Ruth’s Brownie Kitchen is a small artisan bakery that prides itself on its artisanal approach to baking gourmet brownies: every batch is baked to order using only organic or natural ingredients and shipped within mere hours after being removed from the oven. While some may feel that the bakery’s limited capacity hampers business, we believe it helps set Ruth’s Kitchen apart from other unremarkable, mass brownie producers. Such an unwavering commitment to culinary excellence is just one of the many reasons Ruth’s Kitchen receives our TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award.
The company’s dedication to artisanal purity directly translates to superb product quality. The gourmet brownies are comprised of high-quality, all-natural ingredients including USDA-certified organic butter, eggs and milk. Additionally, Ruth’s Kitchen uses flours by King Arthur, a leading world supplier of baking flour, and premium chocolates and cocoa by Valrhona, a premier French chocolate manufacturer. The culmination of these top-quality ingredients yields fudgy brownies that are rich and moist with a creamy center.
Within hours of coming out of the oven, each brownie batch is wrapped and carefully packaged in the company’s signature pink box. Same-day baking and shipping ensures the treats retain their freshness and arrive as soon as possible.
Most gourmet brownies can be categorized into one of two categories: cakey or fudgy. Fudge brownies are soft, dense and very rich while cake-like ones typically have a crunchier crust with a chewy center. Most people prefer one type over the other. Ruth’s Kitchen is the only company we reviewed that makes a distinction between the two and offers both types. In fact, you can order any of their 12 flavors in either a cakey or fudgy version.
With the exception of cream cheese and espresso, Ruth’s Kitchen offers most of the popular brownie flavors we were seeking including caramel, toffee, raspberry, walnut and of course, original chocolate fudge. They also offer some more unique flavors that are sure to appeal to chocolate epicureans including cranberry, hazelnut and maple cream.
Ruth's Kitchen also specializes in gourmet biscotti and cookies. The biscotti comes in a range of flavors including almond and cranberry, and the cookies are available in eight different flavors including café mocha and orange chocolate. For individuals with dietary restrictions, Ruth’s Kitchen offers one of the biggest selections of gluten-free gourmet brownies of any company we reviewed. Available gluten-free flavors include original, chocolate chunk, walnut, peanut butter swirl, toffee crunch and caramel swirl. Given the range of brownies the company offers, we were surprised to find they do not have blondies or brownie bites.
When it comes to gifting options, Ruth’s Kitchen isn’t as well-rounded as its competitors (there aren’t any holiday, sentiment-specific or customizable gifts), but the baking company does offer all-occasion gift wrap for an extra charge. Furthermore, any of the company’s brownie boxes would make suitable corporate gifts.
Site features are supplementary to product quality and selection, but they can enhance your shopping experience and serve as useful resources. Ruth’s Kitchen had excellent site features including a blog, an email newsletter and the ability to purchase gift cards. More importantly, the website hosts ingredient lists of everything the brownies contain and tips on how to store the brownies to keep them fresh for as long as possible. Lastly, Ruth’s Kitchen has an interesting history of the brownie and how it came to be.
Brownies can be ordered by the dozen, half dozen or in two dozen quantities. While the company’s same-day baking practice may be one of its strongest assets, it also presents what some may consider a few shortfalls. Since the brownies are baked-to-order and delivered in a slab straight from the oven, they are not individually wrapped. Furthermore, there’s no sampler or assortment option so you can only order one type of brownie in one of the three quantities offered. However, getting the brownies delivered fresh and faster than any other service seems to far outweigh the absence of a sampler package and individual wrapping.
Ruth’s Kitchen scores high marks when it comes to shipping options. In fact, the company provides every option we sought including overnight shipping, two-day shipping and Saturday delivery. Additionally, the company can ship to multiple addresses under a single order and provides a cold pack for warm weather shipping to prevent the brownies from melting.
Ruth’s Kitchen provides some of the best customer service of any online brownie store we reviewed. We sent an email asking a few questions and received a lengthy, informative response within just a few hours. Phone support is also available and their website has an excellent set of frequently asked questions with tons of useful information.
The baking company does not offer an option to fax orders. However, between online and phone orders, we imagine the number of customers who would actually utilize this option is relatively small, so it’s not much of a drawback.
Ruth’s Kitchen stands behind its products offering a 100% freshness guarantee. If you or your recipient are in any way dissatisfied with their brownies, you can return them for a full refund or replacement order.
The high ranking of Ruth’s Brownie Kitchen in our lineup of gourmet brownies is indicative of the baker’s impressive offerings. The excellent brownie purveyor stands out among the competition with its unsurpassed product quality, same-day baking and product selection that entails both cakey and fudgy brownies. While the baking company doesn’t offer individually wrapped or assorted brownies, its commitment to superior product quality and delivering baked-to-order goods as quickly as possible far outshines such minor drawbacks in regards to its product selection.
