Bean-to-bar chocolate puts this one at the top of my list
By Ari Weinzweig
Ann Arbor, even with all its visitors, has always been known for its “townies.” What has become my favorite among the Bakehouse’s wide range of brownies is a delicious homage to the community of people who make Ann Arbor great. While they’re all really good, the Townie Brownie, to my taste, takes the cake!
Being a townie isn’t something I think about much, but after being in Ann Arbor for decades now, it’s pretty safe to say I am one. I figure anyone who’s lived here for a good stretch of time could reasonably qualify. University of Michigan student Anna McLean—who’s stayed in town the last two summers (something I did once upon a time, too)—wrote a great piece for the Ann Arbor Observer in late June that, to me, captured the spirit of it really well:
There will always be something intoxicatingly beautiful about a city woven into a university campus, the entwinement making for a vibrant, ever-awake city. But in the quiet hours before the sun sets on my Ann Arbor summer, I’m happy for the peace and quiet of a campus with fewer students.
In their absence, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of meeting residents from all walks of life. Between attending city council meetings, navigating the ever-present Diag construction, trying every downtown restaurant, and having the space to meet some of the people who make this city what it is, I have only deepened my gratitude for the four years I am privileged to spend here.
I’ve loved being a student on this magnificent campus in this equally magnificent city. But I must admit that I like pretending to be a townie more.
I feel pretty much the same! Being in school here was cool, but living here is, for me, a far richer and more rewarding experience. It is, I suppose, part of why Ann Arbor keeps showing up on so many “best places to live” lists!
The Townie Brownie got its start as part of our effort to make a wheat-free brownie to meet the dreams of our gluten-free customers. It worked. We use amaranth and quinoa in place of wheat, and it’s been a solidly good brownie since its beginnings back in 2010. What slid it into the rankings of my favorite brownie three years ago? Better chocolate, which we started buying three years ago from French Broad Chocolate in Asheville.
The French Broad-ified brownies are beautifully tasty. Less sweet, more complex, longer finish, meaningfully more chocolatey. The chocolate for the bar is one of the French Broad folks’ favorites as well. It’s a moderately dark bar made with cacao that comes from the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua using both Criollo and Trinitario cacao varietals, which have been caringly cultivated for generations. The folks at Cacao Bisieto work too to help the farmers improve fermentation and drying. The result is that the 68% Nicaragua chocolate from French Broad won a Good Food Award!
You can enjoy the Townie Brownies at the Bakeshop, Deli, and Roadhouse. And/or you can ask us to use one in your Brownie Sundae at the Roadhouse. And we can ship them as well.
Top secret super tasty tip—the Townie Brownies are also amazingly excellent if you dip the edge into finely ground (and not yet brewed) espresso.