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More Sweet Things
Chocolate Brownies
These chocolate brownies are everything I want in a sweet treat – gooey-centred, rich with cocoa and dark chocolate, and with that perfect crackly top. I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count, and it never lets me down. Whether you serve them warm with ice cream or sneak one cold from the fridge (guilty), they’re always a hit. This is my favourite kind of baking – simple, indulgent, and guaranteed to make a dreary afternoon instantly better.
Ingredients
- 225g butter
- 450g brown sugar
- 150g dark cooking chocolate
- 125g plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes, OR, 1/2 tsp table salt
- 60g cocoa powder
- 4 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
- Grease and line a 20 × 30 cm brownie tin with baking paper.
- Place the butter in a saucepan over low heat and melt gently. Remove from the heat, add the chopped dark chocolate, and stir until the chocolate has completely melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, and egg yolk until the mixture becomes thick, smooth, and slightly lighter in colour.
- Slowly pour the warm chocolate and butter mixture into the egg mixture while whisking continuously, ensuring everything is well combined.
- Sift the cocoa powder, flour, and salt together into the bowl. Fold gently with a spatula until just combined and no dry streaks remain. Avoid overmixing.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Gently tap the tin on the bench a few times to remove any large air bubbles.
- Refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes to help the brownies bake evenly and develop a rich texture.
- Preheat the oven to 10°C.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes, checking from 53 minutes onward. The top should be set with a slight crack, and a skewer inserted 2 cm from the edge should come out clean, while the centre still has a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the brownies to cool completely in the tin before lifting out and cutting into squares.
Notes
- These brownies are designed to be very fudgy. The centre should remain dense and slightly soft once cooled.
- Do not overbake. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out with a few moist crumbs attached rather than completely clean.
- Brown sugar adds moisture and chewiness. It also contributes to the deep caramel flavour that makes brownies richer.
- Use good quality dark chocolate. Since the recipe relies on both cocoa powder and melted chocolate, better chocolate will noticeably improve the final flavour.
- Sifting the cocoa and flour helps prevent lumps. Cocoa powder in particular tends to clump, so sifting ensures a smooth batter.
- Allow the brownies to cool fully before cutting. They will continue to firm up as they cool, which helps produce clean slices.
- A 20 × 30 cm tin produces medium thickness brownies. A smaller tin will create thicker brownies and may require a slightly longer baking time.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 172Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 124mgCarbohydrates: 22gNet Carbohydrates: 0gFiber: 1gSugar: 17gSugar Alcohols: 0gProtein: 2g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
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Chocolate Brownies recipe
Why I Love This Chocolate Brownie Recipe
I think most people can agree that every home needs a good recipe for chocolate brownies. The perfect brownie should have a crispy crust, but a dense, almost chewy and fudgy middle. It needs to be rich and chocolatey, and it needs to have people coming back for more. This chocolate brownie recipe is just that – perfectly delicious, and everything a brownie should be. I’ve been baking this version for years, and it never fails to get rave reviews (and requests for seconds). It’s reliable, indulgent, and properly chocolatey – just how it should be.
I’ve figured out a few tricks along the way to ensure that each batch turns out spot-on. See, the best and most bonny brownies don’t just come down to a great recipe, but also the treatment of the brownie batter. The method matters just as much as the ingredients, and a few simple tweaks can make all the difference. I’ve learnt this the hard way, after a few too many dry, crumbly or overly cakey disasters in my early baking days. These days, though, it’s pretty much foolproof.
I always cream together the eggs with the dry ingredients until smooth, soft and fluffy before folding through the melted butter and chocolate. Folding gently means you retain the volume, helping the brownies rise a little as they bake and develop those deliciously crispy edges. Once out of the oven, the brownies naturally relax back into themselves, giving that gloriously fudgy centre. It’s a bit of kitchen alchemy, really. I also refrigerate the mix before baking – a tip I picked up from somewhere years ago and have never abandoned.
Chocolate Brownie Tips & Tricks
So let’s talk brownie secrets. First off, I use brown sugar instead of caster sugar. Brown sugar brings a richer depth of sweetness thanks to the molasses, and that makes for a far more complex and satisfying bite. It pairs beautifully with the cocoa and dark chocolate, creating a well-rounded flavour that’s far more than just sweet. I mean, if you’re going to indulge, you might as well make it worth it, right?
Salt is also non-negotiable. I know, it feels counterintuitive in something sweet, but it really is the secret to pulling all those flavours together. Salt enhances the chocolate and helps it sing, lifting it from one-note sweetness into something genuinely delicious. And don’t go thinking that a pinch won’t make a difference – it will. Trust me. It’s one of those little things that quietly makes everything better without drawing attention to itself. Like a good pair of jeans or your favourite wooden spoon.
Then there’s the chocolate, and this part matters. You want to use proper dark cooking chocolate rather than regular eating chocolate. The kind with little to no sugar, which means you can control the sweetness yourself and still get that rich, intense chocolate hit. You’ll find it in the baking aisle, usually in big blocks. Don’t be tempted to swap it out for milk chocolate or something too sweet – it’ll throw off the balance and make everything cloying instead of decadent.
Baking Method and Browning Edges
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – how you treat the batter makes all the difference. Folding through the chocolate and butter gently gives the batter a lighter texture without overmixing, which means your brownies will rise slightly before sinking into their fudgy middle. That slight rise is what creates those crispy edges and that slight chew we all love. It’s a dance between texture and flavour, and it’s worth getting right.
And don’t forget to refrigerate the batter before baking. I genuinely have no memory of where I first heard this tip – a magazine? A blog? A friend? Who knows. But it’s a game changer. The chilled batter bakes more evenly, and the result is a better crust and a denser, gooier centre. I do it religiously now, and it’s never let me down.
One last thing before the oven: give the brownie pan a good tap on the bench. Just once or twice to make sure there aren’t any big air bubbles lurking and to help the batter settle evenly in all the corners. This helps prevent any strange lumps or gaps when you slice into it later. Simple but effective. And again, just one of those little habits that now feels second nature when baking these.
Ingredients Breakdown
I use butter and lots of it – because we’re not here to make sad diet brownies. Butter gives richness, moisture and flavour, and helps with that fudgy texture we’re aiming for. It also marries perfectly with the dark chocolate, which I melt into the butter before folding into the batter. This combo is the foundation of everything good about these brownies.
The dark cooking chocolate brings that intense, slightly bitter cocoa note that makes a brownie feel grown-up. It’s the backbone of the recipe, and it works beautifully with the brown sugar, which adds caramel undertones and helps keep everything moist. Brown sugar also contributes to the chewiness, which I love in a brownie – soft in the middle, but with just enough bite.
Eggs and an extra yolk give the structure and richness. Plain flour and cocoa powder bulk things out and enhance the chocolate flavour even more, while a bit of salt balances the whole lot. Each element has a job to do, and together they create something far greater than the sum of their parts. Classic ingredients, simple technique, and the result? The best chocolate brownies you’ll ever make.
