Decadent Baked Brownie Mixes
Brooklyn’s Baked bakery makes irresistible modern-day, home-spun desserts. These aren’t dainty, precious, overly fancy sweets. They’re the type of treats that you grew up with — only way better.
Now, you can make the Baked brownie and two other variations easily in your own home kitchen, thanks to Williams-Sonoma, which is now selling Baked brownie and blondie mixes.
Choose from: Deep Dark Chocolate Brownie, Peanut Butter Brownie, and Brown Sugar Blondie. I had a chance to try samples of each.
The mixes are packed with premium ingredients, including Guittard Cocoa Rouge, and Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate and milk chocolate.
Each of the mixes makes a large 9-by-13-inch pan of brownies or blondies. You still have to add your own eggs (2 to 5, depending upon the variety of mix) and butter (1 3/4 to 2 sticks, depending on the mix). For the peanut butter brownies, you also have to supply your own creamy peanut butter (3/4 cup).
The blondies have a nice balance of sweet, salty and vanilla. You can really taste the brown sugar, too. My husband wished they were a little taller in height. And I found them maybe just a smidge greasy.
The dark chocolate brownies are deeply fudgy, with crispy edges. It’s everything you want in a brownie.
The peanut butter in the peanut butter brownie is not swirled in decoratively, but fully incorporated into the dark batter. As a result, the peanut butter taste is more of a surprise because you don’t see it, and the taste a little more subtle. But chocolate and peanut butter marry so well together that you’re sure to love this version.
The mixes are $16 each or a set of three (one of each variety) for $39.95 exclusively at Williams-Sonoma.
You also can find the dark chocolate brownie recipe in the “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking) (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, founders of the Brooklyn bakery. Recipes for the peanut butter brownie and the brown sugar blondie, however, are not included in that book or in the founders’ follow-up cookbook, “Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)
The former book is $19.77 on Amazon.com, and the latter is $15.86.
What’s a better deal – the mixes or the books? If you bake a lot, definitely go for the books, which I adore because they are full of the kind of baked goods you really, really want to make. If you don’t bake, you might want to splurge on a mix. Or give one or three to a friend as a gift.
Recipes from the “Baked” cookbooks: Nutella Scones
And: Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks
And: Root Beer Bundt Cake
More on Guittard’s Cocoa Rouge: In David Lebovitz’s Cocoa-Marzipan Pound Cake
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Friday, 11. March 2011 6:50
Those look really good!
Cheers,
Rosa
Friday, 11. March 2011 7:09
These all sound good. I love the recipes from the Baked cookbook I have, so I imagine their mixes would yield fairly delicious products!
Friday, 11. March 2011 7:17
Thanks for visiting my site. These brownies look amazing. The photos make me want to eat brownies for breakfast as it would go perfectly with my coffee right now. I bet the book would be one decadent temptation after another!
Friday, 11. March 2011 8:16
love my baked guys! have yet to try the mixes
Friday, 11. March 2011 9:24
I’ve tried Fat Witche’s brownie mix and it was pretty awesome. I’d love to try the Baked version, as i doubt I’ll ever get the chance to visit the brooklyn store.
, do stop over and enter!
I’m doing a give away on my blog for $80 Amazon gift card
*kisses* HH
Friday, 11. March 2011 9:38
The blondies actually look more like shortbread cookies. I’m with you. Bake from the cookbook is always the better route to go than a mix, even a fancy mix.
Friday, 11. March 2011 10:50
I’d rather get the book, but these do make great hostess gifts. The peanut butter one sounds great. I love peanut butter bon bons, but for some reason don’t like too much of it in my baked goods.
Friday, 11. March 2011 16:30
Those brownies sure look and sound amazing!
Saturday, 12. March 2011 2:26
Arrghh! Carolyn you temptress you! I’m at a hotel and all I want are some brownies. I wonder if they have any by room service? :
Saturday, 12. March 2011 6:26
These sound like great gifts for a party girl (and a great way to convince my friends that cooking is GREAT!). I would love to try the chocolate peanut butter mix, I am always in love with that combination!
Saturday, 12. March 2011 14:55
I’ve been wondering about these! Brownies are fairly easy to make, so I didn’t think I’d probably ever buy these, but I was interested in hearing more about them. Thanks! They sound like a good idea for someone who is afraid of/dislikes baking.
Saturday, 12. March 2011 20:32
I bought the choc brownies for my mother and she made them. They were so delicious!
Sunday, 13. March 2011 17:15
Nice to see brownie mixes that use premium ingredients.
Is everyone leaving a comment getting a blondie?
Why.. no!?
Sunday, 13. March 2011 21:24
wtheck?!! 16 bucks for a pkg of brownie mix seems silly, until you realize that it’s still cheaper than buying a brownie at the local coffee shop. as someone who is somewhat adept at cooking in-house i will never spend this kind of money on a premade mix. it just seems sinful to me. okay, that’s my vent. otherwise, i love the way your finished product looks. they’re the perfect thickness all around. how dd you manage that?
Sunday, 13. March 2011 21:52
Mmmm this looks decadent alright! Guittard and Callebaut chocolate! Love to have a bite of this
Monday, 14. March 2011 5:54
Wow, I have never heard of this brand but I’ll be sure to check them out. The dark chocolate brownies seem sinful. A little pricey for the mixes, but what a deal on the cookbooks!
Monday, 14. March 2011 17:58
It is Lent. Stop the temptation
Monday, 14. March 2011 20:59
I’m going to need to try this asap! DIVINE!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
Tuesday, 15. March 2011 2:56
Gorgeous! Love WS mixes hehe.
Thursday, 9. June 2011 8:55
[...] And: Baked Brownie and Blondie Mixes [...]
Thursday, 11. August 2011 15:34
My mom works at Williams-Sonoma and I’ve been curious about the Baked mixes for awhile, so this review is very helpful! They all look delicious–maybe I should try a mix or two!
Thursday, 11. August 2011 16:28
Katie: For sure, you should try them! Especially since your Mom can probably get them at a sweet discount for you to try. Yum!
Thursday, 15. September 2011 5:26
[...] Home-Baking: Brownie and Blondie Mixes From Baked in Brooklyn Share and [...]