Ditch Your Cake Pan. Bake Brownies In A Cast Iron Skillet Instead

You already know cast iron skillets are crucial for searing steak and making perfect fried chicken, but there's a major case to be made for using them to make brownies. For starters, if you're an edge person, a skillet creates the crispiest, most deeply caramelized edges you've ever crunched while keeping the center fudgy and chewy. A cast iron pan is also an adorably rustic way to present a batch of brownies, which makes it perfect for serving at gatherings. 

It's also pretty easy to alter your recipe to make brownies work in a cast iron pan as long as you know what to do. To explore the do's and don'ts of baking brownies in cast iron, Chowhound reached out to Sarah Fennel, the founder of Broma Bakery in New York City and author of "Sweet Tooth: 100 Desserts to Save Room For," for exclusive expert suggestions. Fennel says, "Cast iron can make for a dreamy brownie, but you have to treat it right." She also has plenty of tips for doing just that.

The most important thing to keep in mind when baking brownies in a cast iron pan is to control the heat. Think about how your cast iron behaves when cooking something savory; it absorbs heat slowly and holds on to it longer, so unless you're searing or doing something else that requires high heat, a lower temperature often gives you better results than a higher one. Sarah Fennel advises setting the oven temperature 25 degrees Fahrenheit down from whatever the recipe calls for.

The thick metal of the pan also creates a lot of carryover cooking when the brownies are out of the oven, so pull them out before they're completely baked. "Check for doneness five to 10 minutes ahead of the recipe's bake time," she notes. "When in doubt, take out your brownies when they still look like they have a few minutes left on their bake, as they will continue to cook as they cool in the cast iron."

If you're not sure when to pull the brownies without over baking, don't make the mistake of relying on the toothpick test for brownies because once the treats are baked enough to pass that test, they'll be overdone. Keep your eye out for any signs of cracking on the surface to avoid overbaking your brownies, and make sure you do a test run on the recipe before serving it to guests to be on the safe side.