Light the torches and rejoice. This is the recipe that you’ve been looking for.
As a seasoned brownie aficionado, this recipe blew me away. Not only is it fast and oh-so-easy, (I can whip this up in minutes with ingredients in my cupboard), but it gives amazing, indulgent brownies with just two bowls and no complicated steps or expert baking techniques.
RELATED: 30 Christmas Dessert Ideas Everyone Will Love
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Clever cooking utensils I used for this recipe
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The Chocolate
I have seen so many elaborate brownie recipes that call for melting chocolate over a bain-marie, melting it into butter, and all kinds of things. When you try these brownies, you’ll realize you don’t need to do any of that stuff. I use good quality cocoa powder in the mix and then I add half a cup of chocolate morsels for an extra hit of flavorful gooeyness.
The original recipe I adapted didn’t use any chocolate morsels, just cocoa powder, but in my opinion, it definitely needs them. The morsels melt right into this mixture during cooking so you won’t get any ‘chocolate chips’ in the finished brownie; just dense, smooth, heavenly goodness.
Try to get good quality dark chocolate morsels for this recipe, with at least 70% cocoa solids if you can find them – you will taste the difference.
The Sugar
A tweak I make to these is to take a couple of spoonfuls of the white sugar out and replace them with the same amount of fine brown sugar.
The brown sugar will help to ensure a moist finish to the brownie, but it will still develop that characteristic brownie ‘crust’ on top that we all know and love so much.
The Oil
This recipe calls for vegetable oil as the fat (as opposed to cakey brownies that might use butter).
Any flavorless oil can be used if you don’t have vegetable oil, however, don’t use olive oil or something that has a distinct taste as you will be able to notice it in the finished brownie.
The Add-ins
Trust me, these brownies don’t need any embellishments but I have added M&Ms, walnuts, raspberries, caramels before: the sky’s the limit. If you are adding something, do it at the end when you mix the chocolate morsels in.
A great way to enjoy these when baked is by adding a small pinch of sea salt on top to complement the chocolate. I swear by Maldon Sea Salt.
Of course, I also love to smother them warm in melting, milky vanilla ice cream.
The Pan
Any 9×9 brownie pan will do. if you use a larger pan, you can multiply the recipe however you will also need to bake the mixture for longer.
These brownies are hassle-free and a real crowd-pleaser, so they’re my secret weapon for events where I’m bringing something to share. If yours will also be traveling frequently, then you may want to invest in a lidded brownie pan. I went for this one.
I also line my pan with baking parchment as it is easier to remove, cut, then replace the brownies.
One Last Thing…
About the only way that this recipe can go wrong is by attempting to cut the brownies as soon as they come out of the oven.
They are going to smell INCREDIBLE while cooking and – if your house is like mine – by the time 20 mins have elapsed, you will likely have a queue of people waiting eagerly at the oven door, ice cream scoop in hand.
Whatever you do though, resist the urge to dive in immediately.
If you try to cut these straight out of the oven, sadly all you will have is a shapeless fudgey mess that goes everywhere. These need to be left to cool in order to firm up and maintain their shape as they continue to cook once out of the oven.
As soon as they have cooled down, you can cut them and reheat them in the oven to enjoy them warm and they will keep their structure, no problem.
I cut these in 4×4 rows because I find it easier to judge when cutting. This makes 16 brownies, but you can also do 3×3, yielding 9 larger brownies. These will keep amazingly well for several days in an airtight container.
Best Ever Fudgey Chocolate Brownies
Your new go-to brownie recipe.
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup white sugar ((optional: remove a couple of spoonfuls and replace them with the same amount of fine brown sugar))
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup good quality cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate morsels ((try to get at least 70% cocoa))
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9×9 brownie pan.
- Mix the vegetable oil and sugar together until completely blended, stir to remove any lumps of sugar.
- Add the vanilla essence and eggs to the mixture and stir.
- In a separate bowl, mix the baking powder, cocoa powder, salt, and flour.
- Once combined, pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients.
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Once the wet and dry ingredients have been thoroughly combined, add the chocolate morsels into the mix.
- Pour the complete mixture into the brownie pan, tipping it into all of the corners of the pan so it is evenly spread.
- Put the brownie pan into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes depending on preference (the lesser baking time will result in a more fudgey texture).
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before cutting.
What’s your all-time favorite brownie add-in? Let us know in the comments!
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RELATED: 30 Christmas Dessert Ideas Everyone Will Love
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