Brownies without borders

By Jackie Burrell

San Jose Mercury News

Monkey around with a towering souffle or a Parisian petit four, and you’re asking for trouble. But brownies — and their freewheeling cousins, the blondie and bar — are a whole different matter.

These all-American treats are the rough-and-tumble members of the pastry arts club.

C’mon down, they say. Let’s play.

There’s a certain “pinky-raised delicacy” to European sweets like the macaroon and madeleine, says food anthropologist Michael Krondl in his new book, “Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert” (Chicago Review Press, 418 pages, $24.95).

But brownies are a dessert of the people, for the people and — ever since Fanny Farmer’s Boston Cooking School invented them in 1896 — baked by the people too.

Brownies, Krondl says, are “quintessentially American.”

And while part of their enduring appeal lies in the ease of preparation and all-around deliciousness, there’s no denying the allure of a dessert that can be adapted so many ways.

“They make a great canvas,” says Stacy Adimando, the New York-based author of the just-published “Cookiepedia” (Quirk Books, 160 pages, $18.95). “You mix in whatever you’re craving and whatever your sweet style is.”

Brownie and blondie aficionados run the gamut from purists to increasingly avant-garde.

They dabble in chocolates, add exotic spices, and sprinkle the results with salt and even, in some cases, pepper.

They bring in salty ingredients, fresh herbs or dried flowers, like lavender.

Or, they tiptoe over the cookie barrier to bring in other elements from the dessert world, including caramels, fresh fruit or cheesecake.

Take the divine mocha-cream cheese brownie bars favored by Emily Luchetti, pastry chef at San Francisco’s Farallon and Waterbar. Luchetti tops her brownie base with a creamy mocha cheesecake layer, then swirls them together before baking for a swoon-worthy dessert that’s easy to eat, even without a fork, but looks sensational enough for any swanky cocktail party.

That’s precisely why blondies and bars are so much fun, Adimando says. They have no rules at all, which leaves the embellishments and add-ins “wide open to variations and modernization of these classics.”

And that’s something anyone can do, not just the pros.

One family’s favorite autumnal bar was inspired by the idea of marrying a blondie to a gingersnap. The result is a dense, spicy bite of deliciousness, filled with molasses, butterscotch, espresso and ginger. And it’s tailor-made for college care packages. The bars stay fresh for a week or more, and that little jolt of coffee comes in handy at exam time.

Customizing your own signature blondie or bar can be as easy as starting with a good basic dough and indulging your candy bar cravings.

Adimando suggests adding chopped peanut butter bars, brittles, honey-roasted nuts, dried fruit or even pretzels to a dense, chewy blondie. It’s not just tasty and texturally interesting, she says, you get this “beautiful cross-section of all the delicious mix-ins” when the bars are sliced.

And don’t be afraid to manhandle those blondies.

Souffles and high-rising cakes may be delicate affairs, but when food writers Mark Scarbrough and San Carlos-native Bruce Weinstein bake their chocolate-flecked buttermilk blondies, they add a little violence to the proceedings.

Halfway through the baking, they take the pan out and whack it against an oven rack a few times. The act of blondie mayhem compresses the towering bars into a dense, gooey wonder.

See? No rules at all on this baking playground.