James Kenji Lopez-Alt
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Fudgy Crackle-Top Brownies Recipe
🕑 Added 2025-02-12 08:31:40 +0000 UTCThis recipe is a hybrid between my friend Stella Parks’ Glossy Fudge Brownies recipe from Serious Eats (you can get her incredible book, Bravetart, here) and my friend Deb Perelman's My Favorite Brownies recipe from her blog, Smitten Kitchen.
Fudgy Crackle-Top Brownies
Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.
What I like about this recipe:
Beating the eggs and sugar together until the sugar is fully dissolved helps create a crackly top on the brownies.
A combination of chocolate and cocoa powder deliver deep chocolate flavor.
Letting the brownies rest after coming out of the oven allows them to collapse and turn nice and dense.
YIELD: Makes 30-40 two-biter brownies
ACTIVE TIME: 20 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 1/2 hours
Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
3 eggs
300 grams (about 1 1/2 cups) granulated white sugar
Big pinch of salt
10ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
110g (4 ounces) 100% (unsweetened) chocolate
225g (8 ounces; 2 sticks) unsalted butter
100g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
50g (1/2 cup) 100% cocoa powder
Directions:
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat your oven to 325°F (°C)Cut a sheet of parchment paper so that it fits the width of an 8-inch square baking pan and overhangs the edges. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray then line with the parchment, pressing it into the corners of the pan so that it lines it with no gaps. Spray the parchment with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat at medium-low speed until the mixture is pale yellow and ribbon-y, about five minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine the chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of barely-simmering water and stir with a spatula until the mixture is mostly melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until completely melted.
4. When the egg mixture is ready, add the chocolate and mix on low speed until homogenous, about 1 minute. Add flour and cocoa powder and mix until combined, about 1 minute.
5. Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Transfer to oven and bake until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
6. Let brownies cool at least 30 minutes before removing from pan and cutting into squares. Finished brownies can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days.`
Comments
Eloweasel
Did you use 00 flour or a flour with a finer grain than your bog standard all purpose by chance? I did this once and had a similar issue. From memory I think it was with a recipe that was with volume rather than weight for ingredients, so there just wasn't enough flour in the mix for the amount of wet ingredients and it just didn't set properly. Alternatively - check if your oven door has a busted seal or the temp sensor is out by 20 degrees. That also contributed to a brownie recipe that took 90mins in the oven once for me lol
Jacky Guerrero
Made these tonight and they came out super gooey even after an hour in the oven. Where could I have gone wrong?
Dann Bjornson
I made this recipe twice tonight and I don't get the same skin on top (it has a lot of small bubbles) and the texture is almost sandy. It's deliciously chocolatey but the texture is really off putting. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
