Cocoa powder, three kinds of chocolate, and a touch of creamy and sweet chickpea flour make these ultimate brownies a true fudgy decadence. A bonus? This is a simple stir-together recipe that can be mixed and baked in a flash.
1¼ cups (156 grams) Bob’s Red Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour
½ cup (60 grams) Bob’s Red Mill Chickpea Flour (see Note)
¼ cup (21 grams) Dutch process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons (6 grams) kosher salt
1 teaspoon (2 grams) espresso powder
4 large eggs (200 grams), lightly beaten
2 teaspoons (8 grams) vanilla extract
½ cup (85 grams) chopped white chocolate
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C). Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line pan with parchment paper, letting excess extend over sides of pan.
In the top of a double boiler, combine 1 cup (170 grams) dark chocolate, ¾ cup (128 grams) milk chocolate, and butter. Cook over simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Turn off heat, and whisk in sugars. Remove from heat, and let cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, sift together flours, cocoa, salt, and espresso powder. Set aside.
Add eggs and vanilla to chocolate mixture, whisking until combined. Fold in flour mixture until a few bits of flour remain. Fold in white chocolate, remaining ½ cup (85 grams) dark chocolate, and remaining ½ cup (85 grams) milk chocolate. Spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Using excess parchment as handles, remove from pan, and cut into bars. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Note: We wanted to highlight the versatility of Bob’s Red Mill Chickpea Flour in our brownie recipe, but if you would like to use only Bob’s Red Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour, use 1¾ cups (219 grams) all-purpose flour in place of the 1¼ cups (156 grams) all-purpose flour and ½ cup (60 grams) chickpea flour called for.
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A Closer Look
The Double Boiler Method
Chocolate needs delicate, indirect heat to melt properly. Here’s how to melt your chocolate using a double boiler.
THE TOOL: A double boiler is essentially two pots, one that will be exposed to the heat and hold an inch of simmering water, and a second, shallower pot that fits on top and holds the chocolate above the simmering water, heating the chocolate gently. Though you can buy a special double boiler, all you really need is a pot and a heatproof bowl that sits on top of it without touching the bottom of the pot.
THE METHOD: Place the butter and chocolate in your bowl or second pot, and place the bowl or pot over the simmering water. To prevent scorching, make sure the bowl or pot holding the butter and chocolate isn’t actually touching the hot water. Stir ingredients only once they begin to melt.
Melt, Mix, and Bake
A step-by-step guide to how and why our brownies are fudgy perfection
Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C). At too high a temperature, like 375°F (190°C), brownies can bake unevenly, with overdone edges and an underdone center. At this moderate temperature, the brownies bake steadily for a tender texture.
Spray a 13×9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line pan with parchment paper, letting excess extend over sides of pan. We line our pan with parchment so we can pick up the brownies and cut them outside of the pan, avoiding scratches. It also makes for easier cleanup.
In the top of a double boiler, combine 1 cup (170 grams) dark chocolate, 3⁄4 cup (128 grams) milk chocolate, and butter. Cook over simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. (For an in-depth look at this step, see The Double Boiler Method.)
Turn off heat, and whisk in sugars. Remove from heat, and let cool slightly. Letting the mixture cool slightly ensures the eggs don’t start cooking before reaching the oven. But don’t let it cool too much or the chocolate will begin to solidify and form chunks in your batter.
In a medium bowl, sift together flours, cocoa, salt, and espresso powder. Flour and cocoa powder will often clump up as they sit in your pantry, meaning they won’t incorporate properly into the batter. We sift the dry ingredients together to ensure that when we mix them into the wet ingredients, it’s a smooth affair.
Expert Tip: Unlike ground spices or other aromatic powders, cocoa powder has a long shelf life. So, don’t worry about buying fresh cocoa for the recipe, even if yours is a year old.
Add eggs and vanilla to chocolate mixture, whisking until combined.
Fold in flour mixture until a few bits of flour remain. Seeing a few pockets of flour in the batter means you haven’t overmixed it, which would make your brownies tough.
Fold in white chocolate, remaining 1⁄2 cup (85 grams) dark chocolate, and remaining 1⁄2 cup (85 grams) milk chocolate. To properly fold in the chocolate (again, ensuring you’re not overmixing the batter), use a silicone spatula to lift and “fold” batter over the chopped chocolate, tucking in rather than stirring in.
Expert Tip: Store your chocolate in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. Resist storing in the refrigerator or freezer, as porous chocolate absorbs flavors of other foods and the drastic temperature change affects its crystalline structure, changing the way it behaves in recipes.
Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 35 to 40 minutes. Unlike testing for doneness in cakes where you don’t want any crumbs adhering to a wooden pick, perfectly fudgy brownies will have a few moist crumbs clinging to the pick.
Let cool completely in pan. With a dense and fudgy texture, the brownies need to completely set up and cool before you can make cleanly sliced bars. Of course, if gooey, molten brownies are your preference, feel free to dig right in.
Using excess parchment as handles, remove from pan, and cut into bars. If not serving immediately, store in the refrigerator to keep the brownies fudgy. Alternatively, they can be stored, covered, at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Yes, you can use just dark chocolate for the batter. The brownies will be slightly less sweet without the milk chocolate, but it will still be a gorgeous brownie. Happy baking!
We like to spray the pan before adding our parchment paper because it helps our parchment paper adhere to the pan better, keeping it from rolling up and popping out while we add our brownie batter. However, this is only for convenience. If you’d rather just place the parchment paper in the pan without using baking spray, that will still work. We hope this helps. Happy baking!
