The Very Best Brownies.
Rich, chewy and fudgy homemade brownies with a beautifully swirled, flaky top. These really are the best brownies! This delicious brownie recipe is flavored with cocoa powder and brown butter.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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Let’s rewind to Valentine’s Day. I’m single. I’m not feeling well. My mom is in town and our plan is to eat dinner and watch movies. As the sun goes down, I decide that I need a brownie—like I really need a brownie, for aforementioned reasons—and proceed to pull every baking book off of my shelves in my search for my ideal brownie recipe.
I wanted rich, dark, chewy, legit café-like brownies with crackly tops. I didn’t want gooey, fall-apart, stick-to-your-front-teeth brownies. I also didn’t want health-ified brownies or brownies swirled with cheesecake. I wanted one perfect brownie. Sometimes a girl just needs a brownie, you know?
I finally found a promising recipe in my copy of Alice Medrich’s Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. It was a thinner brownie than I wanted, but it looked dark and delicious and had the most magnificent shiny, crackly top. The recipe contains a fair amount of butter, as legit brownies should, and the butter is browned before the addition of sugar and cocoa powder. If you’re going to put a lot of butter in something, you might as well brown it for extra flavor.
Alice’s recipe also called for a lower-than-usual baking temperature (325 degrees) and specified that the brownies be baked in the lower third of the oven. All of the chocolate flavor came from cocoa powder, too. Interesting.
Alice’s brownies made from scratch turned out beautifully. Crackly top. Dense, fudge-like interior. Rich, complex flavor. They weren’t quite matching my idea of the quintessential brownie, though. I wanted a taller brownie, one that is a little more like a brownie than fudge, with some chopped dark chocolate thrown in for textural interest. Thus began my obsessive quest for the quintessential brownie recipe.
Five batches of brownies and a bunch of brownie research later, I think I’ve found it. I learned a lot along the way. I learned that in order to achieve the shiny, crackly top, you have to stir the sugar into hot butter so it melts. Alice’s low baking temperature and rack positioning also seem to improve texture, but I couldn’t tell you why.
My final recipe calls for more flour and a little baking powder to help the brownies rise. I also used whole wheat flour, as always, but there’s so much chocolate in the brownies that I promise no one will be able to tell. I don’t make statements like this very often, but this really is the best brownies recipe I’ve ever encountered. (I’ve provided footnotes in my recipe so you can adjust the recipe to produce your ideal brownie.)
Ever since I started making simple baked goods from scratch, I’ve wondered how boxed mixes ever became mainstream. Sure, you don’t have to measure out flour and baking powder, but you still have to add liquid and crack the eggs. That hardly saves much time, and comes with the additional cost of preservatives and ingredients that should never be in your food. (Hydrogenated oil is the devil.)
Michael Pollan, my favorite food writer, came to Kansas City last summer to talk about his latest book, Cooked. He finally solved the boxed mix mystery for me.
Pollan explained that the first boxed mixes contained powdered eggs, which removed the step of cracking eggs into the bowl. I mean, why go to the trouble of cracking eggs into a bowl if you don’t have to, right? Wrong. American women initially wanted nothing to do with the boxed mixes. They felt like they were cheating when they used them. Once the manufacturers took out the powdered eggs so we could crack eggs over the bowl, we felt like we owned the final result. The baked good was then homemade enough to present to our loved ones.
If you have never made brownies from scratch, give these a try and I promise you’ll never reach for a box again. If you’re pinched for time, throw in chocolate chips instead of chopping the chocolate by hand. Ta da! Homemade brownies made from scratch and baked with love.
The Very Best Brownies.
Rich, dark, chewy and fudgy brownies made from scratch. These brownies are flavored with cocoa powder and brown butter and feature a beautifully swirled, flaky top. I don’t dare make claims like this very often, but this is the very best brownie recipe!
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch slices
- 1 ¼ cups cane sugar
- ¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon espresso powder or very finely ground coffee (optional)
- 2 cold large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup white whole wheat flour or flour of choice
- 2 ounces dark or semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped, or ⅓ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the lower third of the oven. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with two criss-crossed pieces of parchment paper, making sure that the paper is long enough to go up the sides a couple of inches. Grease the parchment paper.
