A bit embarrassing, I know.
Also, in my opinion, brownies will always beat out cake when it comes to dessert.
Every brownie was mixed and baked according to its package instructions.
Could it be that my oven is 1,000 years old and horribly inaccurate?
Possibly, but I still think it’s worth noting.
Like with any boxed mix, the instructions varied a bit from brand to brand.
I then used this to calculate an average rating for each.
Just for fun, I also asked everyone what their favorite brownie piece was.
Surprisingly, I was the only one who favored an edge piece.
What’s even more surprising is that most people preferred the corner.
Edge pieces are the best of both worlds, and I will die on this hill.
Now, without further ado, let’s get into our official brownie ranking.
We all agreed that the flavor was more chocolate-adjacent rather than tasting like real chocolate.
Ross even thought they tasted like mushrooms.
Mushrooms, you guys.
The texture also left little to be desired.
Even as I was baking these, something felt…off.
They were also matte on top rather than having that signature glossy finish.
On a positive note, Ross and I thought the fudginess was decent.
But Spencer couldn’t get over the look of them they were definitely the ugly duckling of the bunch.
Betty Crocker Most of our testers described these brownies as “fine” and nothing to write home about.
They did taste a bit bland and there was an artificial chocolate taste that I couldn’t get over.
We were all a bit torn on texture, though.
Fabiana agreed with me that they were very dense, but Spencer thought these “nailed” the fudginess.
Brand guesses were a little all over the place.
Most people thought this was one of the classic brands but didn’t really think it was Betty.
Pillsbury This was another middle-of-the-road brownie.
Alas, my first bite into these brownies, and I tasted…nothing.
Natasha, Lauren, and Ross all agreed that these seriously lacked flavor and didn’t taste like chocolate.
I compared them to those soft cookies you get at the grocery store rather than an actual brownie.
Thoughts on texture were also divided.
Half of us weren’t super pleased, and the other half enjoyed the fudginess.
I had to agree with Lauren when she described them as more of a “brownie-cake” hybrid.
Fabiana even mentioned that they kept sticking to her teeth.
Spencer, of course, thought these were the “premium” and expensive Ghirardelli brownies.
There’s a lot to unpack with TJ’s brownies, so buckle in.
Both Ross and Spencer even described them as “too chocolaty” and lacking some sweetness.
Like, they were bakery-level quality in my eyes, with a perfectly dense, fudgy texture.
Maybe I had an unfair advantage by getting to enjoy them the next day.
(Brownies are always better the next day, FYI.)
The bitterness will initially hit you, but the milk chocolate chips help mellow things out.
Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, and while it hurts, I respect it.
Its classic taste and texture were a pleasant surprise, mixed with a hint of nostalgia.
As Spencer put it, “If you think, ‘What does a brownie taste like?’
then this is exactly what springs to mind.”
Were we absolutely blown away?
Lauren even compared them to a Cosmic Brownie or just a straight block of fudge.
Fabiana and Nora echoed this and pointed out how wildly fudgy and chewy they were.
How this was the most successfully guessed brand, I will never know.
(BRB, doing this for my birthday.)
Great Value It’s safe to say that Great Value surprised us all.
Rich, flavorful, chewy, and “expensive” all words we used to describe these brownies.
Not one person thought this was the cheapest mix of the bunch.
Fabiana described them as rich and flavorful and even noted that it “must be an expensive box.”
The words “super chocolaty” were thrown around quite a bit.
Natasha even called them “glorious.”
After Ghirardelli, these were the brownies that the “flake” adhered to most.
I swear, I could’ve finished the whole tray and would’ve still asked for more.
