I attempted Ina Garten’s and Gordon Ramsay’s favourite brownie recipes. The finest one was the best to make. | Invesloan.com

I’ve made many of Ramsay’s delicious dishes — including his 15-minute pasta and 10-minute burger — but had never whipped up one of his desserts.

That changed when I came across his recipe for the “world’s best brownies.”

With a name like that, I obviously had to try it.

To make a serving of 15-20 brownies, you’ll need:

• ½ pound of dark chocolate, broken into squares or roughly chopped
• ¼ pound of dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks (optional)
• ½ pound of butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
• ¾ cup of caster sugar (granulated sugar also works)
• ½ cup of light-brown sugar
• ½ cup of all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Ramsay lists two separate chocolate measurements because the small chunks are added to the brownies in the middle of the baking process. To simplify things, I bought two bags of dark chocolate chunks (each was 10 ounces/283 grams) for this recipe.

I used one full bag for melting the chocolate and a third of the second bag while adding more chunks to my brownies. It was a little more chocolate than Ramsay intended, but I loved the results.

After setting the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, I greased my pan and lined it with parchment paper.

Then I diced the butter and threw it into a heatproof bowl with my chocolate. Since I didn’t have enough pans to melt the chocolate over the stove (known as the double-boiler or bain-marie method), I used the microwave instead. Ramsay recommends throwing the chocolate and butter into the microwave for 3 minutes, but my mixture was ready in 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

I sifted the flour and salt over the batter, then stirred everything together until it was smooth and combined.

I baked my brownies for 20 minutes, then took my pan out of the oven so I could add the extra chocolate chunks. Ramsay’s recipe says you should “vigorously throw the chunks of chocolate” into the brownie mix at this stage, which was surprisingly therapeutic.

I let the brownies bake for an additional 20 minutes, then let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Ramsay’s decision to stick to dark chocolate really helps this recipe shine, because the brownies are indulgent without tasting sickly sweet. I also loved how many chocolate chunks were stuffed into each brownie, adding some texture to all that fudginess.

I made these brownies for my fiancé, who said he loved their “smooth, irresistible chocolate flavor.”

These brownies taste fantastic on their own, but adding some vanilla ice cream would make an incredible dessert.

Get the full recipe for Gordon Ramsay’s “world’s best brownies” here.

Before she was a Food Network star, Garten ran a beloved specialty food shop in the Hamptons, ditching her White House job to follow her passion.

In her first cookbook, “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook,” Garten writes that these brownies used to fly off the shelves and that she sold “like a thousand” a week.

To make a serving of 20 (large) brownies, you’ll need:

• 1 pound of unsalted butter
• 1 pound, plus 12 ounces, of semisweet chocolate chips
• 6 ounces of bitter chocolate
• 6 extra-large eggs
• 3 cups of chopped walnuts
• 2 ¼ cups of sugar
• 1 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons of instant coffee granules
• 2 tablespoons of pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt

I set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then buttered and floured my pan.

I had enough pans to use the bain-marie method while I was making Garten’s brownies. So I melted my butter, bitter chocolate, and one pound of the chocolate chips in a saucepan that was placed over a pot of simmering water.

I added my eggs, vanilla, sugar, and instant coffee to a bowl. Garten says in her recipe to stir the ingredients together without beating the eggs, so be careful!

I kept stirring as I added the melted chocolate and butter, then allowed the mixture to cool to room temperature. You don’t want the batter to melt the chocolate chips, which Garten says will ruin the brownies.

I sifted my dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then added them to the cooled chocolate mixture.

Garten says this trick helps prevent the chocolate chips and walnuts from sinking to the bottom of the brownies while they’re in the oven.

After the first 20 minutes, I hit the baking sheet against the oven rack. Garten says this helps release air that builds up between the brownies and the pan during baking.

Each bite of Garten’s brownies tasted deliciously rich and fudgy, and I loved how much crunch the walnuts and chocolate chips added. I’m not surprised they used to be one of Garten’s most popular dishes at Barefoot Contessa.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten’s outrageous brownies here.

There are really no losers here because both Ramsay’s and Garten’s recipes are delicious and easy to make, but I was a slightly bigger fan of Ramsay’s dark chocolate brownies. I love the fact that, save for two bags of chocolate chips, I already had all the ingredients for Ramsay’s brownies in the pantry. It’s one of the quickest and easiest desserts you could make in a pinch, but it still tastes really impressive.

But Garten’s brownies are still really good! And anyone who prefers a little extra crunch should give them a try as well.

Either way, you’ll have a pan of delicious brownies.