Marks and Spencer fudge brownies

Yup, this really is as small as it looks (the plate is a toast/tea plate). It's a brownie from Marks and Spencers' bakery area, bought in their Oxford Street branch. You do get 6 or 8 in a packet (I can't remember as they've all gone), and two feels about the same as a whole, normally sized brownie. As shop-bought brownies go, this was excellent. It had a good flavour of chocolate fudge and a satisfyingly muddy texture. No nuts, which I'm gradually realising I prefer and a good, rich flavour. I think it might even beat the honeyrose brownie for pre-packaged. I think I'll give it the same mark - a 4/5.

A 'freshly made brownie' from the cafe at work

Inedible. I thought it looked a bit odd - like the flour had sunk to the bottom or something. I was told it was a chocolate brownie but it was stuffed full of sultanas. What a horrible shock! I had three bites to make sure and then thew it away - it was basically sultanas surrounded by flour. Gross. If I could give it a minus I would, but it'll have to be 0/5. What a waste of 95p.

Costa Coffee brownie

Simply nasty. Just look at the stale chocolate chips. I was going to look past this as all the other coffee houses seem happy to sell brownies covered in bloomed chocolate chips, but then I tasted it. It is easily the worst yet - it had a horrible amount of synthetic vanilla flavour and a disgusting aftertaste. I didn't even want a second bite but I forced myself to, in the name of research. Then I forced my boyfriend to have a bite to make sure my tastebuds weren't doing funny things - his face said it all. Horrible. It looked ok - moist and dark inside, with a fudgy texture to the outisde, but looking a bit old and tired with the stale-looking chocolate chips. It was split into two handy sections for easy eating on the move - sadly, we didn't even finish the first half as it was so foul. It's pretty unheard of that I don't finish a brownie. No points at all for this one - 0/5.

Can't upload photo for now - will do so as soon as it's working.

Leon chocolate and orange brownie

More mousse than brownie, Leon's offering (recommended to me by my friend Nicole) has the depth and bitter orange flavour of a dark Terry's chocolate orange and the moist, rich texture of a torte or a crumby mousse (and it glistens damply in the light). It has soft walnuts and plenty of orange zest to chew on.

Orange and walnuts is an interesting mix and I think it works - the nuts seem to be there more for texture than for flavour as the orange is definitely the main player in this brownie. It's a shame it's packaged in plastic - it doesn't look very appealing at all, but I suppose that makes them stackable, Pret-style, on the shelves by Leon's till, and it indicates it's almost certainly not home-made. I like its chocolatey punch, and the addition of orange, but I don't think it's anywhere near the best brownie I've tasted (sorry Nicole!) so I'm going to give it a 3.5/5.

Rosslyn Delicatessen chocolate brownie

I can't believe it's over a week since I last regaled you with the contents of my stomach, and I can't pretend my silence has been caused by a surfeit of partying in the style of 'Lindsay Lohan hits London' or Keith Richards, er... at any time in his endless life. No, I'm sorry to say I simply haven't been eating very much. Last Monday morning I was struck down by some sort of gastric flu virus and, as I was projectile vomiting like some sort of animated Southpark character and laid up in bed with achy limbs and joints, I managed to live for 3 whole days having only eaten a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt and a slice of toast. Very unlike me. My Dad read my blog and reckoned that Sunday's cuisine of pâté and prawns might have been a recipe for food poisoning, but I'm not convinced.

But, more importantly, I'm now back on my food. And what better way to reconnect my newly returned all-consuming passion for eating and my love for writing about it, than to describe the almost perfect brownie I had the pleasure to share with my boyfriend yesterday afternoon.

I bought it on a beautiful autumn afternoon in Hampstead village, having spent a wonderful couple of hours shushing through the fallen leaves and admiring the beauty that is an English autumn on Hampstead Heath. The only disappointment - that most of North London had realised that Hampstead Heath was the ideal place to go on a Sunday afternoon. Anyway, pressing our cold noses against the window of The Rosslyn Delicatessen I spied a pile of chocolate brownies neatly wrapped in clingfilm. They were a shocking £2 each, but you got a lotta brownie for your money. We bought two, split the first and now I'm nibbling the second and wondering whether I have, already, found the perfect brownie.

It's a bit crumbly on the outside yet dense and moist in the middle, but not gooey like the Kastner and Ovens' offering. The flavour is very chocolatey and rich and not too sweet at all. There is a strange, but rather nice, layer of sugar on the base which is a bit like that clearish icing you sometimes get on iced buns. If that's where the sugar's ended up it's fine by me. It has a smooth texture and no nuts and feels indulgent when you bite in and it melts in your mouth to nothing quite fast, like sherbert drops. Half a brownie was easily enough so you're not going to feel hard-done-by. But, although yesterday having walked for a couple of hours the brownie tasted like nectar, I think I'm still going to give it just 4.5/5. Although it's flavour is better balanced than Kastner and Ovens - its nearest contender - I miss that moist squidgy texture that persuades you it's straight out of the oven and definitely home-made. This is just a little too smooth. But it is very very good.

The Barnsbury Grocer chocolate brownie

I realised I had to try this as soon as I saw it. It's a good, basic freshly made brownie - no nuts, no fancy orange flavourings, not too sweet, just fudgey and glorious. The top is slightly flakey and a lovely deep brown colour, as it should be, and the smooth texture and bitter dark chocolate flavour hint at a classiness not present in the other brownies I've tasted so far. And as it's not particularly sweet I don't have that gooey sick, overindulged feeling afterwards. In fact, I could probably have another one right now without regretting it later, and it doesn't break the bank at £1.50. Very nice, but slightly lacking in excitement - 4/5.

