I don't know about you but one of my favorite treats to enjoy with a hot cuppa, or a cold glass of milk, or for dessert has to be a brownie. A brownie is a smallish square or rectangular chocolate baked confection.
Brownies come in a variety of forms and flavors, and may be either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density, ingredients used and manner of baking.
When not topped with frosting or some other moreish confection, they will often have a glossy appearance on the upper crust. They can come filled with nuts, or chocolate chips, or even pieces of fruit. Some have a cream cheese filling.
One thing that all brownies have in common, along with their density, is that they are incredibly rich, moreish and a real favorite teatime treat for most people!
They are typically eaten by hand, often accompanied by milk. They are also delicious served warm with ice cream as a dessert, topped with whipped cream, or sprinkled with powdered sugar and fudge sauce.
I thought it would be fun today to share my favorite brownie recipes with you. I could not pick any single one recipe from any of these. Each is delicious in their own right. The hardest part of these will be in choosing which one you want to bake!
Check out my hints and tips at the bottom of the page to help you make your best brownies ever!
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE FUDGE BROWNIES
What you see here today is my regular brownie recipe amped up with the addition of three kinds of chocolate chips.
Well, semi sweet chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.
You could use butterscotch chips if you can find them and if you can't find either butterscotch or peanut butter chips, add milk chocolate chips in their place.
These delicious brownies use a brownie mix and a can of cherry pie filling. I use the Ghiradelli triple chocolate brownie mix you can get at Costco, but any brownie mix will do. You won't need the whole tin of cherry pie filling, but I am sure you will find a use for the rest.
With a flaked almond topping, these easy brownies are rich and delicious. They are a real favorite around here.
Mint and chocolate are a flavor combination made in heaven. There is a double whammy of peppermint flavour in the batter. One form comes from peppermint tea that you blitz with the sugar. The second peppermint blast comes from the use of peppermint extract. Soooo good!
They have a sweet and glistening chocolate ganache topping. This is decorated with a melted white chocolate drizzle that you run a toothpick through to give it an extra pretty finish.
This is my original brownie recipe and the brownie recipe that I had to bake for my boss at least once a week when I worked at the Manor. They are rich and fudgy. Incredibly moreish.
Easy to hold in the hand. These are everything a perfect brownie should be. This is the bar that I hold every other brownie recipe up to.
Rocky Road Brownies are a glorious amalgamation of the two things I love. Chocolate Tiffin Squares/Cake and Brownies. I like to think it is composed of the best of both worlds.
You get a dense fudgy brownie, filled with sticky sweet cherries and toasted nuts. Top that with a rich chocolate glaze and sweet mini marshmallows and you have a heavenly bar that everyone who loves brownies is sure to fall in love with!
You can use either a chocolate brownie mix for these, or your favorite from scratch brownie recipe. Baked in a cupcake wrapper (pick a pretty one) each brownie is topped with a rich chocolate ganache and a pretty chocolate.
They are a great way to use up that box of leftover chocolates from Christmas!
A brownie that is a bit lighter on the sugar and the fat, but I can promise you, if cooked properly, they are not light on the satisfaction.
Make sure you use good quality semisweet chocolate in these, not chocolate chips. The additives in chocolate chips will result in a much drier brownie. Be careful not to overbake.
Somewhere in between a chocolate brownie and a chocolate cookie bar. Still fudgy. Still delicious and each square gets topped with a chocolate jazzie.
What is a Chocolate Jazzie? Well, it's a milk chocolate button, topped with multi coloured non-pareil cake decorations. You could use anything you want really . . . just so long as you pop it on while the squares are still hot from the oven.
Because not all brownies are made totally of chocolate. These fudgy banana squares are everything a good brownie should be, except that they are made with banana instead of chocolate.
Rich, fudgy, filled with milk chocolate chips and topped with a lush brown sugar fudge frosting.
These might be called blondies but you can think of them as a tasty, moreish, fudgy gingerbread brownie. They are quite simply fabulous. The smell when these are baking is pure and utter bliss . . . decadently gorgeously divinely gingerbready.
The consistency of them when baked . . . and still warm . . . wonderfully moist and incredibly fudgy, just like you want in a good brownie.
HINTS AND TIPS FOR THE BEST BROWNIES EVER
1. Use the best chocolate and cocoa you can afford. Use semisweet or bittersweet and of the best quality. When using cocoa, scoop it with a metal measuring spoon or cup and then sift it, or whisk it gently with the flour to make sure it is lump free. I like to use a chocolate with a high cacao percentage when it comes to cooking/baking with real chocolate. At least 75 or 80%. If you can find it Dutch Process cocoa is really good.
2. Pan size and shape are very important when it comes to baking brownies. The depth of the batter can really influence their taste and texture. Shallower pans create chewy, more candy-like brownies, whilst a deeper pan/batter makes for a denser, chewy, cake-like brownie.
3. Use butter rather than margarine for a richer flavor.
4. For a more cakey type of brownie, choose a recipe which uses cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate, and which has a larger proportion of flour. For a denser more fudge like brownie, choose a recipe which uses melted chocolate and less flour. The chocolate, butter and eggs should be a large quantity than the rest of the ingredients.
5. Line your baking tin with baking parchment, leaving a bit of an overhang for lifting them out. This makes for much neater cuts as well when it comes to serving them up.
6.Brownies can be very sensitive. Even just a few minutes too long in the oven and you can kiss squidginess goodbye. Follow the baking time in the recipe exactly, and check them five minutes before the timer buzzes.
If you do overbake them, don’t worry. They will still be edible. Just slather the top with chocolate spread or ganache before cutting. Even the driest of brownies can be used in a trifle or other layered dessert.
7. Wait before cutting. If possible leave them overnight to get the neatest cuts. You can also refrigerate them for an hour or two after baking. This will give you the best result when it comes to cutting them into bars or squares.
8. Also remember that brownies tend to firm up as they cool. It is far better to err by under-baking them, than by overbaking them. An under-baked brownie can be refrigerated for a dense fudgy square that is good. It is pretty hard to redeem an overbaked one.
I hope you will be inspired today to bake at least one of these brownie recipes which I have shared with you and that if you do you think that your family truly enjoys the fruits of your labors!
On your own or a smaller family, do check out my Small Batch Fudgy Brownie Recipe, which makes only 8 chewy dense and fudgy brownies!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Every single one looks absolutely delicious!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Jeanie! Each one is delicious in its own right! xoxo
DeleteThank you Marie, loved all the brownie hints! Just a reminder, I think you are pretty special!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for saying so! I am humbled! xoxo
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