Brownie

These brownies can be fudgy or cakey depending on how long you bake them.

Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 45 min

"My parents and I recently celebrated my mom's birthday at a local restaurant called The Farmhouse," writes Karen Eschenbach of Emmaus, Pennsylvania. "We ended a wonderful meal with an even better dessert—chocolate-peanut butter 'beggars' purses.'" Each elegant phyllo "purse" contains a flourless brownie topped with peanut butter and chocolate ganache.

You might be tempted to bake 2 sheets of brownies at a time in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Don't give in to this urge—they must go in the middle of the oven to cook through and brown evenly.

Rich brownies are baked with a chocolate syrup that sinks to the bottom and thickens into a fudgy sauce, creating a luscious layering of textures.

Chocolate lovers will be in heaven when they taste these ultra-moist treats. The marbled topping works on most bar cookies.

Because these brownies are thinner than most, they bake quickly.

Christina has been making these super-easy brownies since she was a teenager.

"When I lived in South Africa, rum and raisin chocolate bars were a special treat," says Beth Peterson of Phoenix, Arizona. "I created this brownie recipe based on that combination of flavors, and perfected it with the help of friends and colleagues who sampled the brownies at each stage of development. These have a grown-up taste with the right balance of sweetness and rum." Try these warm with vanilla ice cream.

An inspired cherry-chocolate dessert.

With apologies to mom, I've adapted this recipe just slightly.

Dried sour cherries and a hint of cinnamon add an original twist to a tried-and-true standby. And you don't even need a mixing bowl: The batter is made in the saucepan with the melted chocolate.

These are especially rich and chewy.

Chocolate-covered raisins turn into fudgy pockets of intense chocolate and chewy raisins in these easy brownies.