Sugar Bowl Mix: I heart brownies

Baking is a ritual for me. I do it every week. It's relaxing. It's satisfying. It yields results. So I was intrigued with a brownie recipe in Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Cookie book called The Steve Ritual Brownies. The ritual part of the recipe involves immersing the pan in an ice bath as soon as it come out of the oven. This ritual stops the baking process, making the brownies gooier.

I was skeptical. I'm pretty much married to my own Best Ever Chocolate Brownie recipe. The Steve Ritual Brownies only calls for 2 eggs and they bake at 400 degrees. A hot oven. Wouldn't these come out flat and hard? Not exactly. But they weren't gooey or chewy. Not bad. But not great.

But I liked the idea of the ice bath ritual. So I made my own Best Ever Chocolate Brownies and dunked them in a cold ice bath to make them extra gooey. Complete mouth-watering, divine goodness.

My mother-in-law had just sent the girls a valentine's package with baking decorations - perfect for brownies with a little frosting.

To make the brownies follow The Best Ever Chocolate Brownies recipe. As soon as the brownies come out of the oven dunk the pan in an ice bath, like this:

Chocolate Frosting
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/3 cup confectioner sugar
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat the butter and milk together in a saucepan over low heat or in the microwave.

Mix the cocoa powder with the sugar in a mixing bowl.

Add the butter and milk slowly and beat until smooth. Stir in the vanilla.

Spread the frosting on the brownies while they are still warm.