With the weather warming up and our palates brightening, rich desserts seem to have gone out of season. Yet one baked good remains permanently affixed in my heart: the brownie. Perfectly fudgy and decadent, the all-American brownie is best achieved by the 100-hour brownie recipe. While the title seems daunting, the brownies rest in the fridge for three days, if that’s any consolation. On my first attempt, I decided to compare the results to another batch of brownies with a much faster cooking time of an hour. 

The ingredients for these brownies are as follow:

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 tablespoon espresso powder

1 coffee ice cube

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla paste

2 ¼ cups white sugar

½ cup dutch processed cocoa powder

1 tablespoon espresso powder

1 tablespoon kosher salt

8 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

3.5 oz chopped milk chocolate 

3.5 oz chopped 75% cacao chocolate 

6 oz chopped 75% cacao chocolate, for topping 

Considering the process of mixing the batter together, the recipe was fairly simple and easy to follow. However, this recipe tests more than just your ability to bake—it tests your patience. After making the batter, I set it in the fridge for three full days. After this chilling process, the brownies are finally baked in the oven for thirty minutes before resting in the fridge again for 24 hours. The four day bake time allows for the flavors, from chocolate to espresso, to sit and meld together, complementing each other in a rich, bitter concoction. 

But I wondered if these were any better than the typical brownies baked at home. After baking these time-intensive brownies, I thought it would be a fun idea to pit them against my usual go-to brownie recipe. At first look, it is obvious which is which due to the dense fudge on the 100-hour brownies. While the other brownies are delicious, the 100-hour brownies exude a luxury and decadence that no other recipe seems to match. 

Subjecting the two recipes to a blind taste test, I took both brownies to school and handed one of each to 12 people. Unsurprisingly, every taste tester preferred the 100-hour brownie. Now, we cannot know if this is a testament to the brownie recipe or to my baking skills. However, it does prove a point: that if you have a hundred hours to spare, baking brownies is not such a bad idea.