- Brown the butter: Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, while whisking constantly, until it’s a pale golden brown and the particles suspended in it are reddish brown. This usually takes me about 10 minutes.
- Remove the pan from heat and stir in the sugar. Then add the cocoa powder, sea salt, baking powder and espresso powder. Stir until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula after each one. When the mixture looks thick, shiny and well blended, add the vanilla extract and the flour. Stir until you no longer see streaks of flour. Then beat vigorously (put those arm muscles to work!) for 50 strokes with the wooden spoon or spatula.
- At this point, the mixture should be no more than slightly warm (if not, let it cool for a few more minutes). Fold in the chocolate chunks or chips.
- Spread the batter in the lined pan, then use a knife to make light swirls in the top of the batter. Bake on the lower rack for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Cool the brownies in the pan on a baking rack.
- Once the brownies are completely cool, lift the edges of the parchment paper and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut the brownies into 16 or 25 squares.
Notes
- Adapted from Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts and King Arthur Flour.
- These brownies freeze well. Store them in a freezer-safe bag and let them defrost at room temperature.
- For more dense and fudge-like brownies, cook the brownies a minute or two less.
- For more fluffy and cake-like brownies, add another egg.
- For less rich brownies, skip the chopped chocolate.
- If you like nuts in your brownies, fold in 1 cup walnut or pecan pieces along with the chopped chocolate.
- I haven’t tried, but I think an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend could be substituted for the whole wheat flour with good results. (Update! Here’s proof that Cup4Cup flour works great in this recipe.)
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
P.s. If you really want health-ified, naturally sweetened brownies, I have some dark chocolate zucchini brownies over here. Note that they don’t have the crackly top that these brownies do and that the zucchini hardly adds much nutrition because it’s almost entirely water. If I made them again, I would try skipping the zucchini altogether, upping the cocoa powder to 2/3 cup and decreasing the baking powder to 1 teaspoon for richer and less cakey results. 5/2/14: sorry folks, Terri says the brownies don’t turn out well when made this way!
These were amazing! I was afraid they weren’t going to turn out well because the batter was very dense but they pulled through. I think other people are experiencing problems because they are not beating the eggs enough. I beat the batter on medium low speed for about 5 minutes and didn’t do the 50 strokes once I added the flour. I reduced the sugar and added a table spoon of cornstarch as well. Great recipe!
Hey i tried to make it eggless by substitute egg with buttermilk. Ans used dutch processed cocoa powder. Rest, followed the same way except for reducing 1/4 cup sugar.
However, i got no crusty top and it was a wee bit cakey. I love fudge brownies
Hi, this recipe is quite precise and omitting the eggs is going to impact your results.
I followed the directions exactly and have to agree these are some of the best brownies in terms of taste and texture.
Wonderful! I’m glad they turned out so well for you, Judy.
So happy I tried this recipe. Thank you!
Delicious recipe. Love that you’ve used whole wheat flour. This makes the dessert much lighter and healthy.
I am 13 and I have made loads of brownies…and they had many flaws..some were too cake …some too fudgey and didn’t cook at all…but the main issue I had with all the brownies is that it was a bit too sweet for me..I then started reducing the sugar but then I never got the crust…I’m gonna try this recipie and please do let me know how I can cut down the sweetness in brownies
You can probably use allulose to substitute for sugar. (Note: I am not Kate. I am just a random commenter.) I find it ironic that people will change the recipe completely and then rate it two stars because their version didn’t work.
Just made these today – followed the recipe exactly, and definitely the easiest and moistest brownies that I have made. Found that they required longer cooking time in my gas stove – about 35 – 40 minutes. Delicious warmed up with cream fraiche and berries.
Wonderful, Fran! I’m delighted they worked so well for you.
It was so good! It worked out very well, but the butter got stuck to the pan. Other than that it was great! 10/10 recommend. This is the only brownie recipe that showed the exact measurements too. :)
Oh no! I’m glad they still turned out for you.
Simply the best brownie recipe ever. Like you said, baking is precise and even the type of pan you use can affect the outcome in a big way. I get best results with a dark metal nonstick baking pan. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Alicia!
