The best brownies: Julia Child's Amazing Brownie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are boxed brownies so much better? ›

Box brownie mixes call for vegetable oil as the shortening, which makes them nice and chewy. The chocolate comes from cocoa powder, which gives box brownies a lighter, less rich chocolate flavor than the homemade variety. Most people say brownies from a mix remind them of childhood.

Recipes for chewy brownies use more flour than those for fudgy brownies, which results in a more structured, chewy bite and less dense texture.

Brownies are a great source of protein and fiber, which helps you feel full longer. Protein also works as an appetite suppressant, so you won't be as tempted to snack on unhealthy foods later on in the day. There are so many reasons why adding brownies to your diet is a great idea. First of all, they're delicious!

Brownies are always more likeable than cakes and even cookies. On one hand where cakes are softer and fluffier, brownies are crunchier and have denser texture.

One change is to use milk or heavy cream instead of water. This change will make brownies more moist and gooey since milk is more fatty and flavorful than water. A second change is to use butter instead of oil. For similar reasons to using milk, butter adds a rich and more decadent quality to the batter.

Add nuts – Add a handful of finely chopped pecans or walnuts if you love brownies with nuts. Add mix ins – Jazz up a basic brownie mix with chopped mini peanut butter cups, white chocolate chunks, or your favorite chopped up candy bar. Add a swirl – Swirl in spoonfuls of peanut butter or Nutella before baking.

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Brownies should be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and placed in an airtight container to help keep them from drying out and going stale. (You can also use a layer of aluminum foil around the layer of plastic wrap to help protect them from air exposure.)

Another reason your brownies may be cakey is too much mixing or beating during the cooking process. Of course make sure you have a high fat to flour brownie recipe. Once you have your recipe confirmed, If you're are whisking then take it lightly.

A clever hybrid between cake and cookie, brownies are a dense, chocolaty bar cookie baked in a rectangular pan; they can be fudge-like, cake-like, or anything in between. It was about three times more expensive to make the brownies from scratch than to use a mix, owing mostly to the cost of chocolate and walnuts.

What country did brownies originate from? ›

The brownie was developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized there during the first half of the 20th century.

Both have chewy textures. However, blondies have a much lighter and softer taste than brownies. The ingredients used in brownies are where the two recipes diverge the most. Blondies use vanilla extract and brown sugar instead of cocoa powder to get their flavor, while brownies use chocolate and cocoa.

Now, my dad might argue that edge pieces are nothing compared to center pieces, which are clearly superior because they're cakey, soft, and melt in your mouth. Not to mention, the center pieces tend to be gold mines for mix-ins like chocolate chips, walnuts, or mini marshmallows.

Eggs create structure and stability in a batter, they add moisture and impact the texture of the final baked good. Their ability to assist with bringing ingredients together makes for a smooth, velvety brownie batter.

This Is Your Brain on Brownies

They found that a mouthful of brownie triggered a spike of dopamine almost identical to the spike caused by the drug, while the water had no noticeable effect. In other words, there's a scientific reason that you want another brownie.

Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker fell in the middle of the pack — neither were bad, but Duncan Hines' brownies were a little too chewy for my taste, and Betty Crocker's were a bit too sweet. But I could see both mixes making many people happy.

Slight edge to store-bought. Many of the ingredients are similar (flour, sugar, and eggs), but the store-bought version calls for vegetable oil instead of butter and contains cocoa powder in lieu of bar chocolate, resulting in a lower saturated fat content.

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.