If there is one hill I will die on, it is that boxed mix brownies are usually the only brownies worth my time — but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to get fancy with them. If you’re looking to pass yours off as a little more gourmand, simply change the oil.

It is well documented that I am not above using a boxed baking mix, particularly those of the chocolate variety. But just because something doesn’t require any culinary creativity, that doesn’t mean you can’t play around with tweaks.

Just as there are "process" killers and "product" killers, I like to think that there are process bakers and product bakers. Process people take comfort and joy in the execution of their favourite hobby, whereas product people are in it for the result. Like Jeffrey Dahmer, I’m a product person, but our goals are very different. Dahmer wanted a comatose sex slave; I just want some brownies.

Some folks relieve stress by baking sourdough bread or elaborate layer cakes; good for them. When I'm sad and stressed, I need the shortest, hardest-to-mess-up path to a lot of chocolate I can find. For me, that path always leads to cocoa brownies.

Boxed brownies don't need a ton of improvement, but they can be made even better (and fancier) with a few choice extras. Because they want us to be happy, Bon Appetit has rounded up a whole slew of delicious ways to jazz up the chocolaty mix, and they're all chef-approved.

I'm a fan of a box mix brownie. They're easy to make, consistently good and have that shiny crust on top, but their place in my heart is in danger of being usurped by the three-ingredient beauties above, which feature my BFF Nutella.

I'll be honest, when it comes to brownies, I tend to favour the box mixes, mainly because I haven't found a homemade recipe that gives you that gorgeous, crackly, shiny crust. King Arthur Flour has cracked the shiny code however, and the secret is chocolate chips.