Genius

Remember the year 2000?  In the 2000 presidential election, it was said that Al Gore grandiosely claimed to have "invented the Internet".  For the record, I don't think Al Gore ever said such a thing, but that discussion (politics and/or stickiness) belongs on a different blog.  

It's probably fair to say that no one person invented the Internet.  But there is one person who's widely credited with inventing email, and that person is Ray Tomlinson.   According to Wikipedia:

Its development was not a directive of his employer, with Tomlinson merely pursuing it "because it seemed like a neat idea".  When showing the system to a colleague, Tomlinson said "Don't tell anyone! This isn't what we're supposed to be working on".

Until recently, it never occurred to me to wonder why Ray invented email.  Did he picture earnest scientists sharing ground-breaking research at the touch of a button?   Widely-circulated, not-very-funny jokes?   Pictures of kittens?  

Ray died in 2016, so he lived to see all those things.  But my personal belief, based on absolutely no evidence at all, is that he had something else in mind.  Something more like the email I got the other day, containing a brownie recipe and a terse note:  "Please try these.  I beg of you."

Q:  How much begging does it take for me to try a brownie recipe containing three different kinds of chocolate?

A:  None at all.  

These brownies do not disappoint.  To say the least.  They are rich, they are chocolately, they have a lovely texture that is a bit chewy but also a little bit gooey.  And they have chunks of both white and dark chocolate throughout.   Imagine, someone just hit the "Send" button and shared this work of genius with me! Ray would be so proud.  

Plase try them.  I beg of you.  

Notes

This is a gluten-free recipe.  If you do not want gluten-free brownies, you can use all-purpose flour in place of the gluten-free flour.  

The baking time I suggest creates brownies with a nice crust around the edge, but still soft in the middle.  If you like your brownies with a different texture, you can vary the baking time, but the author of the original recipe cautions you not to over-bake them.

I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips, roughly chopped because they are larger than regular chocolate chips, and part (1 1/2 ounces) of a Ghirardelli White Chocolate Bar, chopped rather finely, for the chips in the recipe.  Any good-quality chips (or chopped chocolate) should be fine.  I personally avoid most "white baking chips" because they often contain no chocolate at all.  

I feel pretty firmly convinced that these brownies would make the world's best brownie sundae.  

Inspiration

This recipe came from my friend Michael, who kindly gave me permission to share it.  Michael describes himself as a tinkerer with recipes, and I can only imagine that he toiled long and hard to perfect this one.  The only changes I made were to half-size the recipe, and make it gluten-free.  

Check out Michael's blog!  His knowledge of frozen pizza is awe-inspiring!