My coworkers weren’t so enthusiastic about my idea for a carrot-cake tasting (and to be honest, carrot cake is a good bit of work), so I’m thinking about other things I might do. One obvious candidate is brownies, which are generally pretty easy to do, and I know plenty of people who like to make and eat them. And brownies freeze and thaw well, which is not so much the case for carrot cake, making it possible to do a whole bunch of recipes ahead of time. So of course I went through my cookbook collection looking for some recipes:

• Alice Medrich, “Best Cocoa Brownies” and “New Classic Chocolate Brownies” (from Seriously Bitter Sweet)
• Joanne Chang, “Fudgy Mascarpone Brownies” (from Baking with Less Sugar)
• Judy Rosenberg, “Rosie’s Award-Winning Brownies” or one of several variations (from The Rosie’s Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book)
• Mindy Segal, “Barter Brownies” (from Cookie Love)
• Fritz Knipschildt, “Fritz’s Fudgy Brownies” (from Chocopologie)
• Brooke Dojny, “Maury’s Best Brownies” (from The New England Cookbook)
• Emily Luchetti, “Black Forest Brownies” (from A Passion for Desserts)
• Moosewood Collective, “Hazelnut Brownies” (from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts)
• Carole Bloom, “Caramel Swirl Brownies” (from Caramel)
• Patinkin and Kulaga, “Cinnamon and Ancho Chile Brownies” and “Salty Super Dark Chocolate Brownies” (from Ovenly)

In addition to these, I’ve done a few brownie recipes before that I might want to include for a side-by-side comparison; these include:

• King Arthur Flour, “Double Fudge Brownies” (from Whole Wheat Baking)
• Joanne Chang, “Intense Chocolate Brownies” (from Flour)

That’s a total of 14 different recipes — so if I made two a day for a week (and got enough cycling in to burn off all those calories!) then I could have them all done and in the freezer waiting for whichever day worked out best for the tasting. Because the preparation for most of these recipes is quite similar, I would not do a full photographic walk-through like I usually do here, but rather, I’d concentrate on those recipes that have an unusual procedure or construction element; the rest would get “quick takes” at most, or more likely just a photo of the finished product and nutritional analysis. (See also other pages tagged “brownies”.)

JUNE 2 UPDATE: I checked the Test Kitchen to have a look at their previous takes on brownies, and found two that I would put in the “potentially interesting” category (meaning, at this point, that they’re sufficiently different from the recipes I’ve already found to be worth considering). The two recipes are “Chewy Brownies” (2010) and “Classic Brownies with Coconut-Pecan Topping” (2004). I also found a gluten-free brownie recipe at the King Arthur site. Haven’t found anything vegan yet (although some supermarket boxed mixes probably qualify), and that’s not a category I really have any knowledge or expertise with.