Moving from America to the UK was an adjustment for me. Mostly everything here was better, but there were some American things I really did miss. A lot of it involved desserts. I mostly missed cookies and brownies. I don’t know what it is, but it’s very hard to get a nice brownie or cookie in London. The cookies are dry and too hard and the brownies are too cakey. A brownie should be fudgey, soft/gooey on the inside with a slightly crisp top. Cookies should be soft and you should be able to pull it apart without it crumbling.
I would see a nice looking brownie at Konditor & Cook and I would be really excited to eat them. And they are delicious but… I don’t know. They don’t feel like real brownies. Therefore I much prefer to make my own brownies and cookies when I get that craving. I’m always in search of good dessert recipes when I find one I print it off and keep in my folder of tried and tested recipes.
I’ve tried a variety of brownie recipes, some good and some bad (although I think I do need to try the Konditor & Cook recipe just to say that I have!). But I recently found one that blew my mind. My husband isn’t a big fan of very rich and chocolatey desserts but he loves these brownies. I didn’t want to share this because I want to keep it a secret so people have to ask me to make it, lol! But in the interest of sharing and making everyone’s days a little sweeter – the original recipe is found here but I’ve simplified it a little (and added my own twist) below.
Best and Fudgiest Brownies in the World
Ingredients:
- 240g unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
- 30ml vegetable oil
- 260g white sugar
- 200g packed light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 15ml pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 130g all purpose flour
- 100g good quality, unsweetened cocoa powder
- 200g roughly chopped dark chocolate or large chocolate chips
- 100g milk or dark chocolate chips (optional)
- Preheat oven to 175°C.
- Lightly grease an 8×12-inch baking pan with cooking oil spray or butter. Line with baking paper; set aside.
- Combine melted butter, oil and sugars together in a medium bowl and whisk. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until lighter in colour (another minute). I did this by hand but you can probably do this using an electric mixer.
- Sift in flour, cocoa powder and salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Take your time with this step and go slow (if you over-mix, your brownie may not turn out fudgey).
- Fold in 3/4 of the chocolate pieces.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top out evenly, and top with remaining chocolate pieces and the chocolate chips. The chocolate chips are optional, but I think they are a game-changer.
- Baking time will depend on your oven, the recipe recommends baking for 25-30 minutes for just under-done brownies (fudgier texture) or until the centre of the brownies no longer jiggles and is just set to the touch. I need about 40-45 minutes in my oven. Keep an eye out on it and do not let it overcook. They should be slightly underdone if you want them really fudgey.
- After 15-20 minutes, carefully remove them out of the pan and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing into 16 brownies.
Here are some useful tips from the original recipe:
TIPS AND TRICKS:
Do NOT over beat your batter once the flour and cocoa powder are added. That creates air pockets in the batter which will give you cake-like textured brownies.
Please try not to over bake them. Set a timer if you need too. I like mine at exactly 23 minutes in an 8×12-inch pan. You can go a little bit over if you like them set a bit more, but I don’t recommend it if you’re looking for the fudgiest brownies in the world. Remember, they will continue to bake slightly in the hot pan once pulled out of the oven,
I bake my brownies on the top shelf in the oven. I find the middle shelf cooks them a lot faster, slightly burns them on the top and dries them out.
Cafe Delites Brownie Recipe
Please leave a comment if you liked this recipe or plan to try it!
Omg your brownies look DIVINE!!!
I think I’m gonna try your recipe as soon as I get my oven fixed. I’ve been craving brownies so much I actually ended up finding a microwave-brownie recipe to stand in for the time being, which wasn’t half bad. But seriously… Yours look incredible.
They taste even better! Hopefully you’ll get your oven fixed soon and you can enjoy this gooey richness. I once lived in an apartment where the oven didn’t work and they wouldn’t fix it, miserable 1 year of my life haha!
I have bookmarked this recipe to try out soon. I’m very much the “does this look simple?” baker / cook, so this sounds perfect!
Yes, I’m exactly the same! I only follow more complicated recipes when I am looking for something indulgent or if I have a lot of time. This is definitely a recipe that makes everything better. When things are particularly tough I will make these brownies and life becomes a little more bearable after taking a bite of the finished product.