An easy, chewy chocolate brownie recipe that everybody in the house will love! My kids & I tend to make these super-easy brownies late on a Sunday afternoon so we can have a lovely warm slice as an after dinner treat, and can also add a slice to school and work lunchboxes for the week ahead.
Homemade Brownies
These homemade brownies are amazing any time of the year. My kids love to eat a tasty lemon drizzle cake by Mary Berry and learn how to make pikelets in the winter and my banana bread with self rising flour gets gobbled up anytime of year!
Hints & Tips
There are a few little hints and tips I’d like to share with you before we get into the nitty-gritty of this really easy recipe…
Firstly, when it comes time to test your brownie to see if it’s cooked, the usual skewer or knife testing method doesn’t really apply here – the skewer or knife will never come out clean because of the melted chocolate. But rest assured that if your oven was preheated and the mixture was left inside for 35 minutes, the brownie will be cooked.
From a health perspective, the reason you’re wanting to make sure the brownies are cooked thoroughly is because of the eggs (obviously you’re wanting to make yummy brownies, but that’s a ‘given’!). Having been in the preheated oven for over half an hour, the eggs will be absolutely fine.
Pet Warning!
When you have set your brownies aside to cool after baking, please be careful that your dog doesn’t help itself. (I had to learn this the hard way!) While it’s really annoying to have your dog eat your hard-earned treats, chocolate can be quite dangerous for dogs.
Look Down!
There are loads of optional add-ins and stir-ins for this chocolate brownie recipe, but I’ve added them in at the end, so keep reading after the recipe card for lots of yummy suggestions!
Chocolate Brownie Recipe
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
- ¾ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat over to 350 degrees F (approximately 180 degrees C).
- Melt the chopped chocolate and butter together, either in a double boiler or in the microwave. If you're using the microwave, please be mindful not to burn the chocolate – it happens really easily and once it's got that nasty burnt taste, you can't get rid of it.
- Once the chocolate and butter mixture has melted, remove it from the heat and stir it together with the sugar.
- Then add in all 3 eggs, as well as the vanilla extract.
- Lastly, bit by bit, stir in the flour, and finally the walnuts.
- Once all the ingredients are very well combined, pour the brownie batter into a greased 13 x 9 inch (approximately 30cm x 20cm) cake pan, and bake for 35 minutes.
- When you remove the brownie from the oven, it should be springy to the touch.
- So, now that your brownies are cooked and springy, gently tip the baking tray over onto a cooling rack. I like to cut the brownie into squares or 'fingers' while it's still warm because I find it easier, but there's no right or wrong way. Just be careful that your friends/ family don't come along and eat pieces before you've had a chance to pack it all away!!
Video
Notes
Options
As I’m sure you can imagine, the range of ‘mix-ins’ you could add to this recipe is almost unlimited, and you could easily switch out the walnuts for something else, if you’d prefer. Some yummy suggestions include:
- finely diced dried apricots or cranberries
- mini-marshmallows
- crushed cookies (eg, Oreos, Ginger Snaps, etc)
- slivered almonds, crushed peanuts, chopped pecans, sliced cashews, pieces of pistachio, hazelnut halves
- peppermint candy crush (eg, candy canes)
- coconut flakes
- chopped up pieces of your favorite candy bar (eg, M&Ms, peanut butter cups, Twix, etc)
- chocolate covered coffee beans (just be aware of the kids eating them!)
Instead of (or maybe as well as!) mix-ins, this is a great recipe for tweaking by adding toppings (after the brownie has cooled), such as:
- icing or frosting
- marshmallow whip/ fluffernutter (that delicious marshmallow & peanut butter combination!)
- caramel or salted caramel sauce (and pretzels?!)
- melted white chocolate
- raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries
- a dusting of powdered sugar
- sprinkles/ hundreds & thousands
And that, my friends, is my easy, chewy chocolate brownie recipe! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do. If you have any comments, I’d love you to drop me a line.
Until next time!
Love & chocolate brownies, Bella X
Homemade Chocolate Recipe
OMG – so good!!!!!! Tried lots but always come back to this one 🙂
Thanks very much – that’s great to hear! Bx
Thankyou for a recipe that explains everything so good and clear. Mine worked out perfect.
I’m really pleased to hear that your brownies worked out well! 🙂