Just recently I’ve been rather keen on Brownies. Not the little packs of Brownie bites you find in supermarkets, but the proper singular brownies often found in a bakery or cafe. I was in a local Lidl in Spalding and they sold them for 79p (up from about 69p last year), so I tried one. Amazing. Chocolately, firm, fudgey, with a shell, and choc chunks. Not the biggest brownie, but it was nice. I’d give it a good 8.5-9/10. More if it was bigger – but then, just buy 2!
Hmmm which is the best brownie?
So that got me thinking: where can you buy the Ultimate Brownie? So I decided to start this review on the ultimate Brownie. Where can you get the best? What makes the best brownie? Does it have to be premium priced?
I decided to try McDonalds’ brownie.
McDonalds Brownie Review
This brownie is £2.09, at the time of writing this (date above). I did ofset the dietry issues, by doing a 5.5 mile round trip walk for this – genuinely. So how was it? I’ve seen a few reviews and a video review on the McDonalds Brownie – the video one was right.
In my view, this is not a Brownie. It is a piece of shallow chocolate cake with some chocolate chips. There is no real crunch at the top. No fudgyness whatsoever. Sorry McDs… I’d give this a 3/10. It was chocolately, and served nicely in paper… but not really a brownie.
Cornish Bakery Brownie Review
This was from the store in Stamford. First off, lovely store. Very welcoming staff, and helpful too, as I asked about something else, and they really want you to feel welcomed. I even said what my aim was, and they asked me to let them know what I thought, and I did.
This brownie is bigger than McDonalds. Looks nicer. Has a bit of a crack on the top, but not much. It’s a bit more fudgy (stodgy) and less cakey. But, it has no choc chips, so there is no bite surprise inside. Not sure if they should, but it adds to it. That was missing from this Brownie. A brownie, I think, should be something that feels rich, indulgent, mmmm chocolatey and ‘oh yeah’. Alas, this doesn’t. It scores on the size, and is fairly chocolately, but it didn’t for me have that wow factor.
For £2.95, it was kind of like McDonald’s one, a bit bigger, and a bit more fudgey. Which for around 90p more, you expect.
Side note, also bought a Pistaccio Croissant, for which I give it 10/10. Amazing.
Burghley House Orangery Brownie Review
Lastly for now, on this quest for the Ultimate Brownie, we arrive at Burghley House in Stamford.
I know this place so well, and they had frankly the most amazing looking Brownie. Lovely shape and size to it. Good shell (that a fork cracked into). Choc chips throughout and poking through the shell. Surprisingly also the same price as the one in the Cornish Bakery: £2.95. So considering it was at Burghley, a win for them.
The Brownie, has it all….. almost. It’s missing one thing that would have maybe nudged it to 9/10: chocolately flavour.
Considering it was premium, it didn’t have that “wow… soooo chocolately”. I really didn’t. It has almost everything else, except that.
Starbucks Brownie Review
Since the Burghley House visit, we’ve been to Starbucks, this time in Peterborough near Tesco, Yaxley (known as Hampton).
The brownie similar in size to Lidl’s. Maybe a bit thicker. The top looks crunchy – alas it isn’t.
It is chocolately – probably more than some of the others reviewed yet. Less cakey than some others too. And it has flatted, tho chocolately chippy bits of chocolate in it. They are thin, but when you “find it”, it’s really there, and a good texture.
It’s £2.99. So for a cafe, suppose it’s about on par with others.
Compared to Lidl’s for 75p (price we last saw recently), it’s alas still not quite as good.
We have it and think “how many Lidl’s one could we get for this one?”. That being said, You don’t sit down for your brownie and coffee in Lidl, you grab it, in a paper bag, and go.
Would we get the Starbucks Brownie again? Not sure. Maybe. Definitely would over some of the others on here.
Conclusion to find the ultimate Brownie
So far, I’ve tried brownies from Lidl, McDonalds, Cornish Bakery and Burghley House in Stamford.
Based on price, quality, chocolatey flavour, and texture overall, Lidl wins. Sorry I have not got a photo of Lidl’s but when I next have one, I will take a pic. It is smaller than the others, but comparing £2.09/£2.95 with 79p, it’s quite a staggering difference.
I will contine to look. We have a London trip planned soon, and part of that trip visits a rather posh bakery. So if they do brownies, we’ll get one to try. If you are reading this and you are in the Lincolnshire, Peterborough area, or Cambridge, please do contact us through our various channels, and recommend. We would love to hear from you about YOUR ultimate Brownie. So we can go try it for ourselves.
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