Ok, who doesn't love a gooey, chocolatey fudgier brownie? We think these may be the best brownies you'll ever make - maybe the best you've ever tasted. This recipe involves melted butter, high speed egg whisking for 10 minutes, and A LOT of chocolate. It's a bit more work than your everyday brownie mix- but we think you'll agree the results are worth it.
Ingredients for 24 brownies
1, 9"x13" pan (Or divide ingredients by half for an 8"x8" pan)
2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, plus more, softened, for greasing
1 1/3 cup good-quality semisweet chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate, 60-70% cacao, roughly chopped
¾ cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder, divided in half into two bowls
1 tablespoon espresso powder
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 large eggs
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).
Grease a 9x13-inch (23x33-cm) dark metal pan with softened butter, then line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on all sides. Grease the parchment with softened butter.
Combine the chopped chocolate, ¼ cup (30 g) of cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a heatproof liquid measuring cup or medium bowl and set aside.
Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the butter just comes to a vigorous simmer, about 5 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally. Immediately pour the hot butter over the chocolate mixture and let sit for 2 minutes. Whisk until the chocolate is completely smooth and melted, then set aside.
Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or in a bowl mixer with a whisk attachment on high speed until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. It will be similar to the texture of thick pancake batter.
With the mixer on, pour in the slightly cooled chocolate and butter mixture and blend until smooth.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift in the funnel cake mix and remaining cocoa powder into the mixture. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold until combined. This is where you are able to fold in optional items like salted chips, pretzels, more chocolate chips, M&Ms, reese's, oreos/Jojos... etc if you would like. For this recipe we folded in the additional chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake until lightly puffed on top, about 20 minutes.
Important step! Remove the baking pan from the oven using oven mitts or kitchen towels, then lightly drop the pan on a flat surface 1-2 times until the brownies deflate slightly and a few cracks form. This is an important step to maintain an even texture throughout the brownies. Sprinkle with optional flaky sea salt.
Return the pan to the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out fudgy but the edges of the pan look cooked through, about 20-25 minutes more. The center of the brownies will seem under-baked, but the brownies will continue to set as they cool.
Set the brownies on a cooling rack or trivet and cool completely in the pan.
Use the parchment paper to lift the cooled brownies out of the pan. Cut into 24 bars and serve
FULL RECIPE:
Ingredients for 24 brownies
1, 9"x13" pan (Or divide ingredients by half for an 8"x8" pan)
2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, plus more, softened, for greasing
1 1/3 cup good-quality semisweet chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate, 60-70% cacao, roughly chopped
¾ cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder, divided in half into two bowls
1 tablespoon espresso powder
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 large eggs
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Grease a 9x13-inch (23x33-cm) dark metal pan with softened butter, then line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on all sides. Grease the parchment with softened butter.
Combine the chopped chocolate, ¼ cup (30 g) of cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a heatproof liquid measuring cup or medium bowl and set aside.
Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the butter just comes to a vigorous simmer, which should take about 5 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally. Immediately pour the hot butter over the chocolate mixture and let sit for 2 minutes. Whisk until the chocolate is completely smooth, shiny, and melted, then set aside.
Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or bowl mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. It will be similar to the texture of thick pancake batter.
With the mixer on, pour in the slightly cooled chocolate and butter mixture and blend until smooth.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).
Sift in the funnel cake mix and remaining cocoa powder and use a rubber spatula to gently fold until combined. Fold in optional items like salted chips, pretzels, more chocolate chips, M&Ms, reese's, oreos/Jojos, etc.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until lightly puffed on top, about 20 minutes.
Important step! Remove the baking pan from the oven using oven mitts or kitchen towels, then lightly drop the pan on a flat surface 1-2 times until the brownies deflate slightly and a few cracks form..This is an important step to maintain an even texture throughout the brownies. Sprinkle with optional flaky sea salt.
Return the pan to the oven and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the brownies comes out fudgy but the edges look cooked through, about 20-25 minutes more. The center of the brownies will seem under-baked, but the brownies will continue to set as they cool.
Set the brownies on a cooling rack and cool completely in the pan.
Use the parchment paper to lift the cooled brownies out of the pan. Cut into 24 bars and serve