I have always heard that brownies from a box are actually much better than the from-scratch kind so I have never attempted to make them any other way. Plus, I am not a total snob or anything- if something is better pre-made or from a box, I am cool with that.
However, yesterday, my husband Travis was lamenting that we didn't bring any of the brownies his mom had made the day before home with us after a visit.
I was kind of sad about this too because, uh...yum, brownies, but was feeling awfully lazy about getting in the car, driving the 2 miles to Kroger and buying some brownie mix.
So I got to googling my usual baking recipe sources and found I had nearly all the ingredients for a recipe from my old stand-by, Alton Brown. (Don't ask me how making brownies from scratch is easier than picking up a box at the store.)
Making them was a pretty straighforward, except you do have to sift A LOT. The recipe called for brown sugar, but all mine was rock hard beyond softening, so I subbed regular sugar with some molasses. I am not generally a fan of this solution, because the molasses taste is SO STRONG, but this turned out fine, with just a hint of molasses flavor. I also mixed regular Hershey's cocoa with Hershey's special dark cocoa- yum!
So are they better than the box? Well...it really depends on what you want! Generally the box kind are a bit more fudgy than these. But these are definitely delicious!
I won't reprint the recipe, but here's the link: Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies.
-Jenny
