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This recipe isn’t called The World’s Fudgiest Homemade Brownies for no reason. With a crisp, crackly top and a gooey center that has all the right amounts of chewy, these are seriously the best brownies ever! They just melt right in your mouth. Dangerously delicious!
Fudgy Homemade Brownies
It is a hard thing to pin down the perfect brownie. Everyone has their own idea of what that entails. Probably the biggest debate is fudgy vs cakey. I’m going to be honest – I like both. These quick and easy brownies have been a very popular one and always seem to get great reviews when I make them. They are a little more on the cakey side but still are wonderfully dense and verge on fudgy. So when I decided to really go for it and get my ideal fudgy brownie (everyone needs one), I started with that recipe.
What Makes These Brownies Fudgy?
The first two big differences are the butter and chocolate. I used melted butter for these brownies because it’s totally necessary in a legit fudgy brownie. Melting the butter makes for a denser brownie. The alternative would be creaming the butter, which is going to add air to the batter and take away from the density we want. So melted butter it is.
As for the chocolate, I nixed most of the cocoa and went with melted chocolate. Again, it makes for a much fudgier brownie. Cocoa is going to make more of a cakey brownie. I did add a touch of cocoa to ramp up the chocolate factor a bit, but largely the melted chocolate is adding to both the flavor and texture in these brownies. I opted for semi sweet chocolate because that’s my preference and what I usually have handy.
How to Make These Fudgy Homemade Brownies
The butter and chocolate are melted together to start. I melted them in a metal pot set over boiling water (basically a double boiler). It melts together nice and quickly. Once it’s melted, set it aside to cool.
Next you’ll combine the sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. The brownie recipe I started with had 3 eggs and I decided to keep it that way. It was just the right number of eggs to bind everything together and keep it moist without making things too eggy.
Once the chocolate mixture has cooled a bit (you don’t want the heat from the chocolate to cook the eggs), you’ll whisk it into the egg mixture until combined. From there, fold in the dry ingredients and you’re ready for baking! Spread the batter evenly into a 9 inch square pan and bake for about 35 to 38 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with some moist crumbs. If it’s too moist, they’re probably not done. If you don’t get anything sticking to the toothpick, they are probably overdone. It’s a tricky thing to get just right, but necessary for the perfect homemade fudgy brownie.
Once the brownies are cooled, you are ready to dig in and devour. Of course if you can hold yourself back, you can frost your brownies if you so chose. I frosted half of mine and left the others unfrosted. It was hard to decide which way I liked best. I love frosting, but these brownies are really so good it isn’t even necessary. So if you’re a frosting fan, go for it. Otherwise, leave those babies naked. 🙂 Either way, you are sure to love them!
You might also like these brownie recipes:
Fudgy Cookies and Cream Brownies
Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
Reeses Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie
Quick and Easy Brownies
Nutella Fudge Brownies
Guinness Chocolate Brownies
French Silk Brownies
Homemade Fudgy Brownies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 Brownies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These are the Fudgiest Homemade Brownies with a crisp crackly top and a center that has all the right amounts of chewy and gooey! They are seriously the best brownies ever!
Ingredients
BROWNIES
- 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter
- 6 oz chopped quality semi sweet chocolate
- 1 1/4 cups (259g) sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (98g) flour
- 2 tbsp (14g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
FROSTING
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp (21g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup (115g) powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and grease a 9×9 inch baking pan, or line it with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Put the butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler (or in a metal pan set over a pot of boiling water) and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
3. Whisk together the sugar, vanilla extract and eggs until combined.
4. Whisk the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
5. Combine the dry ingredients, then fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined.
6. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan.
7. Bake brownies for 35-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs sticking to it.
8. Remove brownies and allow to cool completely.
9. If frosting the brownies, combine all the ingredients for the frosting except for the powdered sugar in a small sauce pan. Heat mixture on low until cocoa is dissolved and incorporated, then turn heat to medium to bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and immediately pour into a heat-proof glass bowl. Whisk in the powdered sugar then spread frosting evenly over the brownies and allow to cool.
