This is the first-ever Recipe Showdown, where I’ll pit three recipes for one food item against one another! Up this week: brownies!

Welcome to the great brownie showdown of 2011! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m always on the hunt for the elusive perfect brownie recipe, so I decided to perform a scientifically sound and rigorous test process to find a recipe that is undeniably the best… by which I mean, I pigged out on brownies, shoved them down the throats of everyone around me, and arbitrarily decided if they passed muster. I did have some criteria, however. In my opinion, a perfect brownie must:

• Have a thin, crackly top layer, like a gift wrapped in chocolaty tissue paper.
• Have a deep, rich, chocolate flavor, not just a hint of chocolate or a weaksauce milk chocolate flavor.
• Be fudgy. For the love of tofu, they must be fudgy. Cake-like brownies are the worst. If I want cake, I’ll make some damn cake! I want chewy, dense squares that taste like fudge’s crumbier half-sister.

With those criteria in mind, let’s meet our contenders! First up, we have…

Wolffie’s Moist and Chocolatey Brownies from La Dolce Vegan

I’ll admit that I was dubious about these brownies; I’d tried a Sarah Kramer brownie recipe in the past and found it horribly disappointing; my notes in the cookbook say simply “boring!” What I should’ve done was cross out the titular “brownies” and replace it with “blandies”. But I didn’t want to write off Sarah’s brownie skillz based on one boring recipe, so I gave a second recipe (from a different book!) a shot. The entire package of silken tofu in the ingredient list didn’t exactly assuage my fears, but I gave Sarah the benefit of the doubt and forged ahead.

PROS:

• Definitely moist.
• Appropriately chocolaty. I cheated and used some Dutch-processed cocoa powder; I couldn’t resist!
• Not exactly cake-like.

CONS:

• Not exactly fudgy.
• Strangely textured – not what I’d expect in a brownie.
• Chocolate chips just sat on top, unmelted and sad.
• No crackly skin.

OVERALL GRADE: B

Despite their non-fudgy texture,  these were not bad. My roommate is a cake-like brownie fan, and she thought they hit the mark in that regard. She was also surprised to discover that they contained tofu, so they definitely didn’t have any lingering soy flavor. At first, I found their texture (sort of spongy and dense) a bit off-putting, but it slowly grew on me, and by the time I finished the batch, I’d converted to a grudging fan. I’d consider making these again, but not when I’m craving brownies – just when I want something chocolaty and moist!

Up next, we have…

Rich, Fudgy Vegan Brownies from Food.com

An underdog contestant, this recipe comes from a user named Pollen over at Food.com. I found the recipe by Googling “best vegan brownies,” which led me to this recipe, which had a comment saying “these are pretty good, but the other vegan brownie recipe I have posted is way better!” So I followed the link to the Rich, Fudgy Vegan Brownie recipe and knew I had to try it. They had five stars and purportedly tasted “soooooo good” – what could possibly go wrong?!

PROS:

• Undeniably chocolaty.
• Quite tasty.
• Perfect cakelike crumb. Wait…

CONS:

• Not brownies.
• Actually cake.
• Not fudgy.
• No crackly skin.
• Not @%#*$!^ brownies; what else can I say?!

OVERALL GRADE: F-

That picture says it all. This recipe makes a damn fine chocolate cake, but a pan of chocolate cake is NOT THE SAME as a pan of brownies. As soon as I finished mixing the ingredients and saw just how liquidy the batter was, I knew with a sinking feeling that no brownies were going to come out of my oven. It’s partially my fault – for possibly the first time in my life, I read only the first review on the Web site, and didn’t read any subsequent reviews. Had I done so, I would’ve seen a multitude of comments alerting me to the fact that this is a cake recipe, not a brownie recipe. But it’s not all my fault; the recipe poster marketed these as fudgy brownies, which is a bold-faced lie. On no planet (except perhaps Delusionarius Cakeloverus) could these possibly qualify as brownies; even the cake-like brownie-lovers among you can’t deny that. So, for the purposes of my recipe showdown, I just had to give the recipe a failing grade. That said, if you’re looking for an awesome cake recipe, I highly recommend this one – it came out tender and moist, with a perfect crumb. S and I devoured it whilst watching Gosford Park and had a perfectly lovely cake-eating experience.

Finally, I tried…

Joanna Vaught’s All-Time Very Best Vegan Brownie Recipe

That’s quite the title, eh? At this point in my recipe showdown, I was weary of disappointing brownies and wary of overhyped brownie recipes. But then I stumbled across Joanna’s recipe and read her description of her ideal brownie: “When I think of what makes my ideal brownie, two qualities are essential: 1) fudgy, not cakey and 2) that crispy-crunchy top layer. ” Sounds familiar, eh? With renewed enthusiasm, I set out to test Joanna’s bold claim.

PROS:

• Perfectly fudgy right out of the oven
• Rich chocolate flavor
• Crackly top layer

CONS:

• Slightly too-strong coconut flavor
• Very crumbly after just one day
• Difficult to remove from pan

OVERALL GRADE: A

Hallelujah! Finally, a brownie that met all my specifications. Joanna’s boastful title, as it turns out, is a well-deserved one. When I pulled these brownies from the oven, I knew that goodness awaited me beneath their crackly surface. Somehow I restrained myself from prematurely cutting into the pan, but when I did, those first bites were heavenly. I couldn’t resist sneaking piece after piece as I slice them up in preparation for their photo session; they were just so rich and satisfying!

They weren’t perfect, however. I’m generally not opposed to using coconut oil in recipes, but I thought that the coconut undertones were fairly noticeable here, and they detracted slightly from the chocolaty goodness. And they became hard and crumbly quite quickly; maybe I should have wrapped them tightly in foil, but I suspect they’re just meant to be devoured immediately (which is not necessarily a bad thing). Finally, they were quite difficult to remove from the pan; brownie bottom bits kept sticking no matter how delicately I tried to maneuver my spatula beneath them. But this is my fault; I blatantly ignored Joanna’s recommendation to cook them on a layer of aluminum foil for easy removal.

Overall, though, these were the clear winners of this recipe showdown, and their few cons were really minor. So cheers to you, Joanna, for creating such a marvelous recipe!

In other brownie news, the recipe that I tried out here is also pretty solid (probably an A-), so I’d recommend that one along with Joanna’s recipe. And they’re pretty, too!

Do you have a go-to brownie recipe? What’re your criteria for excellent brownies?

And don’t forget – today’s the last day to enter my giveaway! You have until 7:00 PM CST.