Rich Fudge Brownies

“Is it done?”

“No, it’s not done.”

“Don’t overcook it. You overcook it, it’s no good. It defeats its own purpose.”

Robert DeNiro, as the boxer Jake LaMotta, and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, in the film Raging Bull, may have uttered those words about a steak. But when I’m baking chocolate—either brownies or my Passover Hungarian torte—that’s pretty much the subtext when my daughter Alex begins her “I think it’s ready” monologue.

The purpose