Emma’s Perfect Fudge Brownies

Emma is the brownie queen. 👑 She is often asked to make her fudge brownies at events and family get-togethers. After much begging, she graciously agreed to share her recipe here with y’all as well.

Brownies are one of our favorite treats, and we’ve tried ALL the recipes. While many of them are delicious — let’s face it, anything with chocolate is amazing — we like our brownies fudgy, chewy, and VERY chocolatey.

The Chocolate

First of all, chocolate is a crucial ingredient, and not all baking chocolate is the same. We’ve tested a lower quality bar and a more expensive, higher quality bar. The higher quality made a difference in the overall taste with very little aftertaste, which is crucial in a chewy fudge brownie, where the chocolate flavor tends to linger longer in your mouth.

The Coffee

Coffee is widely known to enhance the chocolate flavor in much the same way as salt brings out the sweetness in cookies and bars. In this recipe, the stronger the coffee, the better. You can use coffee leftover from your morning routine, or you can brew some especially for baking these brownies. If you’re not using the coffee immediately, be sure to refrigerate it if you plan on waiting longer than a couple of hours to use it, just to keep it fresh.

The Testers

We’ve tested these brownies on many, even those that aren’t big fans of fudge brownies. You know what? They love them, and the plate always comes back empty. Our main taste tester is a chocolate perfectionist, so we tested and tried and perfected what we believe to be a recipe that holds true to our brownie values. We hope you enjoy them too!

Perfect brownies

Emma’s Perfect Fudge Brownies

Fudgy and very chocolatey, these brownies use a little coffee to bring out that chocolate flavor.
Course: Dessert

Equipment

  • medium saucepan
  • measuring cups and spoons
  • Medium mixing bowl
  • small mixing bowl
  • rubber spatula
  • Whisk
  • sifter
  • 7×10 baking pan (For 9×13, double the recipe and adjust the time.)

Ingredients

  • 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate squares (usually a whole bar)
  • cup unsalted butter (take 2 sticks and split each at the 1/3 mark)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (measured using the proper measuring method for flour)*
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 Tablespoons brewed coffee (the stronger the better!)
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 cup (optional) chopped walnuts

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350° and place rack in the middle position of the oven.
    Melt baking chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan on medium-low heat and stir with a rubber spatula as both begin to melt.
    Meanwhile, whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla together in a medium mixing bowl.
    Then, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small mixing bowl.
    When chocolate mixture is thoroughly melted, turn off the heat, remove from stove, and add the coffee and mix. Then, add the sugar-eggs-vanilla mixture and whisk until combined.
    Next, add the flour-baking powder-salt mixture and whisk until combined. You can add the walnuts at this time, but this is completely optional.
    Pour the mixture into an 7×10 baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Notes

I use farm fresh eggs in my recipes.  My eggs would be considered large by most standards. 
Ghiradelli unsweetened chocolate baking bar 100% cacao was used for this recipe.

*To measure flour accurately with measuring cups, Southern Living does a great job of explaining it here.

Are you a fudge brownies fan or a fan of cake brownies? Love other sweets? Try these!

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