Dare I Say It? Better than Boxed?

I've had some irreverent thoughts about brownies. The one that feels most like blasphemy? I usually find boxed or bagged brownie mix to make a better batch. But these babies are the best I have made in a long, long time (should I have said "a bazillion years" to keep the accidental alliteration going?).

Kelly at Eat Make Read posted this recipe. I think you'd do well to bake them yourself. That little bit of Maldon sea salt goes the extra mile. I happened to have most of a box in the pantry because of last year's margarita cookies (that recipe was from Smitten Kitchen), and boy am I glad.




They don't carry the recommended Valrhona chocolate at Whole Foods, so I used Green & Black's organic baking chocolate (72% cocoa). The resulting brownies were rich, thick, and dense. They also managed to be flaky on top, with a crackly crust, but soft and chewy and tender of crumb. Win-win!

This is a big statement, but... if I were forced to only make one brownie recipe for the rest of my life (boy, I am glad this is just a hypothetical situation I posed to myself), I think I would choose these.

It's scary to have one's world turned upside down, but my boxed mix days may be over.