20 years ago, their chocolate chips were the cheapest in my grocery store, and their milk chocolate chips were addictive. Then someone caught on, I guess.

I just do homemade brownies. Flour, sugar, butter, cocoa, one egg. Never cake like. Gooey with that delicately crispy layer on top and crispy on the edges. Sadly, they give me heartburn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The box's actual ingredient list:

-- sugar
-- enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)
-- bittersweet chocolate chips (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin [emulsifier], vanilla extract)
-- cocoa (processed with alkali)
-- soybean oil
-- less than 2% of: artificial flavor, baking soda, salt

Why and how is soybean oil in a box of dry items?

It is a cheap fat.

Homemade brownies are gross to me - too cake like.

Anonymous wrote:I buy the multipack at Costco which is the triple chocolate one and does not have that same ingredient list (no palm or soybean has canola).

I will say I can taste box cake, it has a very noticeable flavor to me, and I do not get that from this brownie mix. I have made brownies from scratch many times but my family does prefer the Ghirardelli ones for flavor and texture. We don’t eat brownies often or as health food so there is not any significant difference in “healthiness” for us in one vs the other. Just personal preference.

That said boxed mixes don’t generally have expensive ingredients inside yet are almost always going to be more expensive that buying dry ingredients, especially if you do so in bulk. The relatively expensive ingredients are the ones you would add anyway (e.g. eggs, butter, oil, frosting, etc). You pay for the convenience and packaging, which some people are fine paying for.

Same for me. Box cake always has a strange metallic taste to me - I believe that it comes from the commercial leaveners. It would make sense that the box brownies don't have that taste because they only use a small amount of baking powder/soda. That being said, I find the brownie mixes WAY too sweet for my taste. I usually cut back a bit on the sugar so that the bitterness of the chocolate can come through.

I actually think Betty Crocker brownies are better than Ghiradelli.

I buy the multipack at Costco which is the triple chocolate one and does not have that same ingredient list (no palm or soybean has canola).

I will say I can taste box cake, it has a very noticeable flavor to me, and I do not get that from this brownie mix. I have made brownies from scratch many times but my family does prefer the Ghirardelli ones for flavor and texture. We don’t eat brownies often or as health food so there is not any significant difference in “healthiness” for us in one vs the other. Just personal preference.

That said boxed mixes don’t generally have expensive ingredients inside yet are almost always going to be more expensive that buying dry ingredients, especially if you do so in bulk. The relatively expensive ingredients are the ones you would add anyway (e.g. eggs, butter, oil, frosting, etc). You pay for the convenience and packaging, which some people are fine paying for.

Anonymous wrote:The box's actual ingredient list:

-- sugar
-- enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)
-- bittersweet chocolate chips (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin [emulsifier], vanilla extract)
-- cocoa (processed with alkali)
-- soybean oil
-- less than 2% of: artificial flavor, baking soda, salt

Why and how is soybean oil in a box of dry items?

Anonymous wrote:
Can you post the WaPo recipe? I also make the Katherine Hepburn brownies. I sometimes make Maida Heatter's brownies. They are incredibly decadent and delicious.

Anonymous wrote:

My go-to brownie recipes are the Baker's one bowl or the Katherine Hepburn brownies, and when I want to get fancy I use an amazing recipe the Washington Post published many years ago. I don't even know if it's online, I cut it out and transferred it into my recipe book way back when it was published. It's more complicated than most recipes and uses both cocoa and bar chocolate, but man is it worth the extra effort.

Found it! From Lisa Yockelson. Unfortunately this link doesn't have all the variations included with the print version.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/2002/12/18/brownies-for-everyone-on-your-list/c21bd54b-3eac-43c9-b954-b28830bafaa6/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!

+1

This list is pretty tame, unless you just simply never purchase baked goods.

Soy lecithin, palm oil, and “natural flavors” aren’t great ingredients and certainly not ones I’d add to homemade baked goods.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never had a good homemade brownie

Same.

Ditto!

Same! Give me boxed any day - especially when made in an 8x8 pan so they are fudgy.

Anonymous wrote:^^ It should be noted that photo is not actually the brownie list. That is some weird microwavable brownie thing.

I have a box of dark choc. brownies right here and there is no palm oil in it nor soy lecithin. Though it does have soybean oil as one of the last ingredients.

It's not the actual photo! That's the screenshot I took before I realized it was the mug version.

The box's actual ingredient list:

-- sugar
-- enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)
-- bittersweet chocolate chips (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin [emulsifier], vanilla extract)
-- cocoa (processed with alkali)
-- soybean oil
-- less than 2% of: artificial flavor, baking soda, salt

Can you post the WaPo recipe? I also make the Katherine Hepburn brownies. I sometimes make Maida Heatter's brownies. They are incredibly decadent and delicious.

Anonymous wrote:

My go-to brownie recipes are the Baker's one bowl or the Katherine Hepburn brownies, and when I want to get fancy I use an amazing recipe the Washington Post published many years ago. I don't even know if it's online, I cut it out and transferred it into my recipe book way back when it was published. It's more complicated than most recipes and uses both cocoa and bar chocolate, but man is it worth the extra effort.

^^ It should be noted that photo is not actually the brownie list. That is some weird microwavable brownie thing.

I have a box of dark choc. brownies right here and there is no palm oil in it nor soy lecithin. Though it does have soybean oil as one of the last ingredients.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!

+1

This list is pretty tame, unless you just simply never purchase baked goods.

Soy lecithin, palm oil, and “natural flavors” aren’t great ingredients and certainly not ones I’d add to homemade baked goods.