Mine came out very flat. No issue with the baking powder as other items baked this week have done well.
Really sad after I spent this much time working on this recipe. Prep time well beyond 15 minutes-the recipe takes 10 minutes alone to brown the butter and 5 minutes of cooling.
I’m sorry to hear that! What type of dish did you use. I have retested this several times and I can’t seem to recreate the issues.
I made them last weekend and I love them! Have just spent a few minutes finding your recipe again because I want to make them for company this afternoon and it had to be your brownies!
I got this recipe mixed up with another one I had saved and have to admit that I really regretted not making the other recipe. I think this one leaves something to be desired because it’s hard to tell when the brownies are done. Mine seemed really gooey after just 25 minutes, so I let them cook longer, as some comments recommended, but they hardened overnight and didn’t have an ideal texture. They were edible, but going to the trouble of browning butter and such seemed like a waste when the final product was not very good. Maybe some recipe notes about how to be sure the brownies are cooked enough would minimize the number of people who are making it for the first time and feeling confused. If I had known that the brownies would set while cooling, I might have had a better final product.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this recipe. I appreciate your feedback.
just curious – how do you measure 10 tablespoons of butter – do you melt it and measure ?? I usually go by weight as tablespoon varies from country to country plus if butter is hard – its not easy to sccop into a spoon
Hi! Measure before you melt. I hope that helps.
My family loves these brownies and asks for them for birthdays! I usually double the recipe and freeze half to have later. They defrost beautifully.
Thank you for sharing, Anne! I’m glad they are a hit.
Still the best brownies I’ve ever had!
Thanks, Kate!
Fantastic, Kayleigh! Thank you for your review.
How can I truly tell they are done? I had to bake these for 45 minutes and the toothpick was still not coming out clean. Are they supposed to maintain a fudge like consistency?
Hi Gillian, I’m sorry you had issues. What type of baking dish did you use?
What works for me is to not let the toothpick come out entirely clean. I am no professional, but it does help ensure that you have a nice, fudgy brownie. The toothpick should come out as little clumps of moist baked brownie – not raw like the batter. Hope this helps!
Can we freeze it as well for kids lunches
Hi Zainab, these should be ok to freeze. Let me know if you try it!
I’m sorry to say it, but these were awful. I’ve used about 40 Cookie and Kate recipes, and this is the first bad one. I followed the instructions perfectly and used the correct pan. They just taste like butter and did not rise at all. Also, as others have pointed out, the prep time is longer than 15 mins. I’m not sure why this hasn’t been corrected.
Hi R, I’m sorry to hear that. I have retested this to see what the issue is and can’t seem to recreate the issues. Sorry this didn’t turn out for you!
These were really terrible. I use Cookie and Kate recipes all the time and this was the first dud despite following the recipe. I had to throw out these brownies.
Also not sure why my first review didn’t post… I hope negative reviews aren’t being deleted
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy these brownies. It can take some time for comments to post, but I don’t delete negative comments as you referred as I want your feedback. Thank you for sharing, Reb.
I tried this recipe today and only used 1 cup sugar. They are amazing! Chewy, not too sweet, moist, chocolaty, perfect!
The batter on these is no joke. I like to think I’m reasonably strong – but these brownies but me in my place. I had to call in the husband for back-up. Re-reading the full recipe, I think I should have upped the egg count to 3. Couldn’t get these to firm up the night I baked them and thought they were a total loss, but they ended up great the next day. Overall, they were an interesting experiment but I wouldn’t make them again. Too many easier/healthier options – and when I want to indulge I want same day gratification
I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for the feedback. I’ve retested these several times and can’t seem to recreate the issues.
Hmm mine just went into the oven but they are pretty dense, like heavy cookie dough. I didn’t see in the recipe where to add the sugar so I put it in with the flour.. . . I feel like something is off here but I’ve read it a few times and not sure why these are so different from traditional brown consistency. Hopefully they come out better than they went in. :)
Hi Jamie, See step 3 on when yo add the sugar. Let me know how they turned out!
Yummiest ever! Thanks, Cookie and Kate!
You’re welcome, Lydia! I appreciate your review.
