 c sugar

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2/3 c flour

• ½ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ c chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8” pan.

2. Whisk dry ingredients to combine.

3. Melt chocolate and fat over low heat.

4. In large bowl, beat eggs. Add chocolate mixture gradually.

5. Add vanilla, then dry ingredients. (omit baking powder for chewier brownies)

6. Add nuts if using.

7. Transfer batter to pan, bake 25-30 minutes.

8. Cool in pan. Cut into squares.

I would be remiss in not including Katelyn's "healthy" recipe (the original inspiration for this bake-off). Being that it's late at night, and this one is already in electronic form, I'm going to be lazy and just copy in the link. https://minimalistbaker.com/refined-sugar-free-black-bean-brownies/.

While the title gives away one of the special ingredients, if you make this without telling anyone what's in it I hazard a guess that most people won't be able to tell. However, when stacked up against the Classic Brownie recipe, most people elected those.

If you are not into baking from scratch, the Cook's Illustrated article also evaluated packaged brownie mixes. While they didn't recommend most of them, they did grudgingly say that the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate mix was "passable in a pinch". They said "no one loved these brownies, but they had a decent amount of chocolate flavor and were the least offensive of the bunch".

Wow, my family were definitely not offended as we enjoyed the Triple Chocolate variation for YEARS! In fact, my kids learned to bake using this mix. I still remember Liz telling the story of how Katelyn was making them at a young age and nearly overfilled the oil in the measuring cup. She says I very calmly squatted down to counter-level and said to Katelyn "look, this is how surface tension works" as the oil was nearly overflowing the cup. I have no recollection of this but I'll gladly take credit for being a Mom that takes advantage of "teaching moments" when they occur!