Brownies is a term for which definitely made it to the top of the American sweet bakery list. Also in many other parts of the world it seems to be in vogue and loved by almost all generations.
I reviewed many different recipes from many different sources and decided to do a little experiment, trying to pick the perfect combination.
The basic recipe is composed of five ingredients: eggs, sugar, butter, flour and chocolate (or cocoa). I tried the same recipe in two versions: one with chocolate and another one with cocoa.
If you prefer cakey brownies, you’ll want to try another recipe as these are incredibly moist and fudgy, as long as you don’t over-mix the batter or bake them too long.
To this simple and classic brownie dough, the addition of any kind of nuts will work wonderfully!
Gooey and seriously chocolaty these brownies are a total joy!
Classic Brownies with Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup (140 g) cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 170 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), finely chopped
- 190 g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 cup brown mascobado sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Recipe
Preheat the oven to 180°C and layer a baking pan (20 x 20 cm) with baking paper.
Combine chopped chocolate with sugar and butter cut into pieces. Melt it at very low heat, stirring occasionally. When done, it has to be a homogeneous mixture.
Sift flour and baking powder, add the salt and mix. Transfer the chocolate-butter mixture from the step above into a bowl. Add eggs one by one, whisking with rubber spatula after every addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla extract. Add flour in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous. Transfer batter into prepared baking pan, spread evenly into corners and smooth the surface.
Bake it in the middle position of your oven rack for 20 minutes.
Classic Brownies with Cocoa
Ingredients
- 140 g cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 170 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 190 g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 ½ cups brown mascobado sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Recipe
Preheat the oven to 180°C and layer a baking pan (20 x 20 cm) with baking paper.
Combine cocoa powder with sugar and butter cut into pieces. Whisk it at very low heat until the butter melts and the mixture becomes homogeneous and liquid. This will take some time, but it will eventually become very nicely smooth.
Sift flour and baking powder, add the salt and mix to combine. Transfer the cocoa-butter mixture from the step above into a bowl. Add eggs one by one, whisking with rubber spatula after every addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla extract. Add flour in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous. Transfer batter into prepared baking pan, spread evenly into corners and smooth the surface.
Bake it in the middle position of your oven rack for 20 minutes.
Note:
Be sure to test for doneness before removing the brownies from the oven. If underbaked (the toothpick has liquid batter clinging to it) the texture of the brownies will be dense and gummy. If overbaked (the toothpick comes out completely clean), the brownies will be dry and cakey. The toothpick should come out having sticky crumbles of batter on it. This depends quite a bit on your oven and the baking pan you are using. So, for the first time you’re making brownies, keep checking from time to time (start after 10 minutes of baking time). For next time, you can set the final time without checking in between.
Merium