we've gathered three professional chefs to blind taste test every box brownie brand we could get our hands on and see which ones meet their standards Pillsbury dark chocolate brownie mix not that much of a chocolatey smell this looks like a nice thick brownie this is exactly what I would expect from a box brownie what I look for in a brownie is that intense chocolate flavor there should be a richness and flavor it shouldn't be flat or empty it's got to have a crackling top it's just the perfect textures I want my brownie to have a firmer edge and a softer Center it should be either cakey fudgy or dense if a brownie is not one of those things then what is it is it a chocolate chip cookie I don't think that's what we want it's a little drier than I would have expected this is definitely a cakey brownie see a lot of little air pockets air is not your friend when it comes to baked goods air is going to dry out whatever it is that you're trying to make and that's the opposite of what you're trying to achieve with a brownie the crackling top is very nice there is a little bit of drier firmer Edge and then the inside is a little bit softer it's lacking in that intense chocolate flavor that I love there's cocoa powder in here and not melted chocolate cocoa powder tends to give you a drier mix melted chocolate tends to have a little bit more fat in it and the fat is what gives you that smooth fudy texture I kind of almost feel like this might be the um giradelli one oh I thought this might be it and then I totally doubted myself hey belber it says that it is a dark chocolate brownie for me dark chocolate is the way to go because that makes it intense this definitely wouldn't hit you as dark chocolate it's a lot sweeter than I expected it to be gear Deli dark chocolate premium brownie mix look at that crackle it seems to be a little denser oh I like the smell of this one like it has a little more vanilla than the last one very thick but definitely fudgy crunchy fudgy pieces of chocolate I think this has dark chocolate in it I like it because it's a little more chocolate forward than it was uh sugar forward and the lingering taste in my mouth is definitely chocolate there are chocolate chips in this one when you have chocolate chips in a brownie it disrupts that smooth velvety texture that you get on the palette since this is not warm the chocolate is not melted and it's hard so you get a little bit of extra crunch in that this Edge is a little bit cookie like where the center is more of that fudgin if I had to guess the brand I might say that it's giradelli I'm going to say that this is a giradelli triple chunk chocolate feels like it's a more it's a fancy brand so I'm going to go back to the Elli actually am I going to be right yes oh my gosh and it's dark chocolate oh my gosh I'm going to play the lottery this is amazing I'm right it feels more authentically dark this dark chocolate compared to the pillsberry seems a bit more intense but maybe a higher quality of chocolate Dutch cocoa powder cocoa butter this is a higher quality brownie dun can hind milk chocolate brownie mix this looks like a blondie this one isn't on lightting color I for sure 100% know that this is milk chocolate because of the lightness and color here H this one's a little bit on the sweet side for me I'm getting more of those caramel notes because it's so sweet and so vanilla forward this feels like more like a milk chocolate Hershey's situation here I would consider this a dense brownie there isn't a lot of crackly top you can see some parts of it are missing and it's almost separating from the rest of the browny firmness of this brownie has more of a softer Center and a firmer edge here but not too far off see that it's really glistening which shows you that there's a lot of extra fat or liquid in the brownie maybe it's Betty Crocker or Great Value brand I would like to double down and say that this is Duncan Hines milk chocolate I was right Duncan hind milk chocolate hello how are you it says thick and fudgy on the box I would not call this fudgy I think this milk chocolate brownie is a great choice for someone who enjoys chocolate but not something that is intensely chocolatey Jiffy fudge brownie mix I smell sugar before I smell chocolate it's not crackly that makes me a little sad that means that the sugar was not dissolved maybe it was just mixed together M there's some strange crystals going on in here well that's wet this tastes like it has dark chocolate in it but not enough to make it a really strong brownie overall it's very soft from edges all the way into the center can't even stand up to me holding it on the edge this is a cakey brownie when makes a Kakey brownie cake here one it has less chocolate more flour you can whip a brownie to add more air into it is how you achieve that cakiness this one's falling flat for me when it comes to richness I'm think maybe it's a Betty Crocker brownie Jiffy makes brownies give me cornbread what I'm looking for in a fudge brownie is one that is fudgy the fudge in this brownie is not coming through you're adding egg oil and water so the egg is meant to give you structure which is good and because you're adding water not giving the sugar the chance to make a a kly top for a dollar this is fine I'm good with that if that's a dollar then this is fine Great Value fudge brownie mix this is really nice and high I like that it looks like it's almost an inch thick M it's fairly Rich do really like the edge piece on this The Firm Edge and soft centure ratio is spoton yeah it's very fluffy this one you can see that there's a consistency to the inside of the brownie was mixed well it bakes well crackly top wish it was a little more intense with chocolate flavor but