What makes this the Best Brownie Recipe?
I’ve been working on this brownie recipe for the better part of my adult life. That makes this recipe twenty-some years in the making, over which time, I’ve made hundreds of batches of brownies. I know the word “best” is pretty subjective, so let me start by explaining my perfect brownie.
Texture
For me, the perfect brownie has a paper thin crispy shell on top, with a gradual transition from cakey to fudgy towards the bottom. To achieve this, I’ve come up with the perfect ratio of sugar to flour to fat. The sugar content is what gives you the crisp shell on top while having a relatively high fat to flour ratio gives you a moist, dense crumb.
The mixing method can also impact the texture, and I’ve come up with a simple solution that borrows from my pancake recipe, emulsifying the fats with the egg, and then folding the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. It’s a simple and fool-proof method of getting a dense, yet delicate crumb that’s fudgy when undercooked.
This leads me to the final factor that affects the texture, and that’s the cooking time. Fully cooking the batter will make a rich, dense brownie, but it will be cakey in the center, with an almost crisp edge. The trick to making it fudgy and a bit chewy is to undercook the batter. This gives you that perfect cakey crust on top, while the bottom will have a texture like cold peanut butter.
Since ovens vary wildly in accuracy as well as air circulation, it’s impossible to give an exact time for how long you need to bake the brownies. The best way to check is to use a toothpick and poke the brownie in the center. It should come out with a layer of thick pasty brownie batter on it. Since the brownies will continue to cook after you’ve removed them from the oven, it’s generally better to err on the side of undercooked, than overcooked.
Taste
A brownie should first and foremost be about the chocolate, but if I’m in the mood for pure chocolate, I’d eat a chocolate bar. A brownie is a brownie because of the interplay of the other ingredients, whether it’s the caramelized crust of sugar on top, or the rich buttery center.
Easy & Foolproof
I think we’ve all been in a situation before where we had something amazing and asked for the recipe only to be presented with a mini novel. I don’t know about you, but when I’m craving brownies, I want a chocolate fix, STAT. With a little practice, you should be able to get these into the oven in under ten minutes, and unless you overcook them, they’re almost impossible to mess up.
Ingredients for the Best Brownies
Flour
During my experimentation, I’ve tried all types of flours, from cake to bread flour, but I’ve found that plain old all-purpose flour works the best. It has just the right amount of gluten to give these brownies substance, without making them tough, or chewy.
Fat
The fat in brownies is responsible for keeping them moist and rich, but it’s also an opportunity to add more flavor. This is why I like to use butter and chocolate as my sources of fat. While ordinary butter will work, if you can find it, I recommend using cultured butter (sometimes called “European Butter”). “Cultured” doesn’t mean it’s fancy; it just means the cream has been fermented (like yogurt or sour cream), before being churned. The fermentation naturally creates a compound called diacetyl, which also happens to be the compound responsible for synthesized butter flavors (think movie theater popcorn).
Leavening
Brownies don’t need to be leavened as much as cake, as they are meant to be dense. That being said, you do need to add a little bit of leavening, or you’ll end up with a brick of cloyingly sweet chocolate. I primarily rely on eggs to provide the leavening power, with just a touch of baking powder, which gives the extra oomph needed to leaven this very heavy batter.
Chocolate
Brownies are of course all about the chocolate, and to ensure you get your fix, I add two forms of chocolate to my brownie batter. The first is an ample amount of Dutch processed cocoa powder. Dutch processed cocoa powder has been treated with an alkalizing agent, which gives the powder a much darker color as well as a more pronounced chocolate flavor. I like using Valrhona cocoa powder.
I also add some melted dark chocolate, which is essentially adding a chocolate flavored fat. I used Valrhona Guanaja, which is a 70% chocolate, but you can experiment with other brands and percentages to find one that works for you.
Fruit
This is technically optional, but honestly, I think this is part of what makes these brownies the best. When you make these without the cherries, the first bite (and even the second) is delicious, but by the third bite, you start to get chocolate overload. By adding some dried cherries, you get some sweet tart cherries every few bites, which balances out the richness. I like to rehydrate them in a bit of cherry liqueur, this not only amplifies their cherry flavor, it also plumps them up, so they are tender and juicy when you bite into them. I’ve tried this with a bunch of different dried fruit and liked cherries the best, but you can experiment with other fruit to find the perfect one for you.
Ingredients
- 75 grams dried cherries
- 2 tablespoons Cherry Heering (or other liqueur)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 60 grams Dutch-processed cocoa powder (~1/2 cup)
- 96 grams all-purpose flour (~3/4 cup)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 80 grams unsalted butter
- 85 grams dark chocolate
- 2 eggs
- 225 grams light brown sugar (1 packed cup)
- 1 teaspoon
Steps
- Line an 8×8-inch pan with parchment paper, move the oven rack to the center position, and preheat to 320 degrees F (160°C).
