Gü Brownies €5.99 for 360g, €16.64 per kg: Highs:When it comes to mas-produced, widely available, supermarket-bought brownies, these are very hard to fault. They are absolutely fine cold - if just a little stodgy - but really come into their own after being warmed for no more than 20 seconds in a microwave.

Once heated, they become moist, gooey, chocolatey and remarkably rich. They come individually wrapped, which may act as a disincentive to eating more than is good for you in a single sitting.

Lows:There weren't as many nuts in the mix as we would have liked and, while wrapping each brownie in plastic might be good for freshness, it is hardly the most environmentally friendly approach.

Verdict:Good and gooey

Star rating: ****

Marks & Spencer Belgian Chocolate Chunk Brownies

€3.69 for 175g, €21.08 per kg

Highs: These dainty little brownies are made with enormous chunks of chocolate which are quite pleasant. There is 20 per cent chocolate in the mix and the chunks have a long and lingering flavour.

Lows: The chocolate in these was a little dull - a long way from horrible, but nothing special. We thought that nuts were essential for making brownies, but they were entirely absent here and the excess of chocolate makes them a little too sweet for our liking. They are way too dainty - unless you have the appetite of a sparrow, then one is hardly likely to be sufficient. These also seemed a bit pricey for a supermarket-bought product.

Verdict: Too small and too dear

Star rating: **

Avoca Brownies

€2.65 for 100g, €26.50 per kg

Highs:Avoca is almost always the place to go in search of desserts you can pretend you cooked yourself, and these brownies certainly fall into that category. They have a spongy texture that is light and airy and they are filled with nuts, many of them whole. While we couldn't identify all of them, we reckon hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts featured. The chocolate flavours are quite subtle and it is not overpoweringly sweet.

Lows: The chocolate icing falls to pieces a little too readily - by the time we got these home, it had become a small mountain of crumbs. As with many products in this store, they are not cheap, so you need deep pockets if you develop a taste for them.

Verdict:Nice but pricey

Star rating: ***

Norin's Brownies

€3,50 for 200g, €17.50 per kg

Highs:These fresh-tasting, home-baked brownies, available in a growing number of farmers' markets, are absolutely enormous and slathered in a thick layer of pleasingly dark icing which seems to be resolutely attached to the cake. The icing also lends these keenly priced treats a pleasingly bitter flavour which complements the sweet chocolate cake that it sits on top of. They look genuinely home-made and are remarkably dense, fantastically rich and incredibly nutty - like a member of the British aristocracy, perhaps?

Lows:Their size might be their undoing: 200 grams of very heavy chocolate brownie seems like a lot to eat, although you could of course share it with someone.

Verdict:Lovely

Star rating: ****

Fallon & Byrne Brownies

€2.50 for 100g, €25 per kg

Highs:These are made in-store daily and are as close to homemade as we could find. They are very gooey and very chocolatey and very good. While we have no idea what chocolate was used in the making of these, it certainly tastes like the folk in Fallon & Byrne used top quality stuff. There is a decent sprinkling of very finely chopped nuts in the mix.

Lows:Mind you, on this occasion, the nuts might have been toasted just a little too long and ended up tasting ever so slightly burnt. They are also dear and will prove almost impossible for people living outside of a certain part of Dublin to source.

Verdict:Pretty good but not easy to get

Star rating: ***