it's definitely fudgy I would say this is on the pakier side of a fudge brownie I think this recipe used oil because really gives the brownie that moisture here sometimes when brownies are made with butter it tends to dry it out or the crumb is a lot more crumbly kind of feel that's maybe one of the fancier ones the fancier Brands Great Value that's Walmart no yes yes it is the Walmart brand this one seems to have more vegetable oil in it which is interesting because oil tends to give you a denser brownie than butter and I think it works Walmart not a bad job Trader Joe's brownie truffle baking mix where is the crackled top it's fairly wet on top you can see chocolate chips in here they look like milk chocolate chips and it looks a little flat o this feels very sweet reminds me of fudge that you would get on a summer trip to the beach I'm getting a lot of richness coming through so I'm thinking possibly there is butter in this recipe this is interesting it has almost the same firmness throughout this is a fudgy brownie I really like the chocolate intensity here these taste like semi-sweet chocolate chips to me a semi- sweet chocolate chip is going to have a little bit more of a sugar forward flavor than a dark chocolate I would take another bite of this oh Trader chose Brown the Truffle baking mix I'm not sure why they call it truffle unless think semi chocolate chips are truffles is made with Dutch cocoa and chocolate chips the Dutch cocoa powder in this brownie definitely comes through Dutch processed cocoa powder does three wonderful things that we love in pastry making it makes it easier to dissolve it has a deeper color and not as aggressively bitter as the unprocessed cocoa powder would be I think this is a great brownie William Sona fudge brownie baking mix has a semi crackle tap it is definitely somewhat shiny here this brownie is crunchy like a chocolate cookie kind of sweet I definitely have the salt coming through and it has an odd aftertaste to it chemical flavor is not the right word but there's something off about the chocolatess in this one you can see that it is very very dense definitely firmer on the outside than it is on the inside this is a fudgy brownie because it's a lot heavier a lot denser this looks like it has chunks of chocolate in it if you are going to use the larger chunks maybe use a higher quality Chate that will melt where these I feel like I'm crunching like an M&M I wonder if this is a Hershey situation I think it's probably Betty Crocker what the heck oh this William Sonoma I didn't know they made that the William Sonoma fudge brownie mix this was not a great brownie you need unsalted butter you need eggs you need warm water and you need a brownie mix I think they use warm water in here because the butter is melted and they might not want the butter to solidify I get that this brownie is dense in it fudgin but that isn't what you're looking for in a brownie you want there to be chew that's going to be dense you don't need it to sort of feel like a heavy heavy piece $15 for this box does it cook itself this brownie feels more like an obligation than a treat bety cooker and hary's triple chocolate fudge brownie mix it smells like the brownies that we used to get with school lunch which I'm not mad about this one looks a little bit dry to be honest the crackly top is missing a little bit here I am getting a lot of chocolate chips in here it's almost too many chocolate chips this is very chewy feels more cakey it doesn't have like that chocolate intensity it's probably a semi sweet mix I don't think this is milk chocolate this doesn't feel like it has a super high quality chocolate in it when I turned the brownie upside down most of the cragly top came off you can see that it's a bunch of um holes that means if you don't eat these brownies today they're going to be dry by tomorrow this is a fudgy brownie firm and soft in the right place I'm going to say Betty Crocker for this one Hershey's and Betty Crocker triple chocolate fudge brownie mix why is this box so big a four pack that's why chocolate chips chocolate chunks and dark Dutch cocoa I do not feel that that's happening here I'm very sorry I don't think triple chocolate is an accurate name for this brownie I get that there's three types of chocolate in there but it doesn't triple the flavor or the intensity of the chocolate flavor as this would suggest Sticky Fingers fudge brownies sort of a blonde chocolate it looks dense kind of sticks to the roof of your mouth like it's peanut butter when there's no peanut butter is not chocolatey at all the crust is not as crusty as I wanted it to be well it's not a crackle top it lends to some texture variances this is very wet and dense throughout from Edge to Center just got so much liquid in the mixture that it just doesn't even have a chance to give itself a little bit of Personality thank you fingers just add water mix and bake that's disturbing for this one you don't have to add eggs butter or oil this is not normal to not add those things to this recipe dried egg in here already ah you really need an egg to make a brownie work the egg yolk will give you richness the egg white adds the water and that also allows the sugar to dissolve which is giving you the crackly top for a mixture where you just add water it's better than I would have thought simp Mills almond flour brownie baking mix this one looks very Brown this is a very matte colored brownie which is usually not what you're looking for definitely more on the cakey side and on the less sweet side there's something here that has a little bit of off flavor to me that is distracting from how chocolatey it should be tasting it doesn't taste like there's as much sugar in this brownie