ON A MISSION FOR BROWNIES

I've been craving brownies for weeks now. Chocolatey, chewy, gooey brownies. About a week ago I made Coconut Swirl Brownies courtesy of Martha, but they were more cakey than chewy and despite being a hardcore fan of anything-coconut, I just wasn't feeling it. The chewy chocolate brownie craving had not been fulfilled and so this evening, I tried my hand at Martha's Double Chocolate Brownies. Her headnote made promises of fudgy brownies on the basis that so many other people had raved about them. I followed the recipe to a tee and patiently waited for the brownies to bake. (I ate a Fuji apple with almond butter to bide my time.)After 25 minutes my brownies were done. In fact, despite the 35 minutes suggested in Martha's Cookies book, I thought my brownies were overdone; a toothpick came out totally clean--not a good sign for a fudgy brownie. I waited the 15 minutes before I took them out of the pan and then another 30 minutes before I cut them into squares. Okay so it was really more like five minutes but didn't I tell you I'd been craving brownies for three weeks?!

The result? Not a fudgy brownie. My brownies were overdone :( They were more cakey than fudgy and I still have not conquered my brownie craving. Don't get me wrong, they taste great--especially with the addition of chopped walnuts--but they're just not chewy. (I didn't include the recipe in the above link because the recipe on the website and the recipe in the Cookies book differ in quantities and ingredients.)

I want a brownie that reminds me of those infamous Two-Bite Brownies. I want a brownie that results in a texture reminiscent of the ones you make from a box--except I want to bake them from scratch.

Is a recipe for the ultimate chewy brownie really that hard to come by nowadays? In order to make my brownies more palatable, I ate it with a couple of small scoops of honey lavender ice cream and extra chopped walnuts. I don't know what it is about lavender, but I just can't get enough--even when it's scooped on top of a brownie square.Even though the combination of chocolate, lavender and honey sounded a little weird in my head, I'll tell you this: it was incredible. Plate-licking good in fact but you'd really have to like lavender in order to do that. I stopped myself just a little short to show you to devoured evidence:
And I'll end with that, continuing my search for the ultimate chewy brownie recipe. I'll see if Google can help me out on this one.