The 'Baked' Brownie

How did I get to 45 years old and not know that I liked Brownies.  My memory is so bad I can't recall if I ate a bad one and was put off or was it my general assumption that Brownies looked like crap chocolate cake.  Anyway Suga B (my daughter) is not a great lover of my cupcakes but a big lover of chocolate.  She asked me to make some brownies and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try the Baked Brownie from my 'Baked, New frontiers in Baking book.  Lots of people have raved about these brownies before.  I know I am late to the brownie party but I don't care, they are goooood.    Both books from Baked are fantastic and I would highly recommend them.  This brownie recipe is also rated best from America's Test Kitchen and apparently is one of Oprah's favourite things.


I made my first batch on Sunday.  I have to say they are delicious, Suga B said they were lovely.  She actually admitted after that she didn't even know if she liked brownies either, but lots of her friends loved them!


They have a shiny crumbly top and they are quite dense and fudgy.  There are no raising agents so they are not too cakey (which is a good thing apparently).  They were finished by Tuesday morning and I have been hankering for one ever since.  So here is batch two.  The recipe says they should be baked for 30 mins but I found that they took about 40 mins to cook in the middle.  This meant that they were slightly overdone around the edges.  This time I reduced the temperature to 175 and baked them for 40 mins.  I do have a fan oven though so you might need to adjust your temperature.

The Baked Brownie

Yield: 24 brownies

1¼ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant expresso powder (i used Millicano)
1½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 175  degrees (fan). Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13-inch glass or light-colored baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

3. Put the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

4. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

5. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes (mine took 40 mins), rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely. Cut into squares and serve.