as other brownies which again tracks because you're not getting the cly top which comes from the sugar the texture is very much the same all the way throughout I find I wonder if that's an artificial or sweetener or something or if it's a gluten-free one are you gluten-free simple Mills almond flour ah so these are also gluten-free almond flour is not flour almond flour is just what you refer to very finely ground almonds it's like how almond milk is not really milk there's no you know almond that you milk this uses organic coconut sugar as a sweetener yet this doesn't taste as sweet as it would with regular sugar the challenge with coconut sugar is it's not going to dissolve into your ingredients as a regular sugar wood in order to give you the cly top and clearly it we didn't get it here I'm actually allergic to Coconut so the crew didn't let me have this one Betty Crocker Supreme frosted brownie mix o does this have frosting on it who does that this is super dense chewy through and through I like that i' really enjoy the topping on this where it kind of melts in your mouth it has like this velvety smooth texture if I take just a bottom piece of the brownie there's not enough chocolate in it so in order to get the chocolate flavor or level that you're looking for kind of have to add that frosting on top which is much sweeter it's nice and fudgy but it's not as chocolatey as I wanted to be does have like a grittier texture on the palette but overall as far as chocolate intensity I think it pairs well with this brownie cuz it Doesn't overpower the brownie it actually has a nice moistness Betty cocer Supreme frosted brownie mix so here's where starts to go south it's called chocolate flavored frosting which immediately implies that it's not actually chocolate chocolate frosting so that makes me a little bit sad this is not a bad brownie make it eat it share it alsoo Naturals grainfree classic brownie mix okay so it looks a little crumbly bumpy or grittier could possibly be a gluten alternative brownie this actually has a crunchy crust to it like you were to eat on the outside of a bread or something like that the edge is definitely firmer than the center very wet texture that look is breaking that's a no no what are you doing I wonder if that's another gluten-free mix in a way I feel like I can almost smell the oil in here do get that richness because it's straight fat this one Falls somewhere in the middle between D and funi this tastes like natural chocolate but it doesn't have a homogeneous Lush taste to it it's almost um a little woodsy if that makes sense I don't know another way to put it but it feels like one of more of a natural brand or natural mix as opposed to one that's more commercially produced autos natural grainfree classic brownie mix avocado oil or neutral oil I see they're trying to be healthy cassava flow it's derived from the cassava root which is like very popular in either Africa Jamaica it's more glutenous than other flowers if you would prefer to have a brownie that is weat alternative I don't think it's a bad option Little Debbie's Cosmic Brownies I remember these this is my childhood wow this is very dense it's heavy so this one's definitely fudgy I would say I don't even have to try that perfect cuts perfect top perfect smell this is definitely meant to be shelf stable this can probably sit around for a long time prepackaged brownies typically have oil just for like preservation there feels like there is no moisture in this brownie at all wow that's not very good and I Loved These you know it tastes exactly like Ka did when I was a kid I didn't know any better and I didn't know what a great brownie had I feel like my childhood has been ruined if you want something really really really really really really really really fudgy that's the one it's not dry it's just not moist at all it tastes a little bit like a chocolate protein bar has that sort of aftertaste to it the color is lovely but I'm fairly certain that was not achieved through actual chocolate it's quite sweet the glaze is very even texture across the top a nice little distribution of the colored candies it's almost hard to get through because this brownie is so intense this is a Little Debbie Cosmic brownie come to Mama oh that Cosmic brownie one this would be different than a box brownie because it has to have a lot more preservatives in it anything you're making fresh in your kitchen should be eaten within the first couple of days or frozen you don't want to keep them on the Shelf like you keep these in order to get the Shelf stable that we definitely sacrifice some flavor and some texture I know these are aimed for kids but I would still enjoy it even if it's not my favorite keto to fudge brownies keto baking mix this looks very fudgy there isn't that cragly top to it that automatically implies is you probably have more moisture in here that's not a regular brownie there's something else in here it almost tastes like it hasn't been baked it's not very chocolatey strange after taste that right now I can't figure out what that is I think there's not enough sugar in here to balance out the bitterness of the chocolate it breaks more than it crumbles that's one of the things that separates a brownie from a piece of fudge is that it's it's going to have crumb like a a cake crumb to it pedo and coal oh no fudy and Rich brownies get out of here explains why it's so dense cuz there's nothing flowery or cakey about it oh ha no sugar added that makes sense you have to balance something that's bitter with something that's sweet something that's salty with something that's Savory and if you only have one of those components you're going to get a flavor like this it also has a sugar replacer