Zingerman's Buenos Aires Brownies .....

I now know why I've never really cared for brownies. It's because I've never had a great brownie made with great chocolate. If you're on the fence about brownies, or you really love brownies, this is the recipe for you. I was in Ann Arbor for a few days this week and of course I had to visit Zingerman's. I actually went to a hard candy tasting held on Wednesday night. I was looking around the shop after the class and I toyed with the idea of bringing back a brownie for Robin. I then remembered that I had the recipe in an old issue of Midwest Living Magazine. I dug it out yesterday along with some unsweetened Callebaut that The Chocolate Doctor sent me. I also used a new 9 x 13 pan I picked up at Williams Sonoma. I took a bit of liberty with the recipe( the original recipe is for their magic brownies. These brownies contain walnuts). I've never liked nuts in brownies, so I dolloped dulce de leche on top of the batter and swirled it through. I ended up with the Buneos Aries Brownies. Try these, you won't be dissapointed.

Magic Brownies

13 tbls butter( no substitutes)
6.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1.5 c. sifted cake flour( I used white Lily)
3/4tsp baking powder( most brownie recipes have no levening in them, maybe this is why they were so good)

1/2tsp salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c. toasted walnuts( chopped)

Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Melt butter and choc. together over low heat. Set aside. In small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. In large mixing bowl( I used my KA), beat eggs and sugar for 5 min. Add cooled choc. mixture and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined. Add flour mixture, beat again. Pour in pan, bake in 325F oven for 30 min( I used convection). Cool in pan on wire rack.

Curiosity got the best of me.....

I picked this up back in August when I was in Ann Arbor, MI because I was really curious about it. I mean, come on, who would pay 18.00 for a cake mix? $3.99 sounds more reasonable, and its hard for me to resist what I deem a "bargain". These mixes are manufactured by Nordicware and are advertised as "all natural".

I picked up two more of these mixes at Marshall's last week. Both were on clearance for 3 bucks. One is the infamous tunnel of fudge and a cinnamon swirl. I planned to make one of those last night but then I saw that this butterscotch mix had a use by date of Jan 07, I thought I better make this one instead.

This is the first mix I've ever seen that has a two step recipe, cream butter with a sugar packet, add dry packet alternately with milk. The streusel is mixed with 4tbl of butter and placed in the middle.

I'm please to say this did NOT taste like a mix. NO chemical taste whatsoever. I wont buy them again because for the amount of butter( 12tbls in cake, 4 in struesel) and eggs( 4), I could make a from scratch cake with just a tad more effort. (measuring the flour, sugar, and levener).

I skipped the optional glaze( more butter, brown sugar, rum) and instead just dusted with confectioners sugar.