You were a little worried about someone's self-esteem there, weren't you? You were concerned that using the phrase "overdone," "overbaked," or "burned" would cause someone to feel less good about themselves, and wanted to avoid that at all costs, right?

First of all, most anyone who has baked brownies, cookies, a cake, etc., has overdone them. One minute you check to see if something is done and the toothpick you insert in the center comes out gooey; you check again and it's dry as a bone, and certainly not more than one or two minutes has passed. Welcome to the club.

Second, there's not a lot you can do to rescue overdone brownies. The best solution is to serve them with ice cream and let the melting ice cream solve both the dryness and the self-esteem problems. Nothing we know of boosts one's self esteem as much as a brownie with ice cream on top (unless it's brownie with ice cream, a little hot fudge, and a pleasing amount of whipped cream).