Fire Up the Oven: Easy Brownies Anyone Can Make

Brownies have won hearts all over the world, and most of us know them well. Today let's head to the kitchen and bake brownies. It's easy, you can do it, and they're delicious, so you have to give it a try.

Types of Brownies

Did you know that the familiar brownie actually comes in several types, made with different methods and recipes that give different textures? Let's look at brownies by texture.

1. Fudgy Brownies

Fudgy brownies are moist, dense, chewy and rich. They use only a little flour, usually around half a cup, and no baking powder. The butter is melted rather than creamed with the sugar, which keeps the brownies moist. Chocolate is essential: choose real unsweetened chocolate and add sugar to sweeten to taste, using granulated or brown sugar according to preference.

2. Cake Brownies

Cake brownies are soft, fluffy and light like cake. They use less butter and more flour than fudgy brownies, not too much chocolate, and added baking powder to make the crumb soft and light. The butter is creamed with the sugar rather than melted with the chocolate; the longer you beat, the thicker and more cake-like the top and crumb become. Beating adds air bubbles to the mixture, so the brownies rise higher and are lighter.

3. Chewy Brownies

Chewy brownies are soft and moist, a cross between cake and fudgy styles. They aren't as light as cake brownies, but not as dense and sticky as fudgy ones. They use less chocolate and add cocoa powder for chewiness. The butter and sugar are melted, as for fudgy brownies, and they use more flour than other brownies, because this texture needs gluten for structure during baking. The moist, soft texture comes from extra eggs and a blend of chocolates, as follows:

• Unsweetened chocolate: made purely from cocoa mass or chocolate liquor, with no added sugar or extra cocoa butter, so it contains 99–100% cocoa. Used as the main chocolate in brownies, it gives a particularly chewy texture.
• Semi-sweet chocolate: contains chocolate liquor, butter, cocoa and a little sugar. It is popular for cakes, cookies and brownies and can replace dark chocolate. With around 40–62% cocoa, it gives a softer texture than unsweetened chocolate.

Combining both types of chocolate and adding about 1–2 tablespoons of cocoa powder makes brownies even chewier.

Brownie Recipes

Fudgy Brownies

• 200 g 70% dark chocolate
• 113 g unsalted butter
• 50 g all-purpose flour
• 18 g cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 3 eggs
• 180 g white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line your tin with baking paper. Melt the chocolate with the butter and let it cool completely.
2. Sift the flour and cocoa powder, mix in the salt and set aside.
3. Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens. Pour in the chocolate and stir with a rubber spatula to combine.
4. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold in with the spatula. Pour into the tin and tap it gently on the table to release air bubbles. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, let cool completely, then refrigerate overnight before cutting into pieces.

Cake Brownies

• 85 g all-purpose flour
• 40 g cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 160 g unsalted butter
• 180 g white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 45 g 70% dark chocolate, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line your tin with baking paper. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and set it over a pan of hot water until the sugar melts. Remove from the heat, crack in the eggs and add the vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy and the sugar has completely dissolved (about 5 minutes); test by dipping a finger in and checking there are no sugar crystals. Add the melted dark chocolate and fold in with a rubber spatula.
3. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold to combine. Pour into the tin and tap gently on the table to release air bubbles. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven, let cool completely, then refrigerate overnight before cutting.

Chewy Brownies

• 100 g 70% dark chocolate
• 70 g unsalted butter
• 50 g rice bran oil
• 60 g all-purpose flour
• 60 g cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 120 g white sugar
• 80 g brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Melt the chocolate and butter together, let cool completely, then stir in the rice bran oil.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt and set aside.
3. Put the eggs, egg yolk, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens. Pour in the melted chocolate and stir with a rubber spatula to combine.
4. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold in. Tap the tin gently on the table to release air bubbles and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, let cool completely, then refrigerate overnight before cutting.

So what do you think? Making brownies is really easy, and there are so many types. Now you can bake them for yourself, or even make them to sell.