Chocolate brownie

The great American chocolate bake: dense, fudgy, crinkle-topped, bittersweet and intensely chocolatey, with crisp edges and a yielding centre

Origin: USA

From the journey of Cocoa.

The brownie is America's gift to the world of chocolate baking. Its origin is genuinely disputed: one popular account credits Bertha Palmer, president of the Chicago Women's Auxiliary, who asked the kitchen at the Palmer House hotel to create a portable chocolate dessert for ladies attending the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Another version places the first printed recipe in a Boston cookbook of 1896. By the early 20th century, the brownie had become embedded in American home baking culture (simpler than a cake, more indulgent than a cookie, deeply democratic. Milton Hershey's founding of the Hershey Chocolate Company in 1894 and his mass-production of affordable chocolate bars and cocoa powder put chocolate within reach of every American household, and the brownie was the happy result. The fudgy brownie) dark, dense, barely set at the centre: versus the cakey brownie is one of American baking's great debates. This recipe is firmly on the side of fudgy: maximum chocolate, minimum flour, and a baking time calibrated for that deeply yielding crumb that defines the American ideal.

Ingredients

batter

200 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
175 g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
300 g caster sugar (or half caster, half soft light brown sugar for deeper flavour)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
100 g plain flour
30 g Dutch-process cocoa powder
0.5 tsp fine sea salt

optional

100 g chocolate chips or roughly chopped dark chocolate: optional, for extra fudginess

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) / 350°F. Grease and line a 20×20 cm (8×8 inch) square baking tin with baking paper, leaving an overhang on two sides for easy removal.
Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over a bain-marie, stirring until smooth. Allow to cool for 5–10 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, and sugar vigorously for 3–4 minutes until the mixture is pale and noticeably increased in volume. Add the vanilla.
Pour the melted chocolate-butter mixture into the egg-sugar mixture and fold to combine.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Fold gently until just combined: stop as soon as no dry streaks remain. Fold in the chocolate chips if using.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 22–25 minutes until the edges are set and the top is shiny and has developed a paper-thin crinkle crust. The centre should still have a slight wobble.
Leave to cool completely in the tin before lifting out using the paper overhang. Cut into 16 squares with a sharp knife, wiping the blade between cuts for clean edges.

Notes

Brownies improve significantly after resting overnight as the chocolate flavour deepens and the texture becomes more fudgy. They keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 4–5 days, or can be frozen for up to 3 months. Optional additions: sea salt flakes sprinkled on top before baking, a swirl of peanut butter pressed into the batter, or a handful of toasted walnuts or pecans.

The Gastrographer

Name: Chocolate brownie
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: USA
Ingredients: 200 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces; 175 g unsalted butter, cut into cubes; 3 large eggs; 1 large egg yolk; 300 g caster sugar (or half caster, half soft light brown sugar for deeper flavour); 2 tsp pure vanilla extract; 100 g plain flour; 30 g Dutch-process cocoa powder; 0.5 tsp fine sea salt; 100 g chocolate chips or roughly chopped dark chocolate: optional, for extra fudginess

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control