Oh gosh a total disaster for me! I think maybe I burned the butter instead of browning? But either way the sugar never, and I mean never, melted. Then I waited ages before adding the eggs and thought it would be redeemed but after adding the flour it became really thick and to top it all off putting it into the lined pan turned it into the consistency of the slime my kids play with and then it practically solidified! I don’t think I’ll be trying to brown butter again – just good ol fashioned melting butter and sugar together! I’ve put them in the oven anyway but not hopeful….
Hi Kiki, I’m sorry to hear that. Did it smell burnt?
These just weren’t very good. I’ve made SO many recipes from Kate’s website and they are all fantastic…but this one just wasn’t good. They turned out very dry and blah. Beating them 50 times really seemed to overdo it..the batter was so thick and wouldn’t spread and the flavor is just OK. Normally when I bake, recipes always say don’t over mix, and this process seemed to kill the batter. I agree with the others who didn’t love this recipe and probably won’t make again.
I followed this recipe exactly and they turned out horrible. Had to throw them in the trash :(
Oh no! I’m sorry. What type of baking dish did you use?
I made these for Valentines Day and they came out delicious! I wanted a cholesterol free brownie so I used 1/2 cup of avocado oil instead of browned butter and 2 egg whites instead of whole eggs. I reduced the sugar to one cup and used half coconut sugar. I baked for an extra 8 minutes and they were so yummy. My husband liked them too. I will make them this way again.
Made these and they were a big hit for my whole family including my sophisticated palate husband, adult “children” and 5 grandchildren. Added chopped walnuts and served with ice cream. Everyone agreed, “best brownie ever”.
These are truly fantastic brownies. If they don’t turn out for you, I would check ingredients and techniques, because the recipe itself produces phenomenal brownies.
Browned butter can be tricky, but also, different quality butters produce different results. I find higher quality butters are pretty essential when it comes to browned butter, and it needs to be unsalted. I used white sugar in the amount specified on the recipe, but I might try blond coconut sugar next time, reduce to 1c, and see what happens.
I used double dark cocoa from KAF, which might have been a magic secret ingredient, and then I pressed Hu chocolate gems on top instead of mixing in chocolate chips, which I will definitely do again next time. I also used a gluten-free flour blend, and not a single person at the dinner party I brought these to had any idea. I even forgot they were gluten-free.
Lastly, I didn’t do the 50 strokes thing at the end, mostly because I didn’t even see that part, and I don’t know as I would next time, either. Maybe it’s because it was gluten-free flour, but I don’t think it needed more mixing.
This will be my new go-to brownie recipe!
Thank you for sharing your experience, Terri! I know these can be tricky for some, and I have retested a ton. I appreciate your review!
This recipe didn’t work for me, unfortunately. I’m allergic to milk, so I swapped out the butter for equal parts dairy-free, unsalted butter. This is a common swap I make and haven’t had issues with baked goods before, but I can’t think of anything else that would have caused problems given it’s the only change. I let these cook in the oven for over an hour at 325 and they maintained a batter consistency. Not one part would firm up. The entire pan of batter just bubbled and stayed soupy even around the edges. Next time I’ll try one of your dairy-free brownie recipes.
I’m sorry to hear that, Lindsey. I appreciate your feedback. What material of baker did you use?
It was glass. Do you think that might have been the issue?
Hmmm, I have used glass too. I’m still trying to figure out why the variance in this recipe since every time I test it, not issues. Sorry I don’t have a clear answer!
I love these brownies! I’ve made them countless times with the whole wheat flour and they’re delicious! I just realized the step that says to mix the batter 50 times and have never done that, they turn out great!
I also have a gluten free friend and last night I made these with almond flour in place of wheat and they were the best batch ever! Sooo delicious, the best batch I’ve made! I would highly recommend that swap!
Can I substitute the butter with coconut oil?
This is best as written. I hope you can try them!
Thanks for you reply!
Amazing! I made these brownies and they turned out fabulous! I added chocolate frosting which made them even more decadent.
These will be my new go to dessert.
Hooray! That’s great to hear, Maureen. I appreciate your review.
Every recipe I try from Cookie and Kate is mind blowing!!! These brownies are the best!! No more brownies from a box!! Thank you!!!!
You’re welcome, Yvette!
