I love brownies, but they must be perfect! I do not like cake-like brownies (does anyone?). The gooier the better! In order to get perfect brownies, you need to do 2 things. Stop stirring when *most* of the dry ingredients are mixed in (using a spoon, never a beater). And undercook them. Don't take them out when they're absolutely still uncooked (when wet batter comes off on your fork or toothpick). But take them out when some sticky crumbs come off on the fork. If the fork is clean, your brownies are toast. This gets particularly tricky when you have pieces of chocolate in the batter that melt and pretend they are uncooked brownies. That's why mine always have a ton of poke marks.

**Disclaimer - it may be very, very dangerous to undercook brownies, because they have eggs in them. Eggs are always a potential carrier of salmonella. If you are concerned about this, you can always buy pasteurized egg substitute. Still tastes good, and healthier too!

If brownies are not like this, it is not worth eating them.

And brownies are best 20 minutes after coming out of the oven.

That being said, my sister and I had an awesome brownie sunday at Chili's the other day! The brownie was molten and slowly flowing under the melting glaciers of vanilla ice cream. So good! We both ate more and more far beyond when we were full because it was so good. It was worth wishing we would explode for the rest of the night.

It's about to snow pretty bad this weekend. Usually I like to make a box of Ghiardeli Double Chocolate brownies when I'm snowed in, but I have no eggs. I'm trying really hard to fight the urge to go to the grocery store, but I'm going to miss my snow brownies.

I finally managed to find a Whole Foods that was convenient for me to visit. I must say, I'm hooked on that store now. They had beautiful flowers, and I heard my favorite music in there that I never hear anywhere else!But onto the chocolate... I went to the chocolate section, and was overwhelmed by brands that I never heard of. Someone reccomended that I try Kilari, but they didn't have any of that. So, I picked up a small bar of Lindt 70%, and they had tiny squares of another brand that I'm blanking on. I ate the square, and enjoyed it, but I'm waiting for the right moment to try the Lindt.That brings me to a question: How do you clense your palate before eating chocolate? Too often I eat fast food, and I figure I need to refresh my tongue before trying chocolate that I spent good money on.Then I decided to look at these websites that you have suggested, and I saw more chocolate and concepts that I am unfamiliar with. I'm sure the more I see it all, the better grasp I'll have of it.But I discovered this (scroll to the bottom): Venchi Gianduja Chocolate Spread I was drawn in by the packaging. What is this beautiful chocolate? What does one spread it on? Fancy bread? Yellow cake? My tongue?I'm so glad I have found this community! I'm very excited to be embarking on a new Chocolate Life!

It's like chocolate Facebook? I'm not sure I follow.I joined because I don't know anyone who appreciates Chocolate in the way I do. Everyone I know is crazy about M&Ms, and Hershey's Kisses. I'd much rather have something richer and smoother. My friends think those are smooth. So, I'm ready to get to know people who understand. But how do I do that?Right now, the best chocolate I'm familiar with is Lindt. Is there better chocolate that's readily available? Also, for those who live in Phila., PA, there's a place called Naked Chocolate Cafe. I have no idea why it's called that, but they have some really good chocolate there. They have things like sipping chocolate, and delicious chocolate drinks.So, if you can see this, and care enough to help me get acquainted with this community (and new chocolates), I'd greatly appreciate it!