- Add the dried cherries, cherry liqueur, and water to a small pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue boiling, making sure all the cherries are submerged until it no longer smells like alcohol. Turn off the heat and let the cherries cool to room temperature.
- Sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl and whisk them together until they’re evenly combined.
- Add the butter and dark chocolate to a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 300 watts for one and a half minutes, or until the butter is fully melted, and the chocolate is partially melted. Do not let the mixture boil. Whisk the mixture together until the chocolate melts.
- Whisk the eggs into the chocolate mixture until uniform.
- Add the sugar and vanilla extract to the chocolate mixture, and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture along with the cherries and any remaining liquid in the pot, and fold the mixture together until uniform.
- Dump the brownie batter into the prepared pan, level off the top, and bake for 20-25, minutes. The shorter the time, the fudgier the brownies will be. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with a layer of batter the texture of peanut butter.
- When the brownies are done, put the pan on a cooling rack, and use the parchment paper to remove the brownies from the pan. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting them.
How did you cut the parchment paper to line your pan? I thought it might be diagonal cuts from the corners, but I didn’t see any pointed edges. (Heh, not origami, because you have cuts…) What’s the secret? Thanks!
I can’t wait to make these! Watch the YouTube video for how to get the parchment paper
Hi Mariko, I hope you enjoy them, thanks for stopping by!
Hi Wendy, you fold the paper to fit the bottom of the pan and then make diagonal cuts at the corners. Have a look at the video which shows the whole process.
duh….again, thanks Marc!
Marc, These look suberb. Adding the cherries is genius. Will definitely be making at the weekend. (Diet during the week!)
Hey Marc. I just discovered I’m allergic to eggs (at age 52 go figure – A1 casein too – I feel like a toddler) Any suggestions for an alternate leavening?
Hi Elizabeth, yikes, that’s a tough one. As for making brownies without eggs, my next goal is to make a plant-based brownie which would not include eggs (I already have a great chocolate cookie recipe https://norecipes.com/chewy-chocolate-cookies/). In the mean time, if you want to experiment the eggs in this recipe play 4 roles. The first is that they act as a liquid, thinning the batter a bit (any liquid will do, but milk might be a good starting point). The second is as a binder (eggs coagulate when cooked), but the flour also acts as a binding agent, so the… Read more »
Hi Marc! I actually just came over to say that I found your passionfruit syrup on another site you contribute to and wanted to say a) thanks b) smart! I was struggling with a syrup recipe that didn’t kill the passionfruit flavour. Then I saw the way you line your square pan in this recipe. And again – SO SMART! It’s a game changer. Have my way of doing round pans, this sorts me out for square. THANK YOU!!!
Hi Nagi, thanks so much for dropping by to let me know! Actually it was a good reminder for me to go make another batch of syrup (passionfruit is in season here in Japan).
for an egg sub vegans can use 1/4 cup applesauce per egg or 1/2 a banana per egg.
Hey, I’ve been working on almost the same recipe for the last 20 years. Weird. I like to soak dried cherries in dark rum and add seeds from the oiliest vanilla pod I can find at the time and let that soak for a ….well, until I feel like making brownies with it.
Looking forward to giving it a try with cultured butter!
Hi Mel, great minds….😉 Cultured butter makes everything taste better. It’s a little harder to find in the US and Japan (as opposed to Europe), but I think it’s worth it.
I hate to be one of those people who comments before they’ve made the recipe, but I’m gonna break that rule, and say I’m going to make these with fresh cranberries! I’ve used fresh/frozen cranberries in recipes that call for dried sweetened ones (or other whole fruits like blueberries), and my adult palate really likes the tartness as a contrast to the sweetness of whatever they’re in.
Curious also how brown instead of white sugar will turn out.
Thanks for posting this!
Hi Kat, that sounds like a great call! Curious to hear how it turns out.
Can i skip the liquer? Because I’m making this for my friend and her 7 yr old daughter. Or maybe there is any other alternatives?
Hi Sophie, the alcohol should boil off between cooking it with the dried cherries and in the brownie, but if you’re worried about it you can substitute it for some kind of juice. Cherry juice would be ideal, but something similar like pomegranate or cranberry should work okay.
Marc, this sounds like a recipe I would like to try. What do you think about baking the batter in mini-muffin pans for brownie bites?
Hi Marliss, it’s a great idea, but there are two potential problems you’ll need to watch out for. The first is that the brownies will be smaller so they will cook through faster. In order to get the gooey consistency in the middle you’ll need to reduce the amount of time you bake it for. The second issue might be a bit harder to overcome, which is that the brownies on the outside of the pan will tend to cook faster than the ones in the middle. I think this will also be a matter of finding the right timing… Read more »