This is a great recipe that requires minimal effort and dishes to show people that you can, indeed, bake!
Particularly if you enjoy chocolate, and your sweet tooth craving is through the charts, I find that these brownies are the key to your perfect dessert.
My brothers, who in combination are the pickiest and most annoying food critics, are always willing to break their diets because they can’t help but indulge. I guess that’s my way of getting even with them.
Anyway, this serves as a great dessert and would make the perfect pairing with vanilla ice cream.
Check below for general information and baking tips to avoid the mistakes I made the first few times I began baking!
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup of softened, unsalted butter
- One bar (4 oz or 113 g) of the Pure Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar (I use the Baker’s Chocolate)
- 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of granulated sugar (so in total, 2 cups)
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of cocoa powder (I use the Hershey’s one)
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
- 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips OR another bar of the chocolate baking bar (though optional, this is what makes it super gooey and fudgy!)
- Optional: pinch of nutmeg powder
Directions:
- (1) Preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C (I usually do this after mixing all the ingredients because I am painfully slow).
- (2) Combine the softened butter with the chocolate bar and microwave it for 45 seconds. Whisk together and continue to microwave for 20 second increments until completely smooth.
- (3) Add in the brown sugar and continue to whisk. Once combined, add in the granulated sugar. Continue to whisk until combined.
- (4) Add in the eggs (whisk one in at a time) and vanilla extract.
- (5) Add in the cocoa powder and whisk. Once thoroughly done, add in the all-purpose flour and continue to whisk.
- (6) Add in the salt, cinnamon, more semi-sweet chocolate, nutmeg powder, and mix until fully combined. (If you haven’t already, start the oven!).
- (7) Line a baking pan (mine is 9 in x 9 in) with parchment paper, spread batter to the pan.
- (8) Bake for 25–30 minutes and then check every 2–3 minutes. The brownies will be done when you can put a knife/toothpick through the middle and it’s moist (if wet, it’s not made).
- (9) Remove and let cool for 5 minutes.
- (10) Prepare to fall in love.
Tips:
- You can freeze the batter in advance and bake in increments. Leave it to thaw overnight and then follow the instructions (reduce overall baking time to 15 minutes and check every 5 minutes).
- Softened ingredients (i.e. room temperature) work better because they bind to other ingredients easier and reduce clumps!
- Don’t mix in everything at once! There’s a scientific explanation for this but the baker’s explanation is simple: (1) more whisking = flatter batter = very bad; and (2) more whisking = more air bubbles = clumpier batter = not good.
- NEVER straight up scoop all-purpose flour. There’s a term called “spooned and leveled” which essentially means that you fill up your measuring cup with spoonfuls of flour until the measuring cup is filled. This prevents the flour from packing into the measuring cup and avoids putting too much flour in!
- Don’t touch the brownies when they’re out for 5 minutes (the reason is simple: it still bakes even as it cools down!). Then, move them to a cooling rack and let them rest for another 5–10 minutes.
- If you want something healthier, you can substitute the granulated sugar for only brown sugar (so 2 cups of brown sugar) or you can reduce the measurements (1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar with 1/2 cup of granulated sugar).
- To add more, you can always throw in walnuts or pecans. They make a delicious addition!