Best Brownie Recipe In The World - Crazy For Crust (2024)

FAQs

What makes the crust on top of brownies? ›

The color and shine are especially noticeable on brownies. “This is a meringue-like crust and is actually caused by a “meringue.” Your beating of the batter after the eggs are added creates it.

While your brownie may taste just as good, a dull-topped brownie is never as inviting as a shiny one. The paper-thin crinkly crust can only form if the sugar in the brownies has fully dissolved and broken down. The best way to achieve this is by making sure you thoroughly beat the sugar and the eggs.

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Add a teaspoon of instant coffee or espresso powder. Throw in a handful of nuts—pecans, walnuts, macadamia, whatever you have on hand. Scoop in a palmful of dried or frozen fruit. Add an extra splash of the top-shelf vanilla extract, or a dab of vanilla paste, or a dash of vanilla powder, to the batter.

Some bakers say the key to making brownies with shiny crust is dissolving the sugar in melted butter before adding; others call for several minutes of beating, to make sure sugar and egg are fully combined.

Here's what you need to make box brownies taste homemade: Butter – Boxed brownie mix typically calls for vegetable oil. Using butter is the secret to brownies that taste like they're baked from scratch (use unsalted butter to control the salt level). Espresso powder – Intensifies the chocolate flavor.

Instead of dumping your batch of batter into a square baking dish, use an ice cream scoop to portion the batter into each well of the muffin tin. Each brownie has it's own cup to bake in, meaning that every side of it will be in contact with the metal pan, giving it those desirable crisp, chewy edges.

Whether you use butter, margarine, or vegetable oil, putting too much in your brownie batter causes it to be greasy. Don't worry, you're not alone. Many people fall into this trap when trying to substitute butter with oil.

Achieving a fudgy brownie is all to do with the ratio of fat to flour. A fudgy brownie recipe will use more fat than flour. Generally this is achieved by adding more butter or real chocolate to your brownie recipe. A cakey brownie recipe on the other hand will call for more flour in the ratio of fat to flour.

Brownie textures fall into three general camps… Cakey, fudgy and chewy. Cakey brownies, like the name implies, are light, moist and airy, with a slightly fluffy, cake-like interior. Fudgy brownies are moist, dense and gooey, with almost the texture of fudge, but not quite as compact.

What is the best way to tell if brownies are done? ›

To test for doneness with a toothpick, insert a toothpick into the center of the brownies and pull it back out. For fudgy brownies, you'll want to see some moist crumbs attached to the toothpick when you pull it back out. If it looks like it's covered in brownie batter, the brownies will need to bake a bit longer.

If the brownies still look wet or aren't pulling away, they aren't done. Even fudgy brownies will pull from the edges once they've finished baking. You'll see that the edges look dry while the middle still looks soft or slightly wet. Chewy and cakey brownies will have dry edges with firmer-looking centers.

They give brownies a lighter, drier, and more cake-like texture. If you prefer this over the chewy variety, then go ahead and crack in that additional egg. On the other hand, too many eggs will yield brownies that are hard, heavy, and tough.

One change is to use milk or heavy cream instead of water. This change will make brownies more moist and gooey since milk is more fatty and flavorful than water. A second change is to use butter instead of oil. For similar reasons to using milk, butter adds a rich and more decadent quality to the batter.

Originally Answered: How can someone soften brownies that become tough? Microwave them, they'll usually soften up. If that doesn't work you could consider soaking the rock hard brownie in a strong warm sugar solution.

Airtight Containers

Use parchment paper to layer brownies into an airtight container for best results. Tip: When storing brownies in an airtight container, add a slice of bread in with them. The moisture from the bread will help keep your brownies fresh and soft for a couple more days.