Does anyone have a recommendation on how to make these a tiny bit less dense and a little more fluffy/cakey? They look great! I just like mine a tad more on that end.
Is it possible to reduce this recipe? The amount of brownies this recipe produces is just to much for a two person household. The other question I have: can the brownies be frozen without loss of taste?
While we haven’t tested for reducing this recipe, we highly recommend you freeze these after baking if you have excess. Due to their fudge-like texture, they’ll keep very well in the freezer for up to one month. Simply wrap tightly in plastic wrap and seal in an airtight container or ziptop bag before freezing.
Hershey’s cocoa powder is a natural cocoa powder, not a Dutch Cocoa powder like the one called for in our recipe. The Dutch cocoa powder is less acidic but with an intense chocolatey base. We highly recommend you get a brand of Dutch cocoa powder to make this recipe.
This recipe does not have a specific icing drizzle but we did feature one of our home bakers making it with a drizzle–it’s melted white chocolate! Happy baking.
[…] provides the recipe, tips and lovely videos to help. This month, February, our assignment was triple chocolate brownies. For my brownies, I substituted almonds for white chocolate and almond flour for chickpea flour. […]
How would I adjust the recipe if I don’t want any of the mix-ins? What if I wanted to add chopped nuts, either walnuts or pecans–how much and how would it affect the baking time? Also, would I change anything else if I want to leave our the espresso powder? (I know that people say you can’t taste it, but I can and don’t like it.)
In our module, we have a whole section about how to substitute mix-ins. It’s the last page (In pdf) or section of the webpage. As for the espresso powder, feel free to leave it out!
Yes they do! Just tightly wrap them in plastic wrap, and seal in airtight container or ziptop bag. They should keep for up to one month in the freezer fine.
We did not test with gluten-free flour so we can’t be a hundred percent certain, but Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten-free baking flour blend should still turn out a pretty amazing brownie and their Chickpea flour is already gluten-free!
Absolutely! The 8×8 pan would give you a brownie with similar height. Just note that due to the smaller batch size, they will likely bake up faster, so adjust baking times as needed.
Can I use only dark chocolate for the batter or it must be two different types?
Hey Cintya,
Yes, you can use just dark chocolate for the batter. The brownies will be slightly less sweet without the milk chocolate, but it will still be a gorgeous brownie. Happy baking!
Is it necessary to spray the pan before lining with parchment? I usually find that parchment alone does the trick.
Hey Colleen,
We like to spray the pan before adding our parchment paper because it helps our parchment paper adhere to the pan better, keeping it from rolling up and popping out while we add our brownie batter. However, this is only for convenience. If you’d rather just place the parchment paper in the pan without using baking spray, that will still work. We hope this helps. Happy baking!
Does anyone have a recommendation on how to make these a tiny bit less dense and a little more fluffy/cakey? They look great! I just like mine a tad more on that end.
Is it possible to reduce this recipe? The amount of brownies this recipe produces is just to much for a two person household. The other question I have: can the brownies be frozen without loss of taste?
Hey Hilla,
While we haven’t tested for reducing this recipe, we highly recommend you freeze these after baking if you have excess. Due to their fudge-like texture, they’ll keep very well in the freezer for up to one month. Simply wrap tightly in plastic wrap and seal in an airtight container or ziptop bag before freezing.
Hi, what about the Herseys coco powder? Is that a good coco or would there be a better one that can be bought?
Hey Sharon,
Hershey’s cocoa powder is a natural cocoa powder, not a Dutch Cocoa powder like the one called for in our recipe. The Dutch cocoa powder is less acidic but with an intense chocolatey base. We highly recommend you get a brand of Dutch cocoa powder to make this recipe.
Do you have the recipe for the icing/drizzle on top of the brownie?
Hey Carol,
This recipe does not have a specific icing drizzle but we did feature one of our home bakers making it with a drizzle–it’s melted white chocolate! Happy baking.
[…] provides the recipe, tips and lovely videos to help. This month, February, our assignment was triple chocolate brownies. For my brownies, I substituted almonds for white chocolate and almond flour for chickpea flour. […]
How would I adjust the recipe if I don’t want any of the mix-ins? What if I wanted to add chopped nuts, either walnuts or pecans–how much and how would it affect the baking time? Also, would I change anything else if I want to leave our the espresso powder? (I know that people say you can’t taste it, but I can and don’t like it.)
Hey Charlene,
In our module, we have a whole section about how to substitute mix-ins. It’s the last page (In pdf) or section of the webpage. As for the espresso powder, feel free to leave it out!
Made these today, and loved the flavor! Do these freeze well??
Hey Brenda,
Yes they do! Just tightly wrap them in plastic wrap, and seal in airtight container or ziptop bag. They should keep for up to one month in the freezer fine.
Oh, WOW! Fudgy chocolate lover’s dream come true. These are really wonderful!
Does this work for gluten free?
Hey Susie,
We did not test with gluten-free flour so we can’t be a hundred percent certain, but Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 Gluten-free baking flour blend should still turn out a pretty amazing brownie and their Chickpea flour is already gluten-free!
Almost a year later, but I finally got around to baking these.
Nice and fudgy! Thank you for the recipe.
Wonderful! Enjoy!
[…] February: The Ultimate Brownie […]
[…] February: The Ultimate Brownie […]
Can I halve this recipe and bake in 8×8 or 9×9 pan?
Hi Nina,
Absolutely! The 8×8 pan would give you a brownie with similar height. Just note that due to the smaller batch size, they will likely bake up faster, so adjust baking times as needed.