How to Lose Friends and Terrify Family with 200 Pans of Brownies

Before our sourdough brownies became the fudgy little legends they are today, we went through enough failed batches to qualify as a government experiment. Some baked up like hockey pucks. Some collapsed into chocolate craters big enough to launch a SpaceX mission. And some were so weird we’re still not sure if they were brownies or edible science projects.

Our friends and family, bless them, became the involuntary test pilots for every single batch. At first, they were thrilled—who wouldn’t be? Free brownies! But by round twenty (or was it two hundred?), the enthusiasm faded. If Nonna and Papa see one more plate of brownies headed up their driveway, they’re likely to lock the doors and pretend to not be home. Our Thanksgiving dinner invitation is still “pending review.”

And then there’s the starter situation. Hard-earned lesson: if sourdough starter even brushes a mixing bowl, rinse it immediately. Ignore it, and you’ve basically created industrial mortar. At one point we were fairly sure we could brick an entire house with the dishes we left “to soak.”

Eventually, though, we cracked the code. The rich, tangy, perfectly chewy sourdough brownie you know today is built on sunken craters, a few family members who may never forgive us, and bowls we almost had to chisel clean.

So here’s to our flops, our laughs, and the friends and family who are still brave enough to taste-test for us (even if they do eye the brownie plate suspiciously first).

Proof that it only takes 200 failed brownies, 14 traumatized relatives, and a cement mixer’s worth of dirty dishes to make one perfect recipe.