Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies
Brown butter adds a rich, nutty flavor to these fudgy brownies. Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolate shares her new go-to brownie recipe!
I’m a firm believer that brown butter makes any baked good better. It’s such an easy way to take a recipe from good to great,
especially baked goods. I just love the nutty flavor it lends to whatever it is used in.
These Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies are no exception and now are my new go-to brownie recipe. Let’s talk about the
reasons why.
First off, they’re made with cocoa powder. Dark cocoa powder to be exact. This means there’s no chocolate chopping that stands
between me and a pan of brownies. Maybe it’s just me being lazy, but I dread the thought of having to do that.
Second, it’s all made in one pot! Let me be clear, it’s all made in one pot IF you use a big enough pot. Don’t go melting your butter in a tiny saucepan and expect all of the brownie batter to fit. But you knew that.
Third, the brown butter. This is an obvious one, right? The brown butter just gives these brownies that SOMETHING, y’know? That thing that will make people stop and go, “Wow… that’s a REALLY good brownie.” Then you can smile back at them knowing you didn’t have to chop any chocolate and it only required one pan.
Fourth (yes, I’m still going), it doesn’t make a huge pan. This recipe is written for a 9×9 pan (you can also use an 8×8 pan for thicker brownies; you’ll just want to add 5-8 minutes to your baking time), which means I’m not stuck with a huge pan of brownies for only me and my husband.
Fifth, the dark chocolate. It’s not only made with dark cocoa powder but there are dark chocolate chips all throughout, too. I’m
a chocoholic, what can I say?
Lastly, the crackly tops. Before I finally struck gold with this recipe, I kept coming out with batches of brownies that were fudgy, but the tops weren’t crackly. I just need that crackly top, y’know?! I finally got it with these, which solidifies that this recipe is the
one.
Dark Chocolate Brown Butter Brownies
Makes one 9×9 pan of brownies
Preparation time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup dark cocoa powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions
- Heat oven to 325 F. Spray a 9×9 baking pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium saucepan, add the butter over medium heat. Tip: Using a light-colored pan will make it easier to tell when the butter has browned.
- Swirl the pan occasionally, but try not to stir. As the butter melts, it will foam and the color will turn from lemony-yellow to an amber brown. This takes anywhere between 5-10 minutes. Just be sure to watch carefully, as you do not want it to burn.
- Once the butter is amber colored, immediately remove from heat. Let cool slightly for 10-15 minutes.
- Once slightly cooled, add sugar and stir well to combine. Note: you can either do this in the pan you melted the butter in or, if it’s too small, transfer butter to a large bowl.
- Add cocoa powder and stir until well combined.
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring until well combined and the batter is shiny.
- Add vanilla and stir to combine.
- Add flour and salt, stirring until combined, and then give the batter 60 good strokes with your spatula.
- Fold in dark chocolate chips.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan.
- Bake for 28-32 minutes for 9×9 pan (add another 5-8 minutes baking time for an 8×8 pan), until the edges are crackly and the middle is set but slightly jiggly. A toothpick should come out with just a few crumbs on it.
- Cool, slice and enjoy!