gourmet or no way.........

I always, always, always love to try new and different recipes. It is like traveling to new worlds without leaving the house. When I stumbled across the Food & Wine recipe for sweet and salty brownies, the first thing I thought was...wow, there's a new concept. Who doesn't like sweet & salty? Did I mention I love trying new recipes? I do and I did.

Ingredients:

1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Maldon sea salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch square metal cake pan with foil, draping the foil over the edges. Lightly butter the foil.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Whisking them in one at a time until thoroughly incorporated, add the cocoa, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the batter. Using a butter knife, swirl the salt into the batter.
Bake the fudge brownies in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes, until the edge is set but the center is still a bit soft and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out coated with a little of the batter. Let the brownies cool at room temperature in the pan for 1 hour, then refrigerate just until they are firm, about 1 hour. Lift the brownies from the pan and peel off the foil. Cut the brownies into 16 squares. Serve at room temperature.

The "No Time for TomFoolery" version
1 Box Brownie Mix
1/4 tsp sea salt

Prepare according to directions. Add salt. Bake as directed.

The results? BLEH. Both versions had a flavor that when you put it in your mouth...it's like..wait for it...wait for it....ewwwwwww what's that???

I have to give this a big NO WAY. Sorry Kate & Food & Wine......
The precurser to the recipe:
Kate Krader has been making these fudgy, sweet-salty brownies since she was 10 years old. As a kid she used regular table salt; now she recommends a flaky sea salt like Maldon, because the flavor is less harsh and it melts so nicely into the batter, accentuating the chocolaty sweetness.

Again. No Way.