I know that there are some of us who love the corner piece the best and others who want that extra fudgy center one, but one thing I think we can all agree on is that a great chocolate brownie is one of the top-tier desserts in existence. That’s exactly why we wanted to find the very best brownie recipe out there. We chose four celebrity brownie recipes — each with their own unique techniques and ingredients — and put them to the test. Read on to see if we found the ultimate brownie!
The Contenders:
We chose brownie recipes from four different celebrities — some chefs, some not so much.
Kris Jenner:
Kris is known as more of a “momager” of her celebrity family than for her cooking, but she does have a cookbook so we decided to see how her brownies stacked up. Her recipe title — Kris Jenner’s Famous Brownies — leads you to believe she’s very well known for this recipe in her own circle so we couldn’t wait to try them. She uses a very unique food processor method in her recipe.
Gordon Ramsay:
We all know Gordon has very high standards so is a great chef to turn to when you’re looking for a recipe for, well… pretty much anything. Brownies should be no different. Gordon uses dark chocolate only and a double boiler method so his brownie is a little more elevated and a little more time consuming too.
Snoop Dogg:
Rapper. Record Producer. Actor. Olympics Host… Brownie Chef? Snoop does have a very popular cookbook and probably has pretty extensive experience making a certain “special” kind of brownie, so he probably knows what he’s doing. We wanted to find out.
Alton Brown:
Alton is a fountain of food science knowledge and reliable recipes. If you want a recipe done in the ideal method, Alton is the man to turn to, so that’s just what we did.
How We Tested:
We had two chefs take two recipes each and make them side by side in the studio. (These are some of our favorite days at work!) We stayed true to the original recipes, not changing a thing, and then tasted them all. We had four testers for this round: our producers, Mark and Claudia, and our chefs, Dom and Kristy.
The Brownies:
Kris Jenner
Kris uses an interesting technique for her brownie recipe — everything is processed in the food processor. She has you add eggs and vanilla, process them, and then add sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt before you blitz in some melted chocolate. Even stranger, the chocolate chips and walnuts get mixed in the food processor too, which results in them getting kind of pulverized.
The flavor is different. Some of our testers found it very off-putting, with an almost bitter quality. (That’s thanks to those pulverized walnuts.) Probably also because of the method, they don’t have that signature fudgy brownie texture. They weren’t a top contender for us.
Get the whole recipe here: Kris Jenner’s Famous Brownie Recipe.
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon calls his brownies “World’s Best Brownies” and that’s a big name to live up to. Gordon uses a double boiler method to melt together dark chocolate and butter and then has you simply whisk brown and white sugar and eggs into the same bowl. Flour rounds things off and then you bake the brownies for twenty minutes before Gordon tells you to “vigorously” throw more dark chocolate chunks into the top of the brownies and returning them to the oven. The idea of this is to break the surface of the brownie but not have chocolate chunks running throughout.
A double boiler is a little fussy but the rest of the method is pretty simple. They are a great brownie! They’re fudgy in texture and layered with chocolate flavor, but without being too sweet. They have a great balance of salty and sweet and nice crunchy edges.
Get the whole recipe here: Gordon Ramsay’s World’s Best Brownies
Snoop Dogg
Snoop uses a simple method of melting butter, milk, and sugar together in a saucepan and then stirring in chocolate chips off the heat. It’s simpler than a double boiler and you’re more likely to have chocolate chips in your pantry than chocolate bars, so extra points there. Like Ramsay’s method, you then stir in the remaining ingredients, but Snoop’s has a bit of baking soda. Like Ramsay’s more chocolate get sprinkled on top but this time it’s just chocolate chips.
These were outstanding!! All testers absolutely loved them. They have a perfect moist and fudgy texture with a layered chocolate flavor that isn’t over the top. They’re a beautiful brownie with a lovely contrast in color and a nice crackly, shiny top. (The ultimate brownie goal.)
Get the whole recipe here: Snoop Dogg’s Bow Wow Brownies.
Alton Brown
Alton uses cocoa powder as his base with no additional mix-ins, which means it’s the simplest of the brownies. He has you use a stand mixer or hand mixer because you want to emulsify the eggs well before moving on to the rest of the ingredients, but all ingredients are combined in one bowl. Easy and quick to prepare!
These are like the best homemade version of a boxed mix brownie. Thick, very chocolatey, moist, and fudgy, they’re what you think of when you think of brownie. A great go-to brownie.
The Final Verdict:
Snoop Dogg!!!
Coming to a consensus was a little hard here! There were some truly excellent brownies.
In the end, Gordon Ramsay’s got one vote and Alton Brown’s did as well, while Snoop Dogg’s brownies got two votes (and a close second from Kristy). That means, Snoop Dogg has our favorite brownie recipe!! They’re seriously excellent. Give them a try.