Christiana Aretta writes a journal about food, photography, & toys.

I recently decided to do some baking for a friend’s birthday. I set two requirements for the gift:

1. The main ingredient had to be chocolate.
2. It had to be baked in Smarta dishes.

Brownies seemed obvious from the start. I imagined them as little chocolate wheels cut into adorable wedges, served on tiny dishes and possibly sprinkled with powdered sugar or drizzled with caramel. Or perhaps an artful sprinkling of nuts on top.

Side note: Like nuts but live with someone who doesn’t? Put the nuts on top of your baked goods so that, when your nut-hating friend/partner/spouse starts whining about how much they don’t like nuts, you can just scrape them off and add them to your own nut pile. Be sure to follow up with a genuine gesture of gratitude for harmonious brownie ingestion.

I have to say, until embarking on this epic journey, I had NEVER messed up a batch of brownies. But I completely destroyed two batches in figuring out this recipe. The first time, a horribly undercooked gooey mass lurked underneath a gorgeous smooth crust. The second time, after knocking a proffered piece on his desk first, my boyfriend refused to even try to bite into them.

The third time, however, was the charm. When I pulled them from the oven, they had actually puffed up and over the edge of the Smarta but they deflated thereafter into lovely, dense, rich things that I honestly didn’t want to give away. I HOPE YOU APPRECIATE MY SACRIFICE, KELLI SHEWMAKER ;)

I adapted this recipe on Epicurious, mainly modifying amounts specifically for Smarta dishes. Lastly, I decided to call them “wedgies” because of their shape.

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup coarsely nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc.)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease 2 Smarta dishes* with Crisco, butter, etc. and set aside. Place butter and chocolate in a bowl nesting in a saucepan with water. Bring water to a boil and melt slowly, stirring until chocolate & butter mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
2. Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in chocolate mixture, vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix until just blended.
3. Notes for nut fans: If you want nuts in your brownies, fold them in and pour batter into greased pans. Alternatively, you can sprinkle the nuts artfully across the surface of the brownies. This greatly diminishes the amount of heretical nut-hating during brownie consumption as nut-haters can easily pick the nuts off the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until knife comes out mostly clean. Let dishes cool down completely before brownie removal. To remove, cut into brownies into 6 tiny adorable wedges and remove gently from the dish. Serve only to the deserving.

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