Caffé Nero organic 'gluten free' chocolate brownie

Looking at the size of this brownie, having paid £1.40 for it, I'm already a bit pissed off. It doesn't look great. Like the Pret and EAT offerings, it's like a snack-sized brownie, not a real, filling, chocolately treat. It looks old. But I crumbled a corner off it and it surprised me slightly. It doesn't taste how I expected it to taste - it's quite floury, interesting as it proudly displays 'gluten free' no less than twice on just the front of the label, and has a texture and flavour as though it is made with ground almonds - although the only reference to nuts on its list of ingredients is the usual disclaimer re. traces of nuts. It's quite dense, not very moist. And you can definitely taste the Madagascan vanilla they mention as the final ingredient on the label. The chocolate chunks (they're bigger than chips) on the top are a bit stale-tasting, as with all these packaged brownies - that's why Honeyrose do well - no stale chips. They may look good, but they don't taste great. The problem with this brownie is that it just doesn't appeal - it's just a typical sandwich/coffee chain boring excuse for a brownie and it''s outrageous to charge £1.40 for it. 1.5/5

The Amazing Brownie Co. link

Oohh, an anonymous commenter left me this message on my 'Extolling the virtues of food' blog:

Anonymous said...

The best brownies are made by a company called The Amazing Brownie Co. they have a website at http://www.amazingbrownies.com

Just an FYI.

It's brilliant to be given a lead in my quest, so thank you anonymous, but it is also frustrating - I looked at the website and they're based in the US and don't deliver internationally. Oh, what a shame - it seems my quest will have to be restricted to the shores of merry England. In fact, for now I think I'll be searching for the best chocolate brownies in London Town, as that is where I live and work, although if I happen to be elsewhere I may sample some contenders... it would be foolish not to.

Pret chocolate brownie

Now, I'm not sure if I've got a bit of a rotten apple here. As you will see from the photo (when it is up), my Pret brownie (£1.10) definitely got the end of the chocolate chip barrel - it's more like mini chocolate shavings on the top of it. As I broke the corner of it it felt moist and I was pleasantly surprised - I always think of pret brownies as being pretty crumbly and lacking goo. But then the real surprise - I tasted it and I realised why it's different from usual - it's very eggy and undercooked. It also has an overpowering flavour of vanilla, which I could do without. But at least it doesn't taste stale. I'm not sure if this is a true representatative sample as I have had Pret brownies before and I'm pretty sure they weren't like this one, but as I bought it in a Pret I should review it as it is. Disappointing, but for unexpected reasons - 2.5/5.

Chocolate and walnut brownie - Kastner and Ovens

I seem to have unwittingly found myself on a quest for the best brownie. It feels like a challenge I can't refuse.

While my friend Nicole assures me that Leon do the best brownie in London (I'll try that another day), today I already had my sights set on an offering by Kastner and Ovens in Floral Street, Covent Garden.

It's a very pleasant little deli, which does hot food and soups at lunchtime, a few sandwiches and chilled food and has an amazing array of cakes, tarts, biscuits and all things sweet. And you can choose your own delicacy from the arrangement of plates - I always like that.

And the brownie? Well, it's a nutty type - it contains chunks of walnuts, the perfect amount in fact, if you are to have nuts at all in your brownie (I'm not always convinced they're necessary). It looks home-made, like it was turned out of the tray this morning. It's slightly crumbly and flaky on the outside, but it is the inside that kills the competition. It's cloyingly sweet, so moist and chewy it glistens in the light and is sticky on your fingers like a perfectly-made meringue.

Wow, this is very, very nice. The only downside I can see to this brownie is that at £1.80 it's pretty pricey, and it is verging being too sweet for me. Sadly I haven't got my camera today, so it seems I'll have to go back to obtain photographic evidence. Shame. I give it a rating of 4.5/5 - it loses its 0.5 as it is on the cusp of being too sweet, and I'm not sure about the walnuts - I would prefer it without. The best so far.

Honeyrose organic fudge brownie

27/10/06

Now, this is a real brownie. It puts EAT's concoction to shame. Rich, chocolately, just the right balance of goo/crumble, it tastes freshly made and indulgent. It looks fairly plain but makes up for that in flavour. Just like a real homemade brownie, the inside is darker and gooier that the dryer, lighter coloured outside. And the organic ingredients list is short but sweet - cane sugar, chocolate (21%), wheat flour, butter, free-range eggs and wheat syrup. (But why the wheat syrup?)

The Honeyrose Organic Handbaking's Organic fudge brownie is quite simply delicious and I'd say with confidence it is the best shop-bought, packaged brownie I've ever tasted. Heavenly - 4/5

EAT chocolate brownie

25/10/06

Bought from Paddington Station branch of EAT and consumed on a train to Reading at about 12 o'clock lunchtime. It had a fairly crumbly texture and the chocolate chunks on the top were slightly stale-tasting and had bloom. It's a shame the chunks weren't inside the brownie - they may have been more protected from the heat/cold exposure that I'm told causes blooming. Overall it had a nice, rich flavour and, although crumbly on the outside corners, the inside had an element of goo - necessary for all brownies in my opinion. The verdict? A pretty good product if you need something to keep you going when you're on the run, but do not expect a fresh-tasting brownie - 2.5/5