Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter... Best-Ever Brownies?

If it is possible to hate a particular dessert, I could easily say that I loathe dry brownies.  They lure you in with the promise of chewy chocolate and a tight, dense crumb, only to leave you disappointed with a brown mass that seems to immediately fall to pieces when you bite into it.  Come on brownie, lets get a little resilience here.  Now I realize that some of you might condemn me for detesting any dessert with almighty chocolate as the main ingredient, but at the risk of prompting shouts of sacrilege, I will say it again: To me, a dry brownie is not even worth one single bite. 


Because I hold this opinion, brownies in general don't rank high on my list of favorite chocolate desserts, or high on my list of desserts in general; however, when I opened my mailbox a few months ago to find the February issue of Bon Appetit, I was immediately awestruck by the gorgeous dark chocolate brownies gracing the cover.  The visual alone set off immediate chocolate cravings, but then Bon Appetit piqued my interest even more with the huge text proclamining "BEST-EVER BROWNIES."


Wow Bon Appetit, that is a pretty bold statement to make.  

Both the delectable photo and the 'best-ever' proclamation broke down my initial brownie barriers, so it was only natural that I check out the recipe - and that was where Bon Appetit upped the ante even more.  You see, they had an entire feature section devoted to chocolate desserts penned by none other than the lovely Alice Medrich.  For those of you not familiar, Alice is an author, baker, and chocolatier that has been affectionately called 'The First Lady of Chocolate.'  Is it not appropriate then, that a recipe by her should be deemed 'Best-Ever Brownies?'  As if I wasn't convinced enough already, I scanned over the recipe and realized that these brownies were a one-pot recipe.  Done.  I was sold. 

Pecan Crusted Duck with Spinach and Sausage

When I was in Cleveland for the Memorial Day weekend, in addition to the bridal shower, it was also really great to spend some time with my parents.  The weekend festivities were so much fun and all the girl time was great, but relaxing with my mom and dad on Sunday was also a much needed breath of fresh air.  

Actually, just being in Ohio in May is a breath of fresh air; around the spring-summer transition, the Midwest is a wide expanse of green carpet, with baby blades of pure green grass, thick foliage on the trees, and colorful flowers growing everywhere.  It is a stark contrast to the dry landscape of southern California at this time of year.  I can almost feel the trees breathing in and out and increasing my oxygen flow; meanwhile, the blue sky soothes away all my worries and cares while the sun warms my face.  All in all, pretty heavenly.  Since the dead of summer is reliably humid and at least 90 degrees every day, I think May is one of the best times of the year in Ohio.  

   

Most of the time when I go back to Cleveland, either my mom has some special recipe planned that she wants to make for me (in the last couple of years I have been making recipes for her too!), or we have decided to make one of our classic meals for the holidays or a summer cook out.  No matter what, there is always food and eating, and lots of it!  More recently, my parents have also become budding foodies themselves, so it was no surprise when my dad told me he had picked up some duck legs at a kosher shop.  He was really excited about making this recipe (his very first chef idol was Emeril Lagasse), and I was looking forward to it as well since I had never made duck at home.    

When we were making it, everything seemed fine; we went through all the steps for the recipe without a hitch, and I think my dad really enjoyed being the head honcho in the kitchen while I worked as his sous-chef.  I gave my mom a wink when I called him "Chef" once, and I think out of the corner of my eye I saw him puff up with pride.