Gabby was in my French class. There were many reasons to hate her, chief and most puzzling
among them the fact that she spoke French fluently. Also, she was a porcelain-complected redhead with a button nose, no body fat, and the easy self-confidence of a woman twice her age. Amidst her cripplingly awkward, puberty-stricken peers, Gabby looked as out of place as a quadriplegic 'Nam vet on the uneven bars.The French Chocolate Brownies are similarly displaced as one of three prototypical brownie recipes as selected by the New York Times. And they're French, so that association also provoked the weak simile you just suffered through.
The recipes for French Chocolate and Supernatural Brownies differ only slightly, but the relative results suggest no shared evolutionary paths. The French Chocolates are so cake-like, their chocolate taste so mellow, that an identity crisis seems imminent. What keeps me from calling a spade a spade, however, is the following bucolic image:
It's a mild, dewy Sunday afternoon in late March. A puff of a breeze carries the scent of fresh cut grass and the sound of laughing preschoolers around tables dressed in red-checkered tablecloths, tablecloths by now tattooed with ketchup, mustard, and potato salad stains. The time for dessert has arrived, but one question remains:
Q: What dessert will satisfy the demands of ruffle-socked towheads with sensitive little palates and their pretentious mothers, pinkies perpetually pointing skyward?
A: 
These brownies develop a delicate, flaky crust, not unlike phyllo dough in texture. This photograph doesn't do justice to the billowy height of the French Chocolate Brownies, but it's a big part of their appeal. Even small squares seem bounteous; you inner glutton will luxuriate in biting into a brownie that keeps on going. This psychological trick is complemented by the brownie's moist, fluffy crumb and its cloyingly sweet chocolate flavor; no single mouthful satisfies a chocolate craving. And yet, every single mouthful satisfies the desire for a mouthful of brownie.
By my standards, the French Chocolate Brownies are just barely brownies. They are light and buttery at the expense of being chocolatey, and chocolateyness is the best feature of the brownie. But because these brownies are appealingly mild and would not overwhelm children, the elderly, or pregnant women, I am making room for them in my pantheon of sweets. I would recommend you do the same, especially if you're juvenile, geriatric, or gestating.
These brownies develop a delicate, flaky crust, not unlike phyllo dough in texture. This photograph doesn't do justice to the billowy height of the French Chocolate Brownies, but it's a big part of their appeal. Even small squares seem bounteous; you inner glutton will luxuriate in biting into a brownie that keeps on going. This psychological trick is complemented by the brownie's moist, fluffy crumb and its cloyingly sweet chocolate flavor; no single mouthful satisfies a chocolate craving. And yet, every single mouthful satisfies the desire for a mouthful of brownie.By my standards, the French Chocolate Brownies are just barely brownies. They are light and buttery at the expense of being chocolatey, and chocolateyness is the best feature of the brownie. But because these brownies are appealingly mild and would not overwhelm children, the elderly, or pregnant women, I am making room for them in my pantheon of sweets. I would recommend you do the same, especially if you're juvenile, geriatric, or gestating.
(Thanks for the photo, BBC Sport!)
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