The Best Fudgy Brownies
Prep
10m
Cook
25m
Total
35m
Bigly says
Listen. We need to talk about brownies. The BEST fudgy brownies in the history of brownies — and I'm going to say something right up front that is going to make some people uncomfortable, and that's OK, the truth is uncomfortable sometimes — CAKEY brownies are a CRIME. A crime against chocolate. A crime against the human spirit. If a brownie is dry, if a brownie crumbles into sad little chocolate dust when you bite it, that's not a brownie, that's a SCONE wearing a costume. I'm sorry. Somebody had to say it.
A real brownie — a Bigly brownie — is FUDGY. Dense. Heavy in the hand. The top has that crackly shiny finish like a little disco floor of cocoa, the kind of top that signals across a room 'a serious dessert has arrived,' and the inside is gooey and pulls in long chocolate ropes when you tear a piece off. The corners — the corners, folks — are crispy and chewy at the same time, and I would FIGHT a man for the corner piece. I have not actually fought a man for the corner piece. But I have thought about it. Tough guys come up to me, tough guys with tears in their eyes, and they say 'Bigly, you're right about the corner,' and I say, I know. I know I'm right. The corner is the king.
The secret? More fat than flour. Butter and good chocolate, melted together until they look like motor oil, the most beautiful motor oil you've ever seen. Eggs beaten hard with the sugar until they go pale and ribbony — that's where the crackly top comes from, that's the magic, that's the whole trick — and then you UNDERBAKE them. You pull them when they still look a tiny bit wet in the middle. The pan keeps cooking them on the counter. The pan is your partner. Trust the pan. Trust the brownie. Trust me. Tremendous.
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks)unsalted butter
- 6 ozbittersweet chocolate, chopped(60-70% cacao, the real stuff, not chips)
- 1 1/4 cupsgranulated sugar
- 1/4 cuplight brown sugar, packed(the brown sugar is the secret for chew)
- 3, room temperaturelarge eggs
- 2 tsppure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cupall-purpose flour
- 1/4 cupunsweetened cocoa powder(Dutch-process if you have it)
- 3/4 tspkosher salt
- 1 tspespresso powder (optional)(you won't taste coffee, you'll taste MORE chocolate)
- 1/2 cupsemisweet chocolate chunks(chunks, not chips, for pockets of melted chocolate)
- a pinchflaky sea salt (for finishing)
Steps
- 1
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8 metal baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two sides for easy lift-out. Lightly grease.
- 2
In a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (or carefully in the microwave in 20-second bursts), melt the butter and chopped bittersweet chocolate together, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.
- 3
Whisk in both sugars until fully combined. Let the mixture cool 5 minutes so the eggs don't scramble.
- 4
Add the eggs one at a time, whisking vigorously after each addition. After all three eggs are in, whisk hard for a full 1-2 minutes — the batter should turn glossy, thick, and slightly lighter in color. This is what creates the crackly top.
- 5
Whisk in the vanilla.
- 6
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and espresso powder (if using).
- 7
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold gently with a spatula just until no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix.
- 8
Fold in the chocolate chunks.
- 9
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the spatula. Rap the pan once on the counter to settle.
- 10
Bake at 350°F for 22-26 minutes. The top should be set and crackly, the edges pulled slightly from the sides, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out with moist crumbs (not wet batter, but not totally clean).
- 11
Cool in the pan on a rack at least 1 hour before lifting out and cutting — fudgy brownies need to set up.
- 12
Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, then slice into 16 squares with a sharp knife (wipe the blade between cuts for clean edges). Serve at room temperature.
One more thing
You make these brownies once, the box mix is OVER for you. Done. Retired. The box mix had a 70-year run and now it's hanging up the apron. People will walk into your kitchen, they'll smell the chocolate, they'll ask if you bought these at a bakery, and you won't even answer — you'll just hand them a brownie and watch their face change. That's the brownie face. The brownie face is a beautiful thing. I have seen it a thousand times and I will see it a thousand more. Tremendous.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Best Fudgy Brownies.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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