Key takeout
•For rich brownies, fold the chopped chocolate just before baking.
• Use shards instead of chips. The chips are almost gone and create a chocolate pocket.
• For a deep flavor, choose 60-70% cocoa chocolate.
My brownies are most requested by my friends and family while I bake many different desserts. I baked more batches of brownies than I could count, and therefore I got the official Brownie Baker distinction.
I take my job as a lead brownie chef very seriously. I spent time and was confused, and for all the great batches, I made the same number of hoham batches. It’s mainly because they didn’t add any secret ingredients. What makes my brownies so special? You’ll have to add one simple thing.
Brownies are the easiest dessert
Before revealing the secret ingredients, let’s talk about why brownies are the perfect dessert. Unlike many other baked goods, brownies are relatively easy to make from scratch. There are decent boxed brownie mixes, but they never compare to the kind you made at home.
That’s because a good brownie recipe doesn’t require many ingredients and what you need is likely already in the fridge and pantry. Plus, most recipes can be made in just one bowl, and making a batch of brownies usually takes less than 45 minutes. This means you can liven up the batch before dinner and enjoy dessert after dinner.
Wanda Abraham / Recipe by Adobe Stock / Photo illustration
Secret Ingredients for Better Brownies
There are many ways to improve your brownies. Using brown butter is an example. My secret is simple. Fold the chopped chocolate just before baking the brownies. It’s a simple addition that brings delicious and rich brownies that will disappoint you.
Buy a 1.5 oz bar for recipes that produce brownies in high quality chocolate 8×8 inch bread. Buy what you like.
Solve it and place it on the cutting board. Use a large chef’s knife to cut it into pieces or irregularly. Don’t stress cutting things completely or evenly, as uniformity is not necessary or desired here. Fold the chopped chocolate into the batter, stirring 2-3 times, and bake it while rubbing the batter into the bread.
Why is this secret so good?
No one knows that I put extra chocolate in my brownies (except for my daughter who always surrounds me when I’m baking). That’s because the chopped chocolate disappears almost completely when baked.
Cutting chocolate into pieces creates thin pieces with a larger surface area than chocolate chips, which makes the pieces easily melt into brownies when exposed to heat. It creates a delicious little pocket of chocolate and makes an incredibly decadent brownie without much extra work. Now that you know my secret, you should give it a try!
Simply recipes/Adobe stock
