Bar Cookie

When our executive food editor was a little girl, she liked the Christmas cookies at her best friend Allyson's house better than any others. Mrs. Kolbert, whose recipe this is, was apparently the author of much goodness in this world, as it was she who first introduced Allyson's parents to each other.

"My parents and I recently celebrated my mom's birthday at a local restaurant called The Farmhouse," writes Karen Eschenbach of Emmaus, Pennsylvania. "We ended a wonderful meal with an even better dessert—chocolate-peanut butter 'beggars' purses.'" Each elegant phyllo "purse" contains a flourless brownie topped with peanut butter and chocolate ganache.

For the fudgiest brownies, be sure not to overbake these, from Steffi Berne's Cookie Jar Cookbook.

This recipe originally accompanied the following recipes:
Lemon Bars
Fudgey Brownie Bars
Pecan-Pie Bars
Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Chocolate Macaroon Bars

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 45 min

These are especially rich and chewy.

During World War II, chocolate was too valuable to be used for baking. As a result, brownies, which had been a favorite since around the turn of the century, were made less often. With the return to prosperity in the 1950s, this much-loved dessert came back into vogue--and became more popular than ever. Our rich and dense brownies are studded with peanuts and chocolate chips, and are partnered with a rich milk chocolate and peanut butter sauce. They're terrific served with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter-vanilla swirl or peanut butter ice cream. Serve the brownies slightly warm or at room temperature.

Rich brownies are baked with a chocolate syrup that sinks to the bottom and thickens into a fudgy sauce, creating a luscious layering of textures.

"The Farm of Beverly Hills has the most incredible, delectable giant brownies!" says Cindy Grand of San Francisco, CA. "They taste more like fudge with a light, crunchy surface. Would you help me get the recipe?" These are probably the fudgiest brownies we've ever tried—in fact, they seemed too rich to serve in giant squares, so we've cut them smaller. They taste even better the day after they're baked.

This brownie, baked in a tart pan, gets its moistness from cream cheese and its fudginess from the best-quality cocoa and chocolate. Little puddles of ganache are poured into holes made in the brownie, after it has baked, with a the handle of a wooden spoon. Chocolate doesn't get better than this.

The best recipe I have for brownies comes from a friend who got it from a magazine article about Katharine Hepburn. It is, apparently, her family's.