Easy Chocolate Brownies
Recipe video above. These are my "go to" brownies, the one I have been making for years (decades now!) that's super easy and outrageously chocolatey because I use more real chocolate and less cocoa powder than typical recipes. Fabulous fudgey brownies made without fuss, in one bowl, mixed up in 10 minutes. These are not the cakey kind, they're the soft fudgey kind. Just how I like them!
Servings: 9 - 16
Calories: 212cal
Ingredients
- 200g / 14 tbsp unsalted butter (1 3/4 US sticks)
- 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips or melts/discs (US: semi-sweet chocolate) (Note 1)
- 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 3 large eggs , lightly beaten (fridge cold or room temp is fine)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder , sifted
- Pinch of salt
OPTIONAL EXTRA CHOCOLATE ADD-INS
- 180g / 6oz (1 cup) dark chocolate chips, or block/bar chopped into chunks (OPTIONAL!) (US: semi-sweet chocolate) (Note 2)
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE
- Melt choc and butter, mix in sugar and vanilla, then eggs. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt, bake in lined 20cm/8" pan at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan) for 28 minutes. Cool before slicing.
FULL RECIPE
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). Spray a 20cm/8" square tin with oil or grease with butter. Line with baking paper/parchment paper with overhang (Note 3).
- Melt chocolate and butter - Place butter and chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl, microwave in 30 second bursts (takes me 1m 30 sec) until melted. Stir until smooth.
- Sugar and eggs - Add sugar and vanilla, mix, then add eggs and mix well until smooth and molten.
- Dry ingredients - Add flour, cocoa and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate, pour into pan.
- Bake 24 minutes for really gooey in the centre, 28 minutes for fudgey but still very moist (my favourie, shown in video & photos), 32 minutes for moist fudge-cake-like. (See in post for toothpick testphotos).
- Rest for 10 minutes before lifting out of the pan (they are fragile when hot). Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting. For really neat slices, refrigerate for 30 minutes, or even overnight, but always eat at room temp for fudgy perfection!
Notes
1. Chocolate - Use cooking chocolate chips or melts from the baking section of the supermarket, not eating chocolate. Don't use chocolate with a higher cocoa % (like 70% cocoa), it changes the texture of the brownie (not in a good way).
2. Extra chocolate stir in - I add this extra chocolate when I'm making to impress! But for everyday purposes, I don't. You won't feel robbed of chocolate, the brownies already have more real chocolate in them than typical recipes! :)
Type of chocolate - Use either chocolate from the baking aisle (chips or block, chopped), not from the confectionary aisle as it's designed NOT to melt which is no good for baking! (Exception: Lindt chocolate).
Walnut alternative - 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped walnuts
3. Lining pan - Have overhang so you can lift the brownies out of the tin.
4. Baking measures - Cups and tablespoon measures differ slightly in size between countries. For most recipes on my website, the difference is not enough to make a difference, or the difference is relative across all ingredients in a recipe. Where the difference DOES matter, I specify the measurements for different countries. For this recipe, it DOES NOT matter so you can use cups or weights per the recipe, no matter which country you are in. The only exception is Japan, please use the weight measures, not cups.
Storage - airtight container for 4 days, refrigerate only if it's very hot. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition per brownie, assuming 16 pieces, without extra chocolate stir through.
Nutrition
Serving: 48g | Calories: 212cal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2.6g | Fat: 14.5g | Saturated Fat: 8.9g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 98mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 15.5g | Vitamin A: 350IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 0.9mg