These really are the best brownies. I took them in to work once, and now on Mondays everyone asks if I just happened to bake any over the weekend. My twist on the recipe: I use fresh vanilla beans, one half a bean's worth of seeds per 16 servings (one batch of the brownies) and one half a bean on the icing. I scrape the seeds into my melted butter and let it infuse the butter before I add my other ingredients. It's a negligible amount of fluid lost in the brownie batter, but for the frosting you will need to add a couple teaspoons of water for it to mix properly.

Reviewed On: Mar. 22, 2009

I cooked this on a bed of diced parsnip, sweet yellow onion, and turnips, and basted the pork with the wine/olive oil mixture as it cooked. Served on toasted Israeli couscous (large pearl couscous). Loved it!

Reviewed On: Feb. 2, 2009