Brown Butter Brownies
Thick and fudgy, these brown butter brownies are rich and decadent. The addition of toasted browned butter and a hint of espresso powder increases the chocolate flavor.
I’ve got a lot of brownie recipes on this site, but I just wanted to add another!
This is still based on my tried and tested crinkle top brownies recipe, but it’s made extra flavorful and rich with the addition of browned butter and espresso powder. Perfect for a chocolate craving.
Try these chai blondies next!
Ingredients
Find the amounts of the simple ingredients for these fudgy brownies in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a rundown of what you will need.
- Unsalted butter or salted butter- The butter is browned until the milk solids caramelize. This adds a nutty flavor and chewiness to the brownies. The hot browned butter also helps melt the sugar and to create shiny crackly tops.
- Semisweet chocolate – Choose good quality dark chocolate, one with cocoa butter (don’t use compound chocolate which uses vegetable oils.)
- Sugar – Both granulated white sugar and soft brown sugar is used – There’s a large amount of sugar in brownies because this helps to create a fudgy texture and helps create a shiny top. Soft brown sugar brings moisture, while granulated sugar makes a chewier brownie.
- Large eggs
- Salt – Salt enhances the flavor.
- Vanilla – Chocolate’s best friend. Choose a good quality pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder – provides extra chocolate flavor! The type of cocoa powder can be dutch process cocoa powder or natural cocoa powder.
- Instant espresso powder – This is optional but it brings out the chocolate flavor more.
- All-purpose flour – Only a small amount of all-purpose flour is used for some stability but not too much, so the brownie stays moist.
- Chocolate chips – dark chocolate, white chocolate or milk chocolate chips.
- A little flaky salt for topping (optional)
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350°F (176°C) and place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Prepare the brownie pan by lining an 8×8 inch square pan or similar, with parchment paper. Leave a 2-inch overhang so you can easily lift out the baked brownies.
- On a chopping board, use a large knife to chop the chocolate into small pieces.
Brown butter
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, let the butter melt. Use a light-colored pan or else you will struggle to see the caramelization of the butter and run the risk of burning it.
- Once the butter melts, let it cook further for around 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly with a whisk or rubber spatula until the milk solids in the butter have caramelized into a golden amber color and the butter has a nutty aroma.
- Pour the hot butter into a mixing bowl (including all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan) and add in chopped chocolate. Stir the chocolate into the hot mixture until it has melted.
- Stir the sugars into the butter mixture, followed by the eggs and vanilla. Mix until it is well combined.
- Next, stir through the cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt until well combined.
- Finally, stir through the all-purpose flour, followed by the chocolate chips into a thick chocolate batter.
- Scoop the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Spread it out with an offset spatula.
- Bake for around 28-32 minutes until a cake tester inserted should have no wet batter, but still have a few moist crumbs stuck to it. The baking time will depend on your oven and the pan used.
- Let the warm brownies cool completely in the pan before lifting them from the pan and placing them on a wire rack.
- For extra clean brownies slices, chill them in the fridge before slicing.
Additions
Instead of (or along with), the browned butter you could add –
- Chopped nuts
- Caramel chips or use m&ms and make m&m brownies
- Chopped Oreos or peppermint patty pieces
- Salty pretzel pieces
- Cocoa nibs
- Swirl in cookie butter for cookie butter brownies
- Shredded coconut.
Storing
Store any leftover brownies, at room temperature or in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. brownies freeze very well too. Tightly wrap and freeze the whole slab of brownie, or portion it up first.
Let it thaw at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. If you like a warm brownie, pop it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds once thawed to lightly heat it.
Brown Butter Brownies
Yield:
16
Prep Time:
15 minutes
Cook Time:
26 minutes
Total Time:
41 minutes
These fudgy brown butter brownies are rich and decadent.
Ingredients
- 142g (½ cup + 2 Tbsp) unsalted butter
- 85g (½ cup) semi-sweet chocolate
- 150g (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 50g (¼ cup, packed) soft brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 2 large eggs
- 30g (⅓ cup) cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 63g (½ cup) all-purpose flour
- 170g (1 cup) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350°F (176°C) and place an oven rack in the middle of the oven.
- Prepare the brownie pan by lining an 8x8 inch square pan or similar with parchment paper. Leave a 2-inch overhang so you can easily lift out the baked brownies.
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces and set aside.
- Let the butter melt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Use a light-colored pan or else you will struggle to see the caramelization of the butter.
- Once melted, let it cook for around 3 minutes, stirring regularly with a whisk or rubber spatula until the milk solids in the butter have caramelized into a golden amber color, and the butter has a nutty aroma.
- Pour the hot butter into a mixing bowl (including all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan) and add in chopped chocolate. Stir the chocolate until it has melted.
- Stir the sugars into the butter mixture, followed by the eggs and vanilla. Mix until it is well combined.
- Next, stir through the cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt until well combined.
- Finally, stir through the all-purpose flour and the chocolate chips into a thick chocolate batter.
- Scoop the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Bake for around 28-32 minutes until a cake tester inserted should have no wet batter but has a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
- Let the warm brownies cool completely in the pan before lifting them from the pan and placing them on a wire rack. For extra clean brownies slices, chill them in the fridge before slicing.
- Sprinkle with a little optional flaky salt.
- Store any leftover brownies at room temperature or in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 220Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 79mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 1gSugar: 21gProtein: 2g
This is an informational estimate only. I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist
