The best brownies! Yes, I proclaim these are THE BEST brownies ever. They are rich, chewy, dense, and have a perfectly crackly top with the hint of sea salt that perfectly complements the richness of the confection. Incidentally, brownies were one of the few things I learnt to bake first in my life. And when I say life, I can tell you this that I am the bonafide baker of the house and I am baking since 4th grade.
I call them THE BEST brownies and this recipe is extremely simple except for two little things. One, the technique needs to be followed to the T and the second is you need really good quality ingredients. I use Valrhona cocoa powder and that probably has a lot to do with the recipe yielding the BEST Brownies ever.
As you know, I sell my macarons for charity but very recently I sold boxes of my baked treats to raise money for Mission Oxygen India. These had the brownies, macarons, pizzelle cookies, and madeleines. I had so many people reach out to me and let me know that they loved the brownies. My faith and confidence in this recipe are further reinforced by the feedback.
I would not say that this is an original recipe. This recipe has been adapted from Tasty (https://tasty.co/recipe/ultimate-brownies). As I said, I have made many batches of brownies and I am confident you will love it too.
A few tips before we dive into the actual recipe:
Please use room temperature eggs.
Please use chocolate like a Valrhona bar and not chocolate chips for this recipe. I generally go with something that has between 60-70% cacao.
The dark brown sugar is absolutely mandatory.
Do not over mix the batter. It leads to tough brownies.
Brownies
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- I use either two 8X8 inch square metal pans or one 9X13 inch metal pan. Grease the pan with softened butter. Line with parchment paper and grease the parchment with butter. I make sure to have some parchment hanging out of the pan as that helps to lift the brownies after they are baked.
- In a small bowl, combine the chopped chocolate, ¼ cup of the cocoa powder, and espresso powder.
- In a small sauce pan, add the butter and cook on the stove over medium heat. Keep stirring and cook the butter till it starts simmering. Remove from heat and pour the hot butter over the the mixture of chocolate, cocoa, and espresso powder in the bowl. Slowly stir and let the heat melt the chocolate. The mixture should be absolutely smooth.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat in medium speed for 8-10 mins.
- Now slowly pour the smoothened melted chocolate mixture in the stand mixer and let it blend. This takes about 4-5 mins.
- Add the sifted flour and remaining cocoa powder and slowly fold in the dry ingredients till combined. Do not over mix.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan. Smoothen the top.
- Put in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 mins.
- Take out the pan from the oven and lightly tap the pan on the counter for 1 -2 times, so that cracks form on top.
- Sprinkle sea salt on top and return the pan to the oven. Bake for another 20 mins. Switch off the oven and take out the brownies and them cool in the pan. The brownies may look cooked at the edges and slightly undercooked in the middle.
- Lift the parchment paper to take the brownies out of the pan. With a sharp serrated knife, cut into small squares. Serve and enjoy!
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