For Brownie Day, I joined the NYT Cookie Week fun and baked Melissa Clark’s Vietnamese coffee brownies — but with a twist. I didn’t have enough unsweetened chocolate, and I wasn’t about to spend $71 on five bars, so I improvised with whatever chocolate I had: 100%, 99%, 91% and 70% and tweaked the sugar. The result? A glossier, sparklier crust and the fudgiest espresso-kissed brownie, marbled with a tangy, coffee-flecked cream cheese swirl.

Happy National Brownie Day! There is a reason @beatrixbakes calls it The Brownie (that is her favorite) because it may well be the only one I bake and riff off from here on out. For the incredible fudginess, wonderful richness and intensity of dark chocolate that is occasionally accented with the surprise crunch of sea salt flakes and blobs of tangy cream cheese, not to mention the greatly coveted shiny, crinkly crust (albeit largely obscured by extra-dark chocolate shards), I dare say this one has earned its place in the pantheon of brownies. Truly a special occasion brownie and I am glad I busted out the good chocolate.

Happy National Chocolate Brownie Day! This calls for a special occasion brownie and yours truly pulled off the satiny, shiny, crinkly, sheen in the crust courtesy of @bakerbynature. The cinnamon & bourbon also kick em’ up several notches!

Super moist, super complex, and truffle-like. Maybe even supernatural? Maybe the molasses in the muscovado did it?

Sans the shiny, crinkly crust possibly due to the significantly reduced amount of sugar in the batter, the way I added the eggs and who knows what else? 🤷🏻‍♀️ At any rate, very rich and fudgy which is all that matters when you’re ingesting them on National Brownie Day.

Queen E seemed to really like these.

Not as fudgy as I’m used to, but still tasty.

The chocolate chip kind. A tad dry.

Studded with pecans and covered with a milk chocolate glaze. Unfortunately, rather dry.