brownie bake-off

For a long time, these have been my favorite brownies. Fudgy, rich, delicious. I would add a teaspoon or two of instant espresso powder, and people would always ask for the recipe.

But, you get bored, you know? And you stop using the nice chocolate, and you don't wait for them to cool before you cut them, and they still taste fine, but they're not quite the same as they used to be.

And they sell these little "brownie bites" at our local grocery store that are really tasty. One day I checked the ingredients and noticed that they were made with cocoa powder instead of unsweetened chocolate. And filed that information away.

Then, the other day, I found this recipe. I thought I'd give them a try and see if they did the same fudgy/crispy thing that the ones at our grocery store do. They did. But could they displace my favorites?

I baked a batch of each today, and indeed, they could. And with an extra half cup of chocolate chips, they rock. I have a new favorite brownie recipe.

But I do have to see if I can just melt the butter in the microwave and then stir in the sugar and cocoa powder, instead of doing the whole melt-in-a-bowl-over-simmering-water thing. Because, you know? I'm lazy.

(I also have to note that some years ago my mother gave me a brownie recipe that called for cocoa powder and I immediately converted it to use unsweetened chocolate, because I thought it was somehow cheating to use cocoa powder. But --guess what?--it's not.)

And, yes, I did bake two batches of brownies today. Luckily there's a bake sale that needs donations.