Brown Butter Brownies

Brown butter brownies are the ultimate brownie recipe made with nutty brown butter, dark chocolate, and cocoa powder for a flavorful thick, fudgy center and shiny crackly tops.

Made from scratch are the best brownie recipes and hands down way more delicious than store bought box mix brownies to cure your chocolate cravings. Adding brown butter to dark chocolate and cocoa powder increases the depth of flavor. This recipe is easy to make and you'll be so glad you took the extra time when you're biting into one.

What are Brown Butter Brownies?

Brown butter brownies are chocolate brownies made using rich brown butter in the place of regular butter. The nutty flavor created when butter is heated and browned deepend the chocolatey notes of the brownies without an overpowering brown butter flavor. Just a few minutes of cooking butter on the stove is all it takes to make liquid gold and the best brownies ever!

🌿 Ingredients You'll Need

• Brown Butter: Everything is better with brown butter, period. Brownies made with melted butter tend to be fudgier, with a more intense cocoa taste.
• Dark Chocolate: Chopped chocolate adds a decadent chocolate flavor.
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Dutch processed cocoa powder is the way to go! It has a lovely complex bitterness that blends nicely with dark brown sugar for a richer chocolatey flavor when baked.
• Cinnamon and Espresso Powder: To give a little extra oomph and enhance the chocolate, I like to mix in some ground cinnamon with espresso powder.
• Dark Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar: The brown sugar adds notes of caramel and molasses to the flavor profile, plus it produces chewier more fudgy texture. Granulated sugar adds that much needed sweetness to the bitter cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate.

What is Brown Butter?

Regular unsalted butter can be transformed with heat into a lovely flavor enhancer, brown butter. When cooking the butter, water renders out and the milk solids begin to toast, turning a lovely golden-brown color. The French refer to brown butter as "beurre noisette," as it offers a nutty fragrance and taste that's deeper and more complex than regular butter.

🧈 How to make brown butter

It's really easy to make brown butter, I promise once you make it you'll be adding it to all your baking recipes. Start by measuring out more butter than you will need, as browning butter causes a loss in total volume. This recipe calls for 227 grams (1 cup) hot brown butter. Use a little more than the recipe calls for at 280 grams ( a bit more than 1 ¼ cups) and then re-measure after browning. You will find that some of the water in the butter has evaporated.

To brown the butter, place it into a light colored saucepan on medium heat. Its more difficult to see the butter browning in a dark pan, so I prefer to use a lighter toned or stainless steel pan.

Cook until the butter has melted and starts to foam. Stir occasionally with a spatula or whisk until it turn golden brown and begins to give off a nutty aroma. You will see little brown bits floating at the bottom of the pan.

Keep an eye on the butter to prevent over cooking and burning it. Once the butter is browned, remove the pan from the heat immediately to prevent further cooking.

Tips for Making this Brownie Recipe

• Weigh and sift your cocoa powder along with the flour. If you accidentally add to much flour or cocoa powder to your batter, the outcome could be dry or dense.
• Use a quality dark chocolate baking bar, roughly chopped into chunks.
• Pour very hot melted brown butter onto the dark chocolate and cocoa powder. This will melt the dark chocolate and bloom the cocoa powder. Stir with a fork until silky smooth. Add the vanilla extract and stir again.
• Allow the chocolate butter mixture to cool room temperature before adding it to the whipped eggs and sugar.
• The whipped eggs and sugar give the brownies a nice shiny top.
• Drizzle the chocolate mixture into the whipped eggs, while gently folding with a rubber spatula until just incorporated.
• Mix in ⅓ of the flour mixture into the melted chocolate mixture at a time, folding slowly until smooth.
• Add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder, a little cinnamon spice, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to enhance the chocolate flavor.
• Line your brownie pan with parchment paper that folds over two sides, so you can lift cooled brownies from the pan without tearing them. Lifting the brownies and setting them on the counter, makes it easier to slice them into squares.
• Always bake brownies on the middle rack of the oven.

How to make Fudgy Brownies?

1. No baking soda or baking powder in the batter.
2. Lots of fat! Bring on that warm brown butter.
3. Incorporating dark chocolate into your homemade brownie batter makes a wonderful soft melt in your mouth texture. Cocoa powder can be drying, so I only use ¼ cup.
4. Using brown sugar in your brownie batter will help add moisture with a slight caramel note.
5. Folding the dry ingredients in by hand! Using a hand mixer incorporates air and works great for the eggs and sugar mix.
6. Not over baking your brownies. I always check mine with a toothpick to see if there are just a few moist crumbs before pulling them out of the oven. The residual heat in the pan will finish cooking the center.

Frequently Asked Questions

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