brownies outside the box.

We've been looking for a brownie recipe. The weird thing about brownies is that the kind from the box taste the best. It's a terrible thing to say, but I stand by it. You can argue that it's because I've been conditioned to think that something called a brownie is supposed to taste like those things that result when you combine a box mix with oil and eggs and milk. I guess that's a good point, but it does nothing to change the fact that when I want a brownie, I want something that tastes like it came from the kitchen of Betty Crocker.

Homemade brownies are good, sure, but they are not the same. Box brownies are chewy, with a thin, paper-like crust on the top that shines. When I bite into a homemade brownie, I am not really concentrating on how good it is, but how it is not what I wanted out of a brownie experience. I am focused on what it is not, which prevents me from appreciating what it is. This is a general issue in my life, but that's a different blog entry.

Josh wanted brownies one night, so I turned to Allrecipes. I begged it to give me box brownies without the box. I found a promising recipe, and I made a half batch, which was plenty for two people. It was very well-received. So well-received, in fact, that as the last brownie was eaten, Josh said that we would have to make more now, as if running out of brownies was the same as running out of milk.

When I did not immediately replenish our brownie supply, Josh took it upon himself to do the job. However, he did not notice that I had halved the recipe. He did notice which pan I had used to bake them. I think he is a selective noticer. So he put enough brownie batter for a 9 x 13 pan into an 8 x 8 pan. Josh thinks he has just invented the best thing since sliced bread. I'm not sure what he invented, but it is something different than what the recipe intended.

The double-decker brownie has a thick crust. It is so dense that I don't think you could eat it cold or even at room temperature, as it would be like biting into a chocolate bar two-inches tall. So you have to heat it up until it is no longer a brownie, but a piece of molten chocolate that would be roughly cubed shaped if not for the oozing. He can eat it plain, but I have to have ice cream with it, because I do not have whatever gene he has that enables him to eat pure chocolate all the time without a chaser.

I think that we have found our brownie recipe, which I now share with you. If you are the type, you can make oozy chocolate cubes, which are excessively rich, though some people like them.

Brownies