GOOEY FUDGY BROWNIES

MAKES: 1 x 9x13” pan, or 1 x 8x8” pan (extra thick)

This recipe came about after I read through most-loved/top-rated recipes for gooey, fudgy brownies, noting common ingredient ratios and techniques. It is adapted from Stella Parks’ Glossy Fudge Brownies, Broma Bakery’s Brown Butter Brownies, Tasty’s Best Fudgy Brownies, Nick Malgieri’s Supernatural Brownies, and Sally McKenney’s Seriously Fudgy Brownies.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (227g) butter, to be browned

1 cup (90g) Dutch-process cocoa powder

4 oz (113g) dark or semisweet (60% cacao) chocolate, finely chopped

1 tsp instant espresso (or 1 Tbsp instant coffee)

1 ½ cups (300g) white sugar

½ cup (100g) brown sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup (120g) AP flour

1 tsp kosher salt

optional: 1 cup additional chopped chocolate or chocolate chips, or 1-2 cups chopped walnuts, dried cherries, etc.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x13” pan (light-color metal), or line with foil or parchment paper with overhangs for easy removal.

Put cocoa powder, chopped chocolate, and espresso powder in a heat-proof bowl.

Make brown butter: Melt butter in a light-color saucepan over medium-low heat. Once foaming and spitting, stir and scrape bottom with a spatula every 10-15 seconds. Grainy white milk solids will begin to appear on the bottom. Continue for 5-10 minutes (go by senses, not time). When foam clears and spitting noises go silent, watch closely: The milk solids will toast in seconds. As soon as the solids turn brown and smell nutty, remove pan from heat so it doesn’t burn.

Immediately pour hot brown butter into prepared bowl, to bloom cocoa and melt chocolate. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Foam eggs: With a stand or hand mixer, whip sugars, vanilla, and eggs on medium-high until thick, smooth, fluffy, and lightened in color. For very moist, rich brownies, stop after 4-5 minutes. For slightly more height and fluff, whip 8-10 minutes until very thick and pale. (I recommend starting at the lower end of the spectrum.)

Reduce speed to low. Slowly pour chocolate-butter mixture into egg foam mixture until incorporated.

Using a spatula, fold in flour and salt until just incorporated. Fold in additional chocolate if using. Batter will be very thick.

Scoop and spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

Bake 25 minutes until surface is glossy and just set (not jiggly in center). Do not overbake. They will finish cooking as they cool.

Let cool at least 30 minutes before removing from pan to slice.

NOTES

White sugar + foaming eggs = fudgy centers with classic glossy, crackly tops. The thicker your egg foam, the glossier/cracklier your top crust.

Brown butter deepens flavor and evaporates excess water in the butter. If you don’t want to brown the butter, melt it in a saucepan with the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Pour over cocoa powder and espresso powder. Stir until smooth.

For extra thick brownies, use an 8x8” pan. Bake time might be a bit longer.

MORE NOTES

Texture

The key to getting glossy, crackly tops = white sugar + foaming eggs. Beating for multiple minutes (vs. just whisking together, or only beating until incorporated) dissolves the sugar and aerates the eggs, just like meringue (which also has a glossy surface, so that tracks). A couple recipes did it Swiss meringue-style, whisking the sugar and eggs over a double boiler to dissolve sugar and warm the eggs (adding structure). When properly dissolved, some of the sugar-egg mix rises to the surface as the brownies cook, creating that classic ultra-shiny, crackly top.

Most “Classic Brownies” recipes achieve a glossy top by melting together the butter and sugar, dissolving the sugar that way. But from what I observed, those tops come out less shiny and crackly—and not “hair-thin” like I was looking for. It seems using the meringue method is the best way to achieve the perfect top.

Some recipes used baking soda to leaven, but I wanted to ensure density by relying on eggs for lift.

Cocoa

Dutch-process cocoa is a must for the dark-as-night center. Blooming the cocoa is also a must for the most intense flavor.

Cocoa vs. chocolate: Most recipes used a mix of both cocoa and melted chocolate; sometimes equal, sometimes not. Cocoa = moister, fudgier brownies; cocoa powder contains no cocoa butter (solidifies when cool) and adds no moisture to the batter (so you don’t need to add more flour to compensate). Chocolate adds complexity of flavor, but might contain added sugar, emulsifiers, etc. that are not ideal. I used both (volume ratio 1 cup cocoa powder:0.5 cup/4oz chocolate), but only because I had high-quality semisweet bar chocolate. If I didn’t have high-quality chocolate, I’d stick to Dutch-process cocoa powder (replacing ½ cup chocolate with more cocoa) and fold in chocolate chips at the end. (Bon Appetit has a great article about this.)

Some recipes sifted the flour + cocoa powder together as dry ingredients. I knew I wanted to bloom the cocoa powder, so that was a no-go.

Ratios

Most recipes had about the same basic volume ratios (when scaled): 1 cup fat (usually melted butter), 1-2 cups chocolate (cocoa, chocolate, or mix of both) (not counting additional folded-in chocolate), 2 cups sugar, 2-4 eggs, 1 cup flour. Some recipes did 2 eggs + 2 yolks for extra chewiness. Bravetart does 6 eggs, whipped for 10 minutes; some reviews complained about fluffy, cakey texture that didn’t turn fudgy until the next day. So, I split the difference and used 4 eggs.

Some recipes (such as Claire Saffitz) use half melted butter, half oil to ensure moistness (butter solidifies as it cools; oil stays liquid). I stuck to butter—with such a high ratio of wet ingredients like sugar and eggs, and so little flour, I wasn’t too worried about needing oil.