Amazing Brown Butter Brownies

I made these again this weekend and they turned out so good I thought I should give this recipe a bump and a new picture. I didn’t change anything with the recipe and they turned out better than ever. So read on and enjoy!

(Originally posted March 11th, 2011)

It’s friday, the weekend is here. I got a lovely dozen white roses yesterday from my husband to cheer me up after the past quite stressful and emotional two weeks. It worked, they look amazing. So, to do something equally nice I decided to make him brownies. I know they are his favorite and bring back memories of the very first thing I ever made for him. When we first moved in together 9 years ago, he was working nights, and I knew when he got home in the early morning he would go to his computer to play a few turns on a game and stay up for a few hours. To surprise him I made a batch of brownies and left them on his desk. Of course, they were received with much delight. Until that day I had never made brownies from scratch – they were always from a box. Since that day I refuse to make brownies from a box again.

I have never made brownies using this technique but I am sure they will be received with just as much joy and welcome as the first time I made him brownies. Browning the butter adds a nutty toffee element to the brownies, and adding in the espresso powder just enhances the chocolate flavor. The crunchy top, and fudge like center make this by far the best damn brownie I have had in my life, and that is not an exaggeration. My suggestion, make them when you will not be alone with them for hours. This recipe does require quite a bit of arm strength and at a few points things might not look right but trust me, in the end the work for these is worth it! Chocoholics beware.. this will take a lot of will power to resist consuming the entire pan.

Brown Butter Brownies

• 10 tbsp Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
• 1 1/4 c Sugar
• 3/4 c Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp Espresso Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Water
• 1 tsp Vanilla Paste or Vanilla Extract
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 c + 1 tbsp Unbleached Flour
• 1 c Walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Using a Flour Baking spray, lightly spray a 8x8x2 Square Pan. Set aside.  In a small bowl combine, sugar, cocoa, salt, espresso powder and whisk to combine and set aside. In a small cup or bowl combine the eggs, water, and vanilla.  Whisk together to combine and set egg mixture aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt the butter.  When it starts to foam, stir it slowly for 2-4 min until you see the little brown bits of butter forming in the bottom of the pan.  Remove pan from heat.

Add in the cocoa and sugar mixture and stir till combined, it will look and appear gritty, this is ok. Let mixture cool for 5 min.

After you have let the mixture cool for the 5 min add in half of the egg mixture. Quickly mixing until well combined.   Add in the remaining egg mixture and stir till well combined, it will get thick and may look a bit smoother now.

Once the egg mixture is well combined add in the flour.  Stir vigorously stir for 20 strokes, scraping down the sides of the pan after the 20 strokes to combine into the rest of the batter.  The mixture will be thick and slowly become smoother.  Stir vigorously stir for another 20 strokes, scraping down the sides of the pan afterward to combine into the rest of the batter.  Your mixture should now become glossy and smooth. Stir vigorously for another 20 strokes (totaling 60), again scraping down the sides of the pan afterward like you have been doing.  Do not mix any more than this.  At this point you can stir in the nuts in no more than 5 strokes, or just turn the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 min until a toothpick inserted into center comes out nearly clean.  It should still have some crumbs and look slightly like fudge,  but it should not look runny like batter.  If you see batter cook for 3 more min and test again.

Cool completely before cutting/serving. Due to soft fudge nature of the cake it must cool completely, about 2-3 hours.

Adapted: Bon Appetit