Brownie Heaven: Five Superchocolate Treats

No Comments | Written on February 9, 2012 at 11:00 am, by Amy Palanjian

I have brownies on the brain.

I hadn’t had or even thought about brownies in ages until about a week ago when I had to (had to!) taste three different brownies at my day job as a food editor. The brownies were varying degrees of delicious, but they weren’t exactly my style, since they were dense and cakey. I prefer to have the somewhat crunchy and chewy edge pieces of thinner brownies (which is also how I feel when it comes to bar cookies—I will always take the edge because I like the texture better). Since then, every day, in one way or another, I’ve been preoccupied by brownies:

1. I found a way to create a new story all about brownies in a magazine that I’m working on. I am looking forward to the day when we photograph those beauties, which as luck would have it is going to be right around Valentine’s Day. Fingers crossed there are leftovers that I can take home!

2. I sent a good friend a care package from one of my favorite bakeries full of, you guessed it, brownies. They actually are salted peanut-butter brownies, which really just take things to the next level. (Then I found a peanut-butter brownie recipe, which may save me a trip to the bakery.)

3. And finally, I had friends over for brunch this past weekend and despite the fact that I knew that a friend was bringing her crazy-good cinnamon rolls, I made a batch of classic brownies. I figured that 11 a.m. on a Sunday would be a great time to share a dose of chocolate—and when paired with coffee, I was right.

So even though we sometimes forget about this supereasy-to-make dessert, I’m nominating it for a comeback. And if you are looking for twists on classic brownies, I suggest that you try:

Almond-Fudge Brownies (pictured above, with ground almonds giving the brownies greater depth of flavor)

Malted Fudge Brownies—adding malted milk balls to brownies sounds like a most excellent idea.
Marshmallow-Crisp Brownies—a cross between a peanut butter cup, a Rice Krispie Treat, and a brownie, these are sure to be inhaled by the dessert-loving folks in your life.
Cheesecake Brownies—I say, if you can combine two classic desserts into one handheld treat, you should. These brownies sound completely delicious (perhaps diced and stirred into a bowl of vanilla ice cream?).