Kitchen Tips: Cutting Brownies

Cate and I made some chewy brownies together this afternoon, which we both enjoyed thoroughly, of course. (We'll see if there are any for Nate when he gets home - just kidding - mostly.)


As I was cutting our brownies today, I thought I should share my brownie cutting trick with you: use a plastic knife. Works like a charm. Don't know why it's better than any metal knife you might try, but the brownies just don't stick to the plastic. Granted, if the brownies are piping hot when you cut (which mine were because I can't wait for them to cool), you'll still get a little stickage, but not much (see below). Trust me - the plastic knife is AMAZING.


I have a special edition of Fine Cooking called Chocolate. They give the following tips for cutting brownies into neat squares:
1. Line bottom of greased pan with parchment paper - grease the parchment paper.
2. After baking, run a sharp paring knife around the edge of the pan. This helps ease the whole baked brownie out of the pan. (Jane edit - plastic knife would be better...I'm sure of it...dude, I should be writing that magazine)
3. When the pan is cool enough to handle, flip out the whole brownie and then peel off the parchment.
4. Now invert the whole brownie onto a rack and let cool completely before cutting.

I think their method is handy for getting nice, even squares...but they didn't mention the knife. Go plastic!