A good from-scratch brownie recipe can be hard to come by. In fact, we've found that 97% of the time, boxed mix is better. So we took the task of choosing the celebs for this snackdown very seriously. Obviously, the Barefoot Contessa needed to be in the competition — we trust her with our lives. As for a worthy competitor, Nigella has proven herself more than capable in the decadent chocolate dessert department.
INA'S RECIPE
Don't freak out after reading her recipe. Yes, there is an ungodly amount of a butter (1 full pound!), but it's worth it. Plus, the recipe yields a ton. As for everything else on her ingredient list, there's some instant coffee granules (to enhance the chocolate flavor), lots of extra-large eggs (we used large), chocolate chips (some for the batter and some to be folded in) and walnuts.
The process begins on the stovetop over a double-boiler to melt the chocolate and the 4 sticks of butter. The eggs get whisked into the mixture, all the dry ingredients get sifted together, then everything gets combined and poured into a sheet pan. A sheet pan, Ina?! You cray.
But it get's even more insane. Midway through baking, Ina tells you to bang (the very filled) sheet pan against the oven shelf to "force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough." Something — or everything — in the recipe works wonders. Because these are some of the best brownies we've ever had. They take fudgy to a whole new level. Our only complaint: You need to let the brownies chill in the fridge for a while. Otherwise they're impossible to take out of the pan, even when greased.
NIGELLA'S RECIPE
Nigella's triple chocolate brownies are no joke either. For starters, there are three types of chocolate: bittersweet, semisweet and white. And she's not joking around with her three sticks of butter either. There's no coffee here, but as an English chef, she does prefer to use superfine sugar. (We used this but wondered if granulated would've worked just fine.)
Her recipe is kind of similar process-wise to Ina — melt chocolate and butter together first then add to flour mixture — but it's significantly simpler. There's no need for a double-boiler, or for banging the pan, and you don't need to wait for forever to slice them. In fact, she recommends serving them warm. Which, duh.
People loved these brownies too. They're fatter and more reminiscent of a brownie mix brownie, which we love. And the white and semisweet chocolate chips were appreciated by all. Fudge factor, however, was significantly lower, even though they looked fudgy as hell.
THE VERDICT
It was a close call, but ultimately, Ina wins. Her "Outrageous Brownies" are true to their name and are absolutely insane. The only thing people complained about were the walnuts (obviously). The simple solution: If you don't like nuts in your brownies skip them.
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