This tower of brownies is different because it’s round...and that’s just the beginning. From top to bottom: Auburn Original, basic chocolate and walnuts; Tahiti, a blondie with toasted coconut, chocolate chunks, cashews and white chocolate morsels; and Rich Mint, a brownie sandwich with a mint filling. All photography by Melody Lan.

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July 2006
Updated May 2007

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cookies

Sugardaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties

Creative Brownies In The Round

CAPSULE REPORT: There’s something new every day. Today it’s round brownies, or “edgeless” brownies, as the inventors call them, in eight different flavors. They’re all good, and several flavors are really special. With their fancy packaging, targeted to the corporate gift market, they’re also good as party favors and...corporate gifts.

• Overview
• Sugardaddy’s Flavors
• Gift Packaging
• Shopping Information
• Favorite Brownie Cookbooks

There’s a sugar daddy in Columbus, Ohio. He won’t keep you in style, but he will keep you in round brownies, called “sweeties,” that are different from what other sugar daddies can ply you with. They’re a tasty and fun turn on the gourmet brownie, in eight flavors—four brownies, four blondies, plus some variations without nuts. They are hand-crafted of top ingredients including Callebaut and Guittard chocolate, and Callebaut semi-sweet chunks. The nuts and coconut—which are so good as to merit mention—come from Tropical Nut and Fruit, a regional purveyor.

One of the nice things about Sumptuous Sweeties is that, unlike the name suggests, they’re not too sweet. This restraint will be appreciated by many: in these days of excess, we soon learn to regret downing that which is too rich, too chocolatey, too buttery. Here, you can enjoy your brownie without feeling that you’ve overdone it.

The overindulgence comes in the packaging: your choice of four colors of Dupioni silk bags and 13 colors of satin ribbon (that can be reused as wine gift bags) and an individual round acrylic box to hold each brownie. It’s a luxurious and distinctive concept that’s impressive for gifting. For our own personal use, we hope that Sugardaddy’s will offer the ecology-minded among us the opportunity to purchase shrink-wrapped versions in a biodegradable paper box. If you get the sampler of all eight flavors, you end up with eight hard plastic boxes; if you re-order, you’ll have 16 of them. If you’re patient enough to peel off the paper labels, they can be used to store tea, paper clips, nuts and bolts or whatever; but few people have that many projects going on to utilize them all. The folks at Sugardaddy’s seem to be very creative, so it may be just a matter of time before they come up with a booklet (or a contest!) on what to do with the boxes once the brownies are gone.

And, these tasty brownies will go fast! The Sumptuous Sweeties are divided into Blonde Sweetie™ (blondies) or Brunette Sweetie™ (dark chocolate) camps. There are exciting choices whether you favor blondes or brunettes.

The Blondes

• Cinnamon, with its streusel topping, brown sugar and pecan base is really no brownie but a moist, dense little coffee cake. But, who’s complaining? It’s also available with no nuts.
• Nutty is a divine concept: salty nuts—almonds, cashews and pecans—in a blondie (photo at right). The sweet-and-salty flavors are a marriage made in heaven. Kudos!
• Strawberry Blonde is a peanut butter blondie with a swirl of strawberry: your basic peanut butter and jelly sandwich turned into a brownie. A charming idea, and not overly peanutty.
• Tahiti is one of the best sellers: topped with toasted coconut, cashews and dark chocolate chunks, with white chocolate morsels inside the blondie, we could see why. A most excellent concept, brimming with some of our favorite flavors. There’s pineapple in it too, but it’s lost on the island, as it were, contributing a very low threshold of flavor. If you don’t like pineapple, you won’t really taste it.

Cinnamon: a fusion of coffee cake and brownie.	Strawberry Blonde: peanut butter and jelly in a blondie.	Tahiti: Toasted coconut, nuts and pineapple.

The Brunettes

One thing that becomes obvious while tasting the four “brunettes” is that they aren’t simply one base cake with different “adds” into the same basic batter. Sugardaddy’s chef explains that each recipe is adapted to bring out the flavors and textures that match best with each flavor. Every recipe has a different ratio of unsweetened chocolate to bittersweet chocolate to butter to sugar to eggs to flour to leavening. Note to brownie bakers: Sugardaddy’s uses use only melted chocolate, never cocoa powder, in the brownies because they feel it offers the best depth of character and complexity, which cocoa powder doesn't seem to provide.

• American Beauty is a peanut butter brownie. The moist, dark, fudgy chocolate base is infused with peanut butter, the top inlaid with chopped peanuts. Yet, in this beautiful recipe, it is not too peanutty—it’s perfect. We’ve had a few peanut butter brownies: this is a standout and perhaps our favorite among Sugardaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties. In a field with several front-runners, that says a lot.
• Auburn Original is a walnut brownie, chock-full of big pieces of walnut, with a large walnut half embedded in the center. Impressive-looking, it is also available without nuts. The Auburn Original with nuts actually has a drier texture than the Auburn Original without nuts, because the company felt that the somewhat cakier finish complimented the walnuts, while the fudgier finish was better suited to a more decadent “just chocolate” version.
• Dark Berry is also in the fudgier style, dense, dark and moist, with an attractive raspberry swirl (photo above). It’s rich, sophisticated and another favorite.
• Rich Mint, with the lightest of the brownie textures, is a brownie sandwich with a mint buttercream filling. It is a sweeter-style brownie, a tad sweet for us but a top-seller and sure to please those with an especially sweet tooth.

American Beauty : A fusion of coffee cake and brownie.	Auburn Original: A classic walnut brownie.	Rich Mint: A mint brownie sandwich.

Gifting

The“edgeless” brownie is already party of the lifestyles of the rich and famous: it is dispensed to VIPs at Trump International Hotel and Towers, The Peninsula Hotel in New York, the Waldorf-Astoria, the West Palm Beach Polo Club, Leading Hotels of the World, and similar top spots. Silk bags can be monogrammed with company logos, bride’s and groom’s names, favorite slogans (we suggest “Life’s too short to eat diet food”), et al. The company gives back by supporting community food banks, educational institutions and other good causes.

To give a gift that will last after the brownies are gone, consider the monogrammed canvas tote bag with detachable shoulder strap in black, brown, pink or red, filled with six brownies of your choice. The girt includes an “8 Ways to Enjoy Your Sweeties” booklet. They make lovely bridesmaid’s gifts.

Lovers of fine food can always use another great-tasting brownie in compelling flavors—for oneself and to give as gifts. And in the varieties of Sugardaddy’s Blondes and Brunettes, we most certainly have found some permanent favorites.

Bake Brownies

Brownie Mix Bliss, by Camilla V. Saulsbury. Nobody would ever be able to guess that all of the scrumptious treats in this book started with a humble box of basic brownie mix. Mocha Buttercream and Mint Julep Ganache Brownies are just steps away with this easy-to-use cookbook! Click here for more information or to purchase.	Brownies to Die For!, by Bev Shaffer. Award-winning chef and food columnist Bev Shaffer presents over 100 of the most fabulous brownie recipes, from the traditional to the decadent. Specializing in creating uncomplicated recipes and calming food phobias, Shaffer includes her usual measure of tips, techniques, and encouragement with each tablespoon of chocolate. Click here for more information or to purchase.	Brownies & Bars: More Than 70 Inspiring Recipes, by Liz Frankin. Indulge in moist, rich brownies and delicious dessert bars with this collection of recipes that is a must-have for anyone with a sweet tooth! Whether you crave a classic fudge brownie or a jam filled coconut bar, Brownies & Bars will have you baking up a storm. Click here for more information or to purchase.