Delicious Fudgy Chocolate Brownies (Printable)

Dense, fudgy chocolate squares with a crackly top and melt-in-the-mouth texture.

# What You'll Need:

→ Chocolate & Fats

01 - 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
02 - 1/2 cup unsalted butter

→ Sugars

03 - 1 cup granulated sugar
04 - 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

→ Wet Ingredients

05 - 2 large eggs
06 - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

→ Dry Ingredients

07 - 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
08 - 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
09 - 1/4 teaspoon salt

→ Optional Add-ins

10 - 2/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
11 - 2/3 cup chocolate chips

# How-To Steps:

01 - Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal.
02 - In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and chopped semi-sweet chocolate together, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
03 - Stir the granulated sugar and packed light brown sugar into the melted chocolate mixture until fully incorporated.
04 - Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
05 - Sift together the all-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and salt. Gently fold the dry mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined; avoid overmixing.
06 - If desired, fold in chopped nuts or chocolate chips evenly into the batter.
07 - Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly and smoothing the top.
08 - Bake for 22 to 28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
09 - Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan. Use the parchment overhang to lift them out, then cut into 16 squares.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • They come together in under an hour and taste like you spent the whole day fussing over them.
  • The crackly top and fudgy center are basically proof that the simplest recipes deliver the biggest rewards.
  • One batch feeds a crowd or gives you an excuse to have brownies for breakfast three days running.
02 -
  • The biggest mistake is overbaking—that toothpick test is everything, because even two minutes too long turns fudgy into cake-like.
  • Chilling the cut brownies in the fridge for an hour makes them slice cleaner and taste even more intense, which I only discovered by accident when I got impatient and forgot about a pan.
03 -
  • Measure your flour by weight if you can—it's the single biggest variable that changes brownies from fudgy to dense.
  • Don't skip the cooling step after melting the chocolate and butter; hot chocolate can scramble eggs and ruin the whole texture before you even realize what happened.
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