This Secret Ingredient Is an Amazing Addition to Your Boxed Brownies
One of my ultimate guilty pleasures is boxed brownies. You know, the kind of mix where you only have to add water. I almost don’t dare type it; as if I’m being interrogated and confessing to a serious crime. Luckily, I’ve recently been able to shake off some of the shame. I found the one ingredient that makes your boxed brownies much more decadent — and even tastier.
Huh? But haven’t we seen secret ingredients for brownies before? True, but one was really for your homemade brownies. And the other ingredient mainly makes your brownies much healthier. That’s not what we’re going for now, I’ll admit right away. We’re going for easy, quick and… boozy.
Boozy lazy brownie
Yes, you read that right: alcohol is the secret ingredient for your lazy brownie. Red wine, specifically! Now that I think about it, why didn’t we come up with this sooner? We know that chocolate and red wine are a top combination. In South Africa, I’ve done plenty of wine-and-chocolate tastings — highly recommended, by the way. So why wouldn’t it work in your brownie? What’s more, it turns out that the alcohol in the wine enhances the flavor experience of your brownie. You taste the chocolate better, and the moistness really comes through. Can we suddenly turn a boxed brownie into a decadent snack? It certainly seems so. (Or I’m just trying to make up for my earlier shame, which is also possible.)
Wine in your brownie
It’s not exactly rocket science either. You simply replace the amount of water listed in the package instructions with wine. So three tablespoons of water means three tablespoons of wine. Which wine, I hear you ask? In principle, any red wine will do, but in this case I prefer a lighter, fruitier variety. A brownie is already rich on its own, and I think a heavy wine intensifies that. For example, go for a Pinot Noir or a Merlot. But above all, try whatever you like!
Sidenote: the alcohol does not evaporate completely when you bake the brownie. So keep that in mind if, for whatever reason, you’re avoiding alcohol for the time being.
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