Correct Fudgy Brownies

This is the first recipe I ever put together on my own. The recipe that inspired me to start tweaking and making my own recipes, and the recipe that made me realize I finally knew how to bake properly.

This brownie is inspired by the tiny, individually wrapped brownies you can get at Pret a Manger. I worked there for some time and became completely obsessed with those little brownies.

They were 2 steps away from fudge but still soft, not hard or grainy like a candy. They were and are incredible. And though this recipe isn't exact for those little things, it's pretty close for a homemade product.

Notes:

This recipe has pretty standard ingredients, and is mainly about the technique and process! Follow along carefully in those aspects and you'll have better results than getting hung up on measurements or having exact matches for ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c white sugar
• 5 tbsp butter
• 5 tbsp oil of your choice
• 3/4 c + 2 tbsp of cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cold eggs
• 1/2 c flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. Brown your butter.

Browning butter is super easy. Put it in a small saucepan on medium-high heat and keep it constantly moving with a heat-proof silicone spatula. Keep cooking it. At some point, it will start to sputter and pop and make a bunch of foam and noise. Once it stops making noise, turn off the heat, take the pan off the heat and swirl it around until the pan cools. You can do this with some vegan butters too.

3. Let brown butter cool for 5 minutes.
4. Add cocoa powder and oil to the brown butter, mixing until fully homgenous.
5. Foam the cold eggs and sugar together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. You really want to go at this with a whisk or fork until it's super frothy and almost creates two separate layers.
6. Whisk in vanilla and salt.
7. Add brown butter and cocoa mixture to the foamy sugar eggs in a small stream, whisking constantly.
8. Fold in the flour
9. Pour thick batter into a 9x9 pan.
10. Bake for 20-25 min. Top should have a shattery crust and there should be a slight jiggle to the center. A toothpick should NOT come out clean. Internal temp around 200 F.

Variations

You can use chocolate instead of cocoa powder. Use the following measurements:

You can swirl peanut butter into the top of the brownies, but they won't retain their shattering crust if you do.

You can sub butter for vegan butter.

I have tried a few different egg replacements, and the powdered stuff works best. Flax eggs will make it very chewy like a candy. You won't get a shattering crust.

You don't need to brown the butter, but I find it adds a depth of flavor that's important to me, and better matches the Pret brownies.

Please do NOT use self rising flour or any other chemical leavener in this recipe. It completely changes the product and does not work properly.