10. Cut brownies into squares.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Brownie
- Calories: 340
- Sugar: 37.3 g
- Sodium: 262.9 mg
- Fat: 17.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 45.2 g
- Protein: 4.2 g
- Cholesterol: 78.4 mg
Filed Under:
Enjoy!
do we need to use the chopped chocolate
Yes, without it the brownies will turn out differently.
You weren’t lying, these were seriously delicious brownies!
These brownies have a great consistency: soft and fudgy with a shiny crispy top and great edges! Problem though, they are waaaay tooooo sweet and I love sweets. These just have too much sugar for me, but I guess that is what gives them that fabulous shiny crispy top and the great crispy almost chewy edges. So, if there is a next time, I will cut the sugar to a generous 3/4 cup crossing fingers that it will still render crispiness on the top and edges and probably also only use 2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk? They were a little cakey as described. I really want to achieve a chewy fudgy brownie as opposed to a cakey fudgy brownie. But other than the overwhelming sweetness, these are a winner. The frosting was an abysmal fail for me. My fault. I should have made a buttercream. IMHO, these do not need frosting. I found that serving with unsweetened whipped cream (naturally sweet) is beautiful. Also, sprinkled with chopped nuts. Mmmmmh! Yeah, these are that kind of brownie; the dressed up more formal type of brownie that you would get at a nice restaurant as a desert option, not the identical to boxed brownies type;)
These brownies are so easy to make and taste delicious. I made a double batch for my sons wrestling tournament hospitality room and it was a favorite.
I’m so glad you all enjoyed!
Hey! I was just wondering how long they las and if it’s best to store them in or out of the fridge?
I recommend storing out of the fridge, 4-5 days at most.
These turned out delicious! Chewy, dense and pure chocolate taste in every bite. The only issue I had was with the frosting, I followed the instructions to a tee, but the frosting came out chunky and wouldn’t spread. What can I change/add to improve that?
So glad you enjoyed them! Did your powdered sugar have some lumpiness to it? My guess is that’s where the lumps came from. I’d try sifting it next time. And if it wouldn’t spread, it sounds like it was either cooked a little long and got too thick, or too much powdered sugar thickened it up too much.
This is a fab recipe. Really easy to follow. I doubled up and made two trays to make my Son a birthday tower of scribble brownies for his birthday.
See outcome here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgE-7QJDU–/
It looks awesome! Glad you enjoyed it!
We made this during the week! It is going to now
Become my go to brownie recipe!! Just what I’ve been looking for! Thank you for sharing . So easy to make and so yummy! I melted the butter and chocolate in the microwave (too lazy to use the double boiler option) and it still quite scrumptious. And I added half a cup semi sweet chocolate chips because I th out 2tsp was two table spoon and not tea soon. ….. YUMMY … Shared with colleagues at work and they all want to try it out
Now to go hunting on your site for blondie recipe
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Hi. The frosting comes out crumbly when I make it. Directions say to add all ingredients in the saucepan except the powdered sugar, then heat til sugar is melted but there is no other sugar in the pan…
That should say cocoa, not sugar. It’s been updated. If it turns out crumby, you may be adding too much powdered sugar. Add a smaller amount and then add to it as needed to thicken it.
Looks delicious!! Can I double this recipe and put it in a 9×13″ pan?
That should be fine.
On the semi sweet chocolate what percentage do you recommend? 60% – 100%
Thanks Trish
I buy a chocolate that’s actually called semi-sweet. If you are buying a different one, I’d suggest the darkness that you prefer.
Thank you very much for including the weight measurements!
Thank you Lindsay for this recipe. I made it last week for a family get-together and they all loved it. I will be making this more often.
Awesome! 🙂 I’m so glad it was a hit!
I’ve never wanted to jump through a screen more. Seriously. I can resist a lot of desserts in life, but NEVER a fudgy brownie. They are seriously the best thing ever!
Thank you Lindsay for this recipe! I love fudgy brownies and love them more when they do NOT have chips stirred in! I hate biting into a brownie with all its’ fudgy goodness to run into a hard chocolate chip. Guess I am a brownie purest-a good brownie doesn’t really need anything added to it to make it great, but sometimes if you want to dress it up, some frosting or caramel doesn’t hurt! Can’t wait to try these!
I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
I loooove fudgy brownies! These look perfect. I used to not be a frosting-on-brownies person but I have since seen the light. So good!