Absolutely delicious – I made mine dairy free with 5 Tablespoons of dairy free butter (Nuttelex Buttery if you are in NZ!) and 5 tablespoons of coconut oil. Also just under a cup of sugar was sweet enough for me and 70% dark chocolate. Also did a heaped teaspoon of espresso – YUM. Will continue to make these, thank you :)
I love your healthier breads made with maple syrup. Do you have cookie recipes with maple syrup versus coconut sugar? Unfortunately I’m allergic to coconut. Thanks!
I have used this recipe many times with great results. Instead of browning the butter on the stove top, I use an 8 cup pyrex measuring cup (because it is pyrex and has a handle) and any loose microwave tolerant cover i can lay my hands on. First microwave about 3 minutes then do 1minute microwave blasts until butter starts to get some brownish coloring (not uniform) usually 3-4 min after melting. I use the time in the microwave to get the other ingrediants together. I don’t use the additional choclate bits. Instead i use lightly salted roasted pecans. Cooks perfectly in a heavy metal 8 in square pan lined with parchment. (Lightly spray with oil spray before parchment and sometimes lightly brush the parchment with a bit of butter. Yum!
Hi,
I use a lot of your recipes (they’re great!), especially the ones with coconut oil and honey, rather than butter/sugar.
Is there such a recipe for brownies, or do we have to use sugar?
Thanks,
Amanda
This recipe is best as written, sorry!
Tried it tonight, with many compliments. The only change I made was I used 1/2 cup cocoa for the double recipe. I don’t know if we just have stronger cocoa here in Canada but yikes, 1 1/2 cups of cocoa would make black brownies and trigger migraines in a couple of family members. What kind of cocoa do you use?
I’m not sure the difference in the US to Canada options, sorry!
If we are making the recipe with muffin tin how should we adjust the heat and time?
This recipe is best as written. I don’t have instructions for a muffin tin version, sorry!
I followed the recipe as written, leaving out the espresso powder, and using dark cocoa + chips … somehow the texture was more of a “cookie crumbles smashed together” but WOW they taste amazing, and they didn’t crumble once cooled as I expected them to. Whatever I did to mess up, I hope I can do it again!
Just put in a 1x batch and waiting eagerly. The batter tasted so yummmm…I didn’t understand the whisking vigorously part though. The batter was too dense after addition of flour to whisk it at all. I did give it a good 70 slow strokes but it was hard. Is there something I am not doing right. Also can the butter be microwaved instead. Will post how the batch turns out eventually but excited !!!
Ok my batch is out now and instead of 22 -25mins as mentioned in the recipe. I baked for 35mins. They turned out well but a few questions for you Kate
1. The texture is dense n chewy. Is that because of couple of mins of overbaking
2. The dog did not rise too much. Did I add less baking powder. I think I added the right amount
3. I had a hard time spreading it in the pan because of how thick the batter was. So the thinner sides are hard n extra chewy.
4. The top is dark brown and not light brown like yours is. Yours looks beautiful but mine not as much
5. What’s the way to make this more gooey.
Did you follow step 4? What type of dish did you bake with? Did you brown the butter?
Hi Kate, I have been making these for at least a year and we love them. I found that using ghee in place of using the butter and browning is the best short cut. Ghee is made by heating and browning butter, my husband makes his own ghee all the time. I used the same amount of ghee as you used for browned butter. One other thing I changed is using 1/4 cup less sugar. I think that they come out plenty sweet enough.
Thank you for sharing! I will have to try that some time.
Delicious every time. I had to cook mine a little longer. They were perfect, a chocolate lover’s dream!
Great to hear, Jackie!
Good brownie recipe. Didn’t have that crinkle top but I put the sugar in a stainless steel bowl with the butter instead of on the stove top. But it crinkled enough.
I only edited two things: a splash of milk – just a splash because the batter was so thick (I know how to cook and done other brownie recipes so I wasn’t worried.) and I traded regular flour for oat flour – because I have some and I wanted to just get it used already lol). Cooked for a little over 20 mins in a round cake pan – because I don’t have any square ones. Definitely fudgey and thick. thank you
You’re welcome! I’m so happy they turned out well for you, Angel.