These are the brownies I make for my son, Charlie, and his roommates in season 1, episode 6 of Zoë Bakes on Magnolia Network. The recipe is a crowd pleaser because you use a delicious brownie base, then you can customize with up to 4 different toppings!
Tips For Perfect Brownies
- The key to dense, fudgy, over-the-top brownies is to not overbake them.
- If you want them a bit cakier, which is a legit choice, you can bake them an extra 5 minutes.
- The other key is to let them cool completely before cutting, so the chocolate has a chance to set up. If you can’t wait, the brownies will end up more like pudding, which, again, is your choice!
Brownies Topping Ideas
- Peanut Butter
- Crushed Oreos or other cookies
- Nutella
- Toasted Nuts
- Chocolate Chunks
Another Favorite Brownies Recipe
My recipe is based on Ina Garten’s classic Outrageous Brownies, but one other recipe I LOVE is the Coconut Macaroon Brownies from Jake Cohen’s book, Jew-Ish. They are the brilliant marriage of chewy coconut macaroons and the fudgiest brownies you will ever eat.
I grew up eating coconut macaroons at Jewish holidays and they were typically out of a box, that felt like it had surpassed its “Best By” date some decades earlier. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved them, but they had very little in the way of flavor or texture, they were just sweet and as a hippie kid, that was enough.
As I got older, they failed to excite me and I learned just how easy and delightful a homemade macaroon was. At about the same time, I started making Ina Garten’s recipe and I realized, in a profound way, just how much I needed chocolate in my life. But, those two recipes never found themselves stacked together in a pan and baked as one. That is what Jake did and it is a stroke of genius.
He has other classic recipes in his book, and, like the coconut macaroon brownies, they are made so much better than my childhood memories, which is nothing short of a revelation. It’s a book full of new traditions.
Share Your Brownies
If you make these, please tag me if you share them on social media. You can find me on Instagram here and Facebook here. I would love to see what creative toppings you come up with!
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups (283g) cake flour
- 1/2 cup (45g) cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups (452g) unsalted butter
- 3/4 lb (340g) bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 7 eggs room temperature
- 3 cups (600g) sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract homemade vanilla extract
Optional Toppings
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- crushed Oreos
- 2 tbsp Nutella
- toasted hazelnuts
- 3 oz chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and line a 9×13-inch baking pan with buttered parchment.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter to just simmering. Turn off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Swirl the pan so the chocolate is submerged in the butter and let sit for 3 minutes. Gently whisk until smooth.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together the eggs, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Turn the speed to low and slowly add the melted chocolate mixture.
- Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir just until combined.
- Pour into prepared pan and add toppings, if desired.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a tester comes out with moist crumbs. It can take much longer depending on your oven and ingredient temperature. If you like your brownies dense and gooey, bake them until the sides puff, but the center is still fudgy when tested. Note: All ovens are different, so the bake time may vary depending on the oven. An oven thermometer will help determine actual temperature.
Four Topping Variations
- Warm peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds to make it spreadable. Swirl with a skewer, then add crushed Oreo pieces.
- Warm Nutella in the microwave for a few seconds to make spreadable. Swirl with a skewer, then add toasted hazelnuts.
- Add a mix of white, milk and dark chocolate chunks, stir half into the batter and top with the remaining.
- Last section left plain and simple.
Check out all my brownie recipes, and while you’re at it, I’ve got all kinds of recipes for bars.
These were delicious! I gave them to my class on Valentine’s day. They were perfectly moist, tasty, and warm. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.
I used this recipe from the cookbook and am kind of confused. I baked for 37 minutes and they looked cooked. I cooled completely before cutting and the center was completely raw/like pudding. The edge pieces were delicious but I wasn’t sure if this was the intention and I just don’t like the raw center vibe for brownies, or if they were legitimately uncooked.
Hi Irene! There could be a couple reasons for this. Were your eggs room temperature? If they are cold when you use them it can cause the brownies to take longer to fully cook. Secondly, did you use a tester and check for moist crumbs? That will be the best way to know they’re ready to be removed from the oven. Zoë also notes that if you’d like a cakier brownie, you can bake them a few more minutes (about 45) and the tester should come out with dry crumbs. I hope this helps for next time!