Perfect Brownies

We love this easy, no-fuss brownies recipe made with cocoa powder, eggs, and brown sugar. These homemade brownies are fudgy and gooey in the middle and chewy around the edges. We love them! Jump to the No Fuss Brownies Recipe

For years, we’ve been making our favorite recipe for fudgy brownies. It’s been our go-to, and to be honest, I never really thought that I would ever need another brownie recipe. That was until we started experimenting with this simplified brownie recipe.

The other recipe for brownies on Inspired Taste is rich, fudgy, and leans towards dark or bittersweet chocolate compared to what you’d find in most box mixes. We don’t mind this, but a few of our readers did. So, after hearing requests for brownies that are less bittersweet, thicker, and have more chewy edges, we went into the kitchen and came out with this simplified recipe.

This recipe makes fudgy, chocolaty brownies with chewy edges and crinkly tops. They are near perfect and extra easy to make.

Brownie Recipe Ingredients

The ingredients list for these brownies is not all that different from other brownie recipes, but a few key ingredients make these the best. The complete ingredient list is in the recipe below. Here is an explanation of the key ingredients.

Unsweetened cocoa powder is key to making fudgy, perfectly chocolatey brownies. We love the flavor of natural cocoa powder for this recipe since it reminds us of our childhood desserts and the flavors of boxed mixes. Dutch cocoa powder is also an option, but it will slightly change the taste and texture (I find it mellow).

Unsalted butter and oil might seem unusual, but I swear by it after using this recipe a few times. The butter adds flavor, and the oil keeps the brownies gooey and moist in the centers. Try a light and fruity olive oil for a little extra flavor if you have it on hand. Neutral oil like vegetable oil works, too, if that is all you have.

Granulated sugar and brown sugar work together in this recipe. The granulated sugar blends into the batter well, while the brown sugar keeps the middle moist and the edges chewy. Using just one or the other will change the texture of the brownies. We recommend using both in this recipe.

Baking powder is our secret for a bit of lift. We only need 1/4 teaspoon, which seems like it would be pointless, but it’s perfect.

Whole eggs provide the brownies with structure and lift in the center. In addition, one egg yolk adds extra fat, making the edges extra chewy. We use the same trick when making these chocolate chip cookies.

How We Make Brownies with the Least Amount of Dishes

From our testing, we have found that the best recipes for brownies make sure that the sugar is well blended into the fat (usually butter or oil), which makes the brownies fudgy and gooey in the middle and gives you that beautiful crackly top.

Some recipes beat butter, sugar, and eggs together until they are so well blended that the mixture looks like ribbons as it falls away from the beaters. This method takes time and requires room temperature butter. That’s fine, but we wanted a quicker solution.

So instead of beating the sugar and butter into submission, we stir the sugar into warm melted butter and oil. Then when we add the eggs, we make sure to beat them into the batter. Our quick, easy method can all happen in a saucepan! You don’t even need a mixing bowl.

Here’s our no-fuss method for making brownies:

1. Melt the butter with oil in a wide saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract until blended.
3. Stir in the cocoa powder, and then set the pan aside to cool for five minutes.
4. Add the eggs and egg yolk and stir vigorously to blend.
5. Stir in the flour mixture until you no longer see streaks of flour in the batter. Unlike our other brownies recipe, there is no need to beat the mixture.

One bonus to our method is that our cocoa powder has a chance to bloom. Blooming cocoa powder is a trick to bring out as much chocolate flavor from the cocoa as possible. It’s mixing cocoa powder with a hot liquid and letting it sit for a minute or two. This technique unleashes all of the cocoa powder’s chocolatey potential. In our case, the hot liquid is the warm butter and sugar mixture.

Our Brownie Baking Tips

We have found that the best temperature for baking these brownies is 325° Fahrenheit. At this temperature, they will take between 35 and 45 minutes. I realize this is a wide range, but ovens vary. The pan you use can also affect the bake time. Glass and ceramic dishes, for example, often require a longer bake time when compared to metal pans. We use an 8-inch by 8-inch metal baking dish from USA Pans for reference.

How do you tell when brownies are finished baking? Pull brownies out of the oven when:

• The edges look dry, and the middle looks slightly underbaked.
• A toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached.
• An internal thermometer inserted into the middle reads between 170° F and 210° F (brownies will be moist and fudgy when the temperature is closer to 170° F and cakey when closer to 210° F).

If you are not sure, it is better to pull brownies out early than to leave them in the oven to overbake.

Once your brownies are out of the oven, keep them in the pan and let them cool completely. Like when making blondies, the brownies will continue to cook as they cool, which helps the middle set properly.