Brownies
These are built on dark chocolate, and the method is closer to a sponge than to most brownie recipes. The eggs and sugar get whipped for a full four to five minutes before anything else goes in, and that is the whole trick. It is what gives you the thin, shiny, crackled top that shatters when you cut into it.
The rest is restraint. Fold the flour by hand, stop the moment it disappears, and pull them out of the oven while the middle still looks slightly underdone.
How to Make Brownies
Melt, whip, combine, fold, bake. The only step that needs patience is whipping the eggs and sugar, and the only one that needs restraint is folding in the flour. Everything else is quick.
All Ingredients
1. Melt the chocolate and butter
- 1
Put the chopped chocolate and cubed butter in a pan over low heat.
- 2
Melt gently until smooth, then set aside to cool to warm. It must not be hot when it meets the eggs.
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2. Whip the eggs and sugar
- 1
Put the eggs and sugar in a bowl and whip on high for 4 to 5 minutes.
- 2
Stop when the mixture is pale, thick and has roughly tripled. This is what makes the crackled top, so give it the full time.
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3. Combine and fold
- 1
Pour the warm chocolate mixture and the vanilla into the whipped eggs and mix just until combined.
- 2
Add the flour and salt and fold by hand with minimal strokes, stopping the moment no dry flour remains. Fold in the toasted walnuts last.
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4. Bake and cut
- 1
Bake at 180°C for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is set and crackled and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Start checking at 20.
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Cool in the tin, then chill before slicing. Lift out by the paper and cut with a sharp non-serrated knife, wiping between cuts.
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The Recipe
Prep20 min
Cook25 min
Total45 min
Serves16
DifficultyEasy
Ingredients
for 16 serves
Instructions
Line a tin with baking paper, leaving an overhang on two sides so you can lift the slab out later. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Choose a tin that will give you about 1.5 cm of batter.
Gently melt the chocolate and butter together until smooth, then set aside to cool to warm. It must not be hot when it meets the eggs.
Whip the eggs and sugar for 4 to 5 minutes, until pale, thick and voluminous. This is what builds the shiny, crackly top, so do not rush it.
Add the warm chocolate and butter mixture and the vanilla to the whipped eggs. Mix just until combined.
Add the flour and salt and fold by hand with as few strokes as possible, stopping as soon as no dry flour remains. Fold in the toasted walnuts last.
Pour into the tin and bake at 180°C for 20 to 25 minutes. Pull them when a toothpick in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs, un poquito húmedo. The top should look set and crackled but the centre still soft.
Cool in the tin, since they keep cooking from the residual heat. For clean cuts, chill the slab, lift it out by the paper and slice with a sharp non-serrated knife, wiping the blade between cuts.
Tips & Notes
The whipped eggs are the crackly top
Four to five minutes on high, until the mixture is pale, thick and has roughly tripled. When you lift the beaters it should fall back in a ribbon that sits on the surface for a second before sinking. That dissolved sugar rising to the surface during baking is what forms the shiny crust, so this is the one step not to shorten.
Batter depth matters more than tin size
Aim for about 1.5 cm of batter. A tin that is too big gives you thin, dry brownies; too small and the middle never sets while the edges overbake. If your tin is a different size, adjust the bake time rather than the recipe, and go by the toothpick.
Let the chocolate cool before it meets the eggs
Warm, not hot. Straight off the heat it will cook the eggs on contact and you will see little set specks through the batter, plus you lose the air you just whipped in.
Fold, do not beat, once the flour is in
By hand, with a spatula, and as few strokes as you can manage. Stop the second there is no dry flour left. Working the flour develops gluten and turns a fudgy brownie into a cakey one.
Underbake on purpose
20 to 25 minutes at 180°C. The top should look set and crackled while the centre is still soft, and a toothpick should come out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, un poquito húmedo. They carry on cooking in the hot tin after they come out, so a toothpick that comes out clean means they are already overdone. Start checking at 20 minutes.
Toast the walnuts
Five to six minutes in a dry pan or the oven until they smell nutty. Raw walnuts taste flat and slightly bitter in a brownie, and toasting also keeps them crisp instead of going soft in the batter.
Chill before you cut
Cool fully in the tin, then chill the slab before slicing. Lift it out by the paper overhang and use a sharp non-serrated knife, wiping the blade clean between every cut. Warm brownies tear and drag; cold ones cut into clean squares.
Using Chocolate Águila
Águila is semi-sweet, not a 70 per cent bar, so on its own it gives a milder, sweeter brownie. If Águila is what you have, add a bit more of it, around 30 g extra, to bring the chocolate back up. Any dark cooking chocolate around 70 per cent works exactly as written.
Keeping them
Airtight at room temperature for 4 days, and they are better on day two once the texture settles. They freeze well cut into squares for up to 3 months.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 271 kcal
- Protein
- 4.3 g
- Carbohydrates
- 33.2 g
- Total Fat
- 14 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 1.5 g
- Sugars
- 22.3 g
- Sodium
- 94 mg
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list using USDA reference data. Estimates only, and they will shift with brands, portion size and how much of any sauce or oil you actually eat.
How It Turned Out
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