AMERICA’S BEST : Brooklyn Brownies

There are two types of brownies. There’s the old-fashioned cake-like variety, crusty on top and moist and chewy inside. Then there are the dense, dark, creamy ones that taste more like candy than cake. For those who prefer the latter, none are better than Bob’s Brownstone Brownies.

Bob is Robert Ribbler, a former chef and Culinary Institute of America graduate who got into the brownie business a year and a half ago. First he installed a commercial kitchen in the basement of his apartment; it contains a couple of big mixers and a convection oven. Then he went shopping for chocolate. “It’s the most important ingredient,” he says, “so I did a lot of research and a lot of blind taste tests.”

Ribbler finally selected an American chocolate with a high cocoa butter content. But he won’t divulge who the manufacturer is. “I worked too hard to find it. It’s made in Pennsylvania but it’s not Hershey’s.”

Named after the Brooklyn brownstone where they’re made, Bob’s super-rich brownies are available in 15 flavors including mocha, cappuccino, Grand Marnier, rum-raisin and white chocolate chunk. The classic chocolate with nuts and the peanut butter versions are the best. A three-pound box containing a dozen individually wrapped brownies costs $19.95 plus $6 for shipping second-day air. To preserve freshness, they are baked and shipped the same day.

*Bob’s Brownstone Brownies

275 6th Ave.

Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215

(212) 369-2627

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