How is Ghirardelli brownie mix so cheap? Am I missing something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheap chemical laden sugary ingredients are unfortunately what taste good to us. There's no secret.

I like them. Cooks Illustrated ragged them then best of boxed brownies.

Best tasting does not mean best quality or less chemicals. It means our tastebuds react positively. Chemicals, additives are engineered for this.

List the horrid chemicals in Ghirardelli brownies.

The last two ingredients on the box I have says soybean oil and artificial flavor. I have no idea how there's soybean oil in dry ingredients -- perhaps a little is in the chocolate chips? But if so, those are probably in their bags of chocolate chips too, which you would use for your own from scratch recipe.

And as for artificial flavor, I'm guessing that's a dash of fake coffee or vanilla flavor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is a link to the ingredients.

https://d2ln0cvn4pv5w2.cloudfront.net/unsafe/1024x800/filters:quality(100):max_bytes(200000):fill(white)/dcmzfk78s4reh.cloudfront.net/1446791707172.jpg

That link does not work...

My screen shot is not working either...sigh

Must be those damn chemicals.

[Anonymous]

Here you go, PP:



Other than the details of flour, etc, it's just this:

sugar, flour, vanilla, salt, soybean oil, baking soda, chocolate components (cocoa and bittersweet chocolate chips) and some unspecified artificial flavor, not necessarily in that order

I'm assuming the flour subcomponents are pretty standard, but maybe PP grinds her own wheatberries, or something. The chemicals! Auuagha!

[Anonymous]

Why is there soybean oil in a dry box? It's not in the chocolate chips, it says it is in the dry parts.

[Anonymous]

You know that soybean oil is really bad for you, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make brownies from scratch all of the time and the ingredients are unbleached flour, eggs, vanilla, butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and unsweetened baking chocolate.

Why not just use a $2 box of pre-measured ingredients? Does a box contain anything bad?

DP and I have never understood box brownie mix. Brownies are the easiest thing in the world to make, you can't go wrong, you can fool around with the amounts of everything you put in, an extra egg here, more butter there, you can use chocolate chips, chocolate bar, or cocoa powder, doesn't matter, most recipes don't even call for baking soda/powder or even salt, but you can add those if you want and it still turns out delicious.

I've personally never had brownies from a mix that I could not guess they were from a box - there's always some slight aftertaste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know that soybean oil is really bad for you, right?

I wouldn't call the amount of it in a brownie package OMG! CHEMICALS!! You guys are so DISGUSTIIING!!!, but that's probably just me.

You know, if you were reasonable and rational, and you just posted "it uses the same ingredients that I would, except for the soybean oil, and I'm avoiding that," nobody would cast a side eye at you. It's the bleating about chemicals!!! that does it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make brownies from scratch all of the time and the ingredients are unbleached flour, eggs, vanilla, butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and unsweetened baking chocolate.

Why not just use a $2 box of pre-measured ingredients? Does a box contain anything bad?

DP and I have never understood box brownie mix. Brownies are the easiest thing in the world to make, you can't go wrong, you can fool around with the amounts of everything you put in, an extra egg here, more butter there, you can use chocolate chips, chocolate bar, or cocoa powder, doesn't matter, most recipes don't even call for baking soda/powder or even salt, but you can add those if you want and it still turns out delicious.

I've personally never had brownies from a mix that I could not guess they were from a box - there's always some slight aftertaste.

Because brownies from a mix have a better texture than brownies from scratch. Same for cake mixes. The texture is better.

It may be easy to make brownies from scratch. But they're not better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make brownies from scratch all of the time and the ingredients are unbleached flour, eggs, vanilla, butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and unsweetened baking chocolate.

Why not just use a $2 box of pre-measured ingredients? Does a box contain anything bad?

DP and I have never understood box brownie mix. Brownies are the easiest thing in the world to make, you can't go wrong, you can fool around with the amounts of everything you put in, an extra egg here, more butter there, you can use chocolate chips, chocolate bar, or cocoa powder, doesn't matter, most recipes don't even call for baking soda/powder or even salt, but you can add those if you want and it still turns out delicious.

I've personally never had brownies from a mix that I could not guess they were from a box - there's always some slight aftertaste.

Because brownies from a mix have a better texture than brownies from scratch. Same for cake mixes. The texture is better.

It may be easy to make brownies from scratch. But they're not better.

OMG they certainly are better from scratch!!

Have no idea what texture has to do with it. Different recipes produce different brownies, from cakey to fudgey. Box brownies pretty much all taste the same and it’s a weird flavor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make brownies from scratch all of the time and the ingredients are unbleached flour, eggs, vanilla, butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and unsweetened baking chocolate.

Why not just use a $2 box of pre-measured ingredients? Does a box contain anything bad?

DP and I have never understood box brownie mix. Brownies are the easiest thing in the world to make, you can't go wrong, you can fool around with the amounts of everything you put in, an extra egg here, more butter there, you can use chocolate chips, chocolate bar, or cocoa powder, doesn't matter, most recipes don't even call for baking soda/powder or even salt, but you can add those if you want and it still turns out delicious.

I've personally never had brownies from a mix that I could not guess they were from a box - there's always some slight aftertaste.

Because brownies from a mix have a better texture than brownies from scratch. Same for cake mixes. The texture is better.

It may be easy to make brownies from scratch. But they're not better.

OMG they certainly are better from scratch!!

Have no idea what texture has to do with it. Different recipes produce different brownies, from cakey to fudgey. Box brownies pretty much all taste the same and it’s a weird flavor.

NP. You’re BOTH wrong! Homemade brownies from *someone who knows what they’re doing* are best, and Ghirardelli box mix is the next best thing after that. Ghirardelli tastes just like the brownies from the church potluck or whatever from your childhood.

[Anonymous]

I feel like Ghirardelli brownies are too sweet.

[Anonymous]

How much palm oil is in the box?

[Anonymous]

I buy the huge box of these from Costco so we always have them on hand. Mom hack: I add a shredded zucchini and nobody can even tell it's there. Mwahahah

[Anonymous]

Because if they have too many in stock, they need to move the items out of the store, and that tells them it is not a popular item. They need to move them out before the expiration date. And if the items has not been bought in many months, that expiration date could be 6 months later.

[Anonymous]

For people who say they make brownies from scratch, how often do you make brownies that you keep all ingredients in the pantry? For the maybe 3 or 4 times a year we make brownies, the box and using real butter instead of oil seems to work. And I really don’t think from scratch taste any better. If so, negligible and not worth the extra effort.