Gail’s Bakery II: Brownie On Demand

Brownie Basics

I loved the pecan brownie from Gail’s and have been keen to investigate if they had other options. This led me to the discovery that they are delivering in this current climate, and that the delivery menu includes a brownie finger.

Brownie Backstory

You know… sometimes I reach this bit of the brownie blog post, which is intended to be a more in-depth discussion of the brownie’s context, and I feel like I haven’t really got anything to add that I didn’t put succinctly in the original opener.

Eh, let’s try.

Gail’s Bakery is delivering! At least in London. It’s great sometimes to live in the biggest city in the country! There’s very little, in terms of tech/food/culture/etc, that won’t come here first. My feelings on this situation vary of course. There’s some truth to the ‘London-centric’ narrative in the UK, and there very much needs to be a redistribution of wealth, political power, culture, influence, etc. But on the other hand, I’m locked into my tiny ground-floor flat with no access to outdoor space while all the people who complain about “London elites” are drinking wine in their gardens. So, you know.

The Gail’s delivery was honestly a bit of a lifesaver when it came, because it contained a whole bunch of stuff that (at least at the time) was in pretty short supply in supermarkets. I mean, £4.20 for a loaf of supermarket bread to be delivered would be quite a lot. But for such a high quality bakery loaf, especially under the circumstances, it’s pretty great! So for £37 I got two loaves of sourdough (one seeded, one with olives), a couple of sausage rolls, a couple of cookies, a big bag of Gail’s house blend coffee, a big bag of Cheddar crackers, and this brownie finger!

Obviously reviewing everything in my order is out of the scope of this blog, but let’s do a very quick run down. Bread: great, ate it too quickly. Sausage rolls: great, ate them too quickly. Cookies: great, ate them too quickly….. Okay never mind, this describes basically everything I bought.

Except the coffee, which fuelled at least a week’s worth of hard work.

And the brownie, which I ate at standard brownie speed.

Brownie Points

Taste: Pretty darn good. Rich and chocolate. As expected, on par with the Gail’s pecan brownie. 8/10

Texture: It’s soft and yet satisfyingly fudgy towards the centre, which is a potentially difficult thing to do for a brownie as small as this. I mean, I guess it’s cut out of a much larger baking pan, but still the height isn’t much. And the shape suggests what shape and size of baking pan was used so still not huge? Anyway, that’s tangential. It’s a very good texture. 8/10

Presentation: I like this brownie and I’m glad to have it. But it doesn’t look like anything special? I unfortunately can’t find any reason to give it a presentation score above 1/5

Value: Another difficult decision here, because I don’t think it was a terrible decision for me to spend £2.40 on it, but I do think £2.40 is a lot for this brownie and that that high price tag is only somewhat mitigated by the fact that, you know, it’s the end of the world. I’m also not including the delivery fee in this, so… it’s a lot of money for a small brownie, if a good brownie. I will probably buy it again…but only while I’m saving huge amounts of money in quarantine while not being allowed to spend money on all my usual fun stuff. 4/10

Fudge Factor: But let’s shamelessly favour Gail’s here. I really like that they’re delivering in this time and I will show that appreciation in the most obvious way: by chucking some points onto my review of a brownie. 5/5

Finger In The Air Time: 26

Should I Buy And Eat This Brownie?

I sort of gave it away, but yeah, I’m totally putting another one of these in my next order. I guess what I’d say is that it’s probably not worth it when reality resumes, when you could treat yourself to a full Gail’s brownie instead. But for now, I’ll take it.

Closing Thought

Lockdown has given me the opportunity to rewatch Community. Many, many times. I cannot overstate my love for this show.