While I was off pretending that I can play hockey Sunday night, the Puddinette, for no reason other than because She. Is. Awesome, made a pan of brownies from scratch.
I’m going to say that again, because it’s important, she made brownies from scratch.
Which means they had actual cocoa and actual eggs and actual flour as opposed to some heavily processed equivalents and a health dose of the magic of modern chemistry.
As I contemplated the last brownie in the pan this morning —*whomp* *whomp* — pictured above before it was inevitably consumed voraciously by my four year-old son, The Attitude, I was struck with a revelation: as the reign of the overly icing-ed, pretentiously-decorated cupcake as Darling of All Baked Goods winds down, the time has come to anoint a successor.
And I say the moment is ripe to raise the humble brownie to it’s rightful place, first among the baked sweets.
It’s range and flexibility are unparalleled. The form offers everything from the decadence of something dark and bitterly chocolate-laden to the cocoa-free blondie, from softly cakey to rich and fudgey. Icing? No icing? Half-iced? Whatever you like! And if you prefer them free of chunkies, there’s a brownie for that! What about nuts or chips or, I don’t know, sour-as-a-old-man-with-a-defenseless-lawn gummy patch kids? Whatever your little heart desires, someone has likely mixed it into brownie batter. Or will, if you order it.
Also, brownies don’t need those fussy paper cups or specially formed trays to back. A sheet pan, that’s it. Clearly, they are the People’s Confection.
So, then, bakers, I implore you, it’s time to rediscover, and in doing so, champion, the brownie.
And fast, because, seriously, I’ve so had it with this cupcake nonsense. So let’s start seeing brownie bakers in strip malls everywhere, post haste, please!
Viva la Brownie!
Pud’n
Puddintopia 