Brown butter. Just the aroma alone is enough to flood your home with inviting wafts of its toasted sweetness! Also known as liquid gold (and for good reason), brown butter is what sets apart this brownies recipe with nutty notes and a glorious intensity of flavour.
Truth be told, when it comes to brownies, this batch ticks all the right boxes. Fudgy yet gooey, each slice has just that right touch of chewiness, a craveable crunch from the addition of walnuts and a moist crumb (can you guess that this recipe includes dark brown sugar?).
These brownies are easy on the eyes too. Vigorously beating the eggs and sugars together at the very start is a hallmark move that adds up to a crinkled crust. I just know you’re going to ask and no: eggs are irreplaceable in this recipe, contributing not only to the exquisite tissue-thin crust, but also the fabulously-fudgy texture. If you’re looking for eggless brownies instead, do check out my other recipes for eggless crinkle top brownies and/ or eggless salted caramel brownies.
Of course, what I love most about this brown butter brownies recipe is that it’s rich but not overpoweringly-so, making for the perfect pick-me-up whenever in need of one!
Tips For Making These Brownies:
- Fancy a crinkled tissue-thin crust? Be sure to vigorously beat the eggs and sugar together at the start. Once the sugars dissolve in the eggs, they create a pale and foamy texture contributing to the tissue-thin crust that is so craveable of these brownies.
- Be sure to use a mix of brown and caster sugar. The dark brown sugar recommended in the recipe imparts a moist fudginess of these brown butter brownies. We have used Sprig’s Demerara sugar.
- Use a lighter baking pan: brownies baked in a dark/ black pan often emerge from the oven darker and drier at the bottom, while brownies bake more evenly in lighter pans.
- Don’t over-bake these brownies! Remember, the brownies will continue baking in the hot pan even once they have been removed from the oven. The fudgier you want the brownies to be, the more under-done they need to be when removed from the oven. Ideally, you need to remove the pan when the centre of the brownies is just about set to touch and the toothpick emerges dirty/ moist with fudgy crumbs attached.
Brown Butter Walnut Brownies
Ingredients
- 141 gm (½ cup + 2 tbsp) unsalted butter
- 100 gm semi-dark chocolate, chopped
- 100 gm (½ cup) dark brown sugar
- 75 gm (¼ cup + 2tbsp) caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
- 57 gm (⅓ cup + 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 50 gm (½ cup) cocoa powder
- 2.5 gm (1 tsp) instant coffee
- ½ tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Prep an 8 inch square pan (preferably a light metallic pan) with parchment paper, pressing the paper firmly against the sides of the pan and leaving a 2-inch overhang. This "parchment sling" makes it easier to remove the brownies from the pan once baked. Grease the parchment paper and set aside.
Brown the butter
- Melt the butter in a saucepan set over medium low heat, stirring the butter around the pan to ensure that it melts evenly. You will start to see it foaming and sizzling around the edges; continue cooking (swirling occasionally) until the butter develops a nutty aroma and shifts to a toasty brown colour.
- Once you can see amber-brown specks at the bottom of the pan, remove from heat and pour out the brown butter into a heat-proof mixing bowl (don't forget to scape out those browned bits too!). Quickly add in the chopped chocolate, whisking until the chocolate has melted.
Prepare the batter
- In another bowl, vigorously beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together with a hand mixer (on medium high speed) until the mixture develops a thick and fluffy (almost foamy) texture and a pale colour. This step is crucial if you want a tissue-thin crust on the top of your brownies.
- Next, beat in the melted chocolate and brown butter mixture on medium low speed.
- Sift in the dry ingredients (cocoa powder, flour, instant coffee and salt) and then beat vigorously with a hand mixer (or with at least 60 strokes of a wooden spoon/ spatula) until the brownie batter has come together with a thick and shiny consistency.
- Gently fold in the chopped walnuts and transfer the batter to a pan, smoothening out the surface.
- Bake for 17 – 20 minutes until the brownies are set but a toothpick plunged in the centre comes out slightly dirty with a few moist crumbs attached. Don't over-bake if you want a gooey texture!
- Let the brownies cool down completely on a wire rack, before removing from the pan and slicing. Store in an airtight container.
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Thanks for this amaazzzing recipe. The brown butter takes it to another level. Rich n deep. N not too sweet.. Made my Easter dinner heavenly..
Made these for Easter with dark chocolate. Must try recipe to taste the effect of brown butter. So deep n rich. Not too sweet. Beautiful crinkly top
This is one of my favourite brownie recipes too! It’s always a bit dangerous to bake it at home as between my husband and I, we make all too quick work of the entire batch! ~ Ayushi
The best recipe for fudgy brownies! Loved this so much thanks to you❤️
So thrilled that you love this recipe as much as we do! ~ Ayushi
Cant believe my luck that I found the perfect brownie recipe… so fudgy n gooey n not at all cakey!
Thanks a ton for sharing the recipe with some amazing tips!
So delighted to hear your feedback! Thanks for sharing Sarah 🙂 Do hope you’ll try some more brownie recipes from the archives soon ! ~ Ayushi
Awesome recipe
Simple and we’ll explained recipe. In fact all your recipes are simple and come out with great results.
That’s so kind, thank you!
Hi Aayushi, tried these awesome walnut brownies and they came out fantastic truly gooey, and fudgy having intense cocoa chocolate flavor , definitely recommend this recipe , a must try !!!! Thanks so much once again for creating wonders for all of us to enjoy and benefit !!👍👍👍
Thank you so much for your happy and humbling words ! So glad to hear that you love this recipe as much as we do at home too 🙂
The brownies turned out amazing. The flavour of the brown butter really came through and hit all the right notes. Absolutely loved them.
Hi , this is one of the best brownie recipe but it always give me jitters while baking it …because out of 3-4 batches …one of the batch will release extra butter while baking ..even after following the recipe to the T …I don’t know why it happens ..after giving it a thought ..I realised it could be because giving less time to the butter(while I browning it) or using brown sugar which has molasses …help me please . How much should we mix the batter after adding the dry ingredients?
Hi Khen, thank you for your kind words about this being one of the best brownie recipes ! Have you followed the ingredients and detailed steps to a T? It could be that the brown butter mixture is very hot when you are whisking in the chocolate – if it is excessively hot, it could cause the chocolate to split… in general it is not advisable to over-mix the batter once you have added in the dry ingredients , as this can create a harder texture. Hope this is helpful!