To celebrate my forty-fifth birthday, E
asked me to select a dessert recipe from our vast collection. I gave
the decision much thought—should I choose a new and exotic recipe or one
that had already proven itself? Should I pick brownies, cake, cookies,
pie, or something offbeat and eccentric? We just happened to have made
chocolate pudding from scratch last month, and because the result was
underwhelming, I opted to return to the beginning, to where it all
began, to the very first recipe I ever called my own: my original
fudgin’-A brownies.
For those unfamiliar with the story,
here’s a quick recap. My college roommate and supposedly best buddy,
Moondog, had the unfortunate habit of hording his CARE packages,
especially baked goods. I returned to our dorm room alone one afternoon
and was soon tantalized by a rich, chocolate aroma. It took me a few
minutes, but I tracked it down to the top shelf in his closet, where I
found a half-eaten pan of homemade caramel brownies. One bite, and the
course of my destiny was fixed. I had never tasted anything so delicious
in my life. It was all I could do to save Moonie a couple of bites.
I wanted more, so I went to Jewel and bought a caramel-brownie mix. The results were predictably dismal, but I noticed that they were nonetheless popular among guys and girls alike. Especially the latter. I thus began to explore the world of baking from scratch in a quest to replicate the splendor of those caramel brownies. I somehow became sidetracked, however, when I had at last created a remarkably tasty batch of fudgy brownies. They weren’t caramel, but they were very popular just the same, and friends often asked for them for their birthdays. We quickly became bored with brownies, so we explored other avenues of baking and then of cooking in general. Years later, I entered the fudgin’-A brownies and a batch of cinnamon cream cheese brownies in a bake-off; the latter won first prize, and fudgin'-A’s were ignored entirely. Only rarely would I ever again return to that classic recipe.
Until today. About to turn forty-five, I’m feeling nostalgic, so we blew the dust off the fudgin’-A recipe and once more worked our magic.
But not really. The magic of the fudgin'-A's is gone.
Somehow, our tastes have evolved over the years. The brownies taste the same, but the tongues tasting them are different. Yeah, they’re fudgy and nutty and gooey, but still, there’s nothing really interesting there. Not anymore. Not for us.
So adieu, fudgin’-A brownies. We had a lot of good times, and you made a lot of people happy in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. I’m still trying to lose the pounds you added. I’ll try to remember you not as you were today but as you were then: moan-inducing.
J McCrackan
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