Fudgy Brownies with Cocoa Powder
One-bowl fudgy brownies made with cocoa powder instead of chocolate bars, with a shiny crackly top and a dense, gooey middle.
11% of it needs you at the counter
- Hands-on
- 10 min
- Cooking
- 25 min
- Resting
- 1 hr
- Serves
- 16
- Calories
- 185
- Protein
- 2 g
- Per serving
- $0.37
Why this recipe works
Cocoa powder brownies are the ones you can make any night, because there's no chocolate bar to buy or melt. With only half a cup of flour they bake up dense and fudgy, and they come together in one bowl in about 10 minutes.
- A high ratio of butter and sugar to flour is what makes brownies fudgy rather than cakey.
- Whisking the eggs hard into the warm butter and sugar dissolves the sugar, which forms the thin, shiny, crackly top.
- Blooming the cocoa in hot melted butter brings out a deeper chocolate flavor than stirring it in dry.
Ingredients
You will need
- 8x8-inch metal baking pan
- Parchment paper
- Medium saucepan or microwave-safe bowl
- Whisk
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done.
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 350°F. Line the pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides to lift the brownies out.
Melt and bloom
Melt the butter until hot and bubbling. Off the heat, whisk in the sugar, cocoa and salt until it looks like thick, grainy fudge. Let it cool for 5 minutes so it's warm, not hot.
Beat in the eggs
Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk hard for a full minute, until the batter turns glossy and pulls away from the bowl.
Fold in the flour
Fold in the flour and chips with a spatula just until no flour shows. Spread the thick batter into the pan.
Bake
Bake until the top is shiny and set and a toothpick in the center comes out with moist, sticky crumbs, 22 to 27 minutes. Wet batter means it needs a few more minutes; a clean toothpick means it's overbaked.
Cool before cutting
Cool completely in the pan, at least 1 hour, then lift out and cut into 16 squares with a sharp knife wiped clean between cuts.
Cook's notes
- Use a metal pan. Glass heats more slowly, so the edges overbake before the center sets.
- Cutting warm brownies gives a gummy mess. For the neatest squares, chill them for 30 minutes before slicing.
- Natural and Dutch-process cocoa both work here because the recipe has no baking soda or powder. Dutch-process gives a darker, mellower brownie.
Nutrition per serving
185 calories
$0.37 estimated cost per serving
Where the calories come from
| Protein | 4% of calories | 2 g |
|---|---|---|
| Carbs | 49% of calories | 24 g |
| Fat | 46% of calories | 10 g |
| Fiber | 2 g | |
| Sodium | 100 mg |
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for the listed ingredients and amounts; not lab-tested. Cost estimated from average US retail prices.
Questions people ask
What makes brownies fudgy instead of cakey?
More fat and sugar, less flour and no leavening. Cakey brownies use more flour plus baking powder; fudgy ones use just enough flour to hold together.
How do you get a crackly top on brownies?
Dissolve the sugar by whisking the eggs vigorously into the warm butter and sugar until the batter is glossy. The dissolved sugar rises to the top and bakes into a thin, shiny crust.
How do you know when fudgy brownies are done?
The top looks set and shiny and a toothpick in the center comes out with moist crumbs, not wet batter. They keep setting as they cool.