with a lot of things that I can't pronounce I don't think you can have a sugar replacer that does all the things that sugar does the chemical makeup just cannot it just can't be the same this one has coconut flour in it another coconut one so this one isn't for me sorry as much as you want as a keto follower to have a brownie you probably better off just going with chocolate Bub's Redmill gluten-free brownie mix this one looks like a dirt road we have a crackly top on this one it looks to be very dry maybe milk chocolate here natural cocoa powder the sugar is the dominant flavor and not the chocolate this is a wheat alternative brownie I'm getting some not specifically a grit but not a smooth velvety texture that like melts on my tongue there's no big distinction between the textures between the crust and the rest of the brownie but it has a nice balance of crumb cake crumb and fudgin to it this is a crackly top but not something that we've seen before that's shiny this is more matte I think the brownie presents better than it tastes it's Bob treadmill gluten-free brownie mix I was right two different types of rice flour potato starch and some other happiness in there I like rice flour because it tends to be lighter and it gives a little bit more sort of airiness and levity to things it does add some nuttiness to it and now I know that's that I can definitely taste the rice flour in this the brown rice flour especially is something that sticks out this brownie is thirsty it needs more moisture more eggs more oil more just really throw whatever you got at this brownie it needs it King AA super fudge brownie oh he's cute why is he round this came out of a microwave I say that because the top of it looks boiled you can see that there's a lot of little holes in the top so little air bubbles have popped our smells like raw cocoa was sticking to my the roof of my mouth but this is definitely fudgy doesn't have a balance of flavor to it and it also has a really really weird texture it's like spongy on top I would say the chocolate's pretty intense here but it tastes more like the chocolate that you would squeeze into milk you would think that it's cakey but once you bite it no this is this is dense all the way it's just a one not texture on this one sadly that's what happens when you bake things in the microwave it doesn't Brown things just kind of cooks them and like makes them fluffy and then sets them there is a like a pudding like soft texture inside always the inside is really really hot while the exterior is not as hot and that's how it Cooks this is one of the little little packages that you you buy for put it in the mug or maybe it even comes with the mug does it come with the mug oh it comes in a cup King Arthur gluten-free again super fudge brownie well definitely super fudge they're using a rice flour kind of explains a little bit of the sponginess when you use rice flour and bake GS what sometimes happens is they get that glutenous texture almost like a Mochi brownie which is like all the Rave right now the rice flour is being better absorbed here because the water molecules are working Kodiak cakes protein packed fudge brownie mix there's no scraggly top to it everything from inside out is very firm this is very very dry it's screaming from milk to dunk there is no fudgy caking this is this is dense this does not taste very chocolatey overall sweet flavor and less of a deep rich chocolate flavor flavor this really tastes like maple syrup to me I do not enjoy this texture I feel that this brownie is trying to be healthy and it's not working I think it's Kodiak because they make like a protein pack brownie that is more firm it's codiak Park City Kodiak protein brownie that's why it's cuz it's that's for the people that work out the protein in this recipe is coming from the way protein concentrate whole grain oat flour it has cane sugar in it because cane sugar has a large your grain size it'll play in a little bit more into the texture of the brownie it's not going to dissolve completely in whatever liquid you have you're not going to get a craggly shiny top on top you're also going to get more of a gritty texture because you're still going to Crunch into little bits of sugar I think that the maple syrup flavor is coming from the cane sugar cane sugar is going to have more of the molasses and more of the natural flavoring they definitely are better ways to get more protein into your diet let's see which products are chef like the most and the least overall I have a lot of sugar in me right now oo a lot of brownies My favorite is the giradelli dark chocolate fudge brownie the level of chocolate intensity that that brownie had I also loved that it had chocolate chips that I could taste and bite into Elli one was definitely my favorite it has a nice rich flavor it was nice and fudgy I thought the Elli was great but the trader joice was better felt like I was getting a richer chocolate I like the chocolate chunks in there that's my number one I might not be recommending the microwave brownies or some of the all natural or high protein brownies it takes away from the essence of why you're eating a brownie and you got to stick with the brownie the Duncan Hines milk chocolate I would not call that a brownie I think that it's more of a blondie and nothing's wrong with blondies but don't tell me I'm getting a brownie when this is a blondie Jeffy really was a let down because I really feel like I can trust them with the cornbread and then the fudge brownie that they said that was going to be that did not work for me there's still nothing like a fresh baked Bakery brownie but if you're looking for something that you can make at home you definitely have some options [Music]