This easy One Bowl Brownie is chewy, fudgy and deeply chocolatey. It has that perfect flaked top and chewy interior. It is truly epic AND made in one bowl.
There are easily won battles in my professional and blogging life, but this one bowl brownie recipe was not one of them. Sometimes it is the simplest recipes that are the most challenging to develop.
Some of that could have something to do with me being a perfectionist. Maybe.
I had to order cocoa powder three separate times in the testing of this fabulous one bowl brownie recipe. There were tests that were too buttery, too cakey, not chocolatey enough, or not easy enough. Plus, there was the added challenge that I wanted them to be made in one bowl.
I blame the recent obsession with one bowl desserts on my One Bowl Chocolate Cake. I just can’t stop. Either I am making an obnoxiously ornate bundt cake or I am making something in one bowl. I will not apologize. And this one bowl brownie recipe should not be apologized for.
What Gives this One Bowl Brownie recipe the perfect flaky top?:
The perfect flakey top is a combination of three things:
- Melted, hot butter. You have to hydrate the sugar. The water content in butter with hydrate the sugar and it will do it better and faster if it is hot. That is why I mix the butter with the sugar before the eggs, which is a sharp deviation from my usual liquid fat mixing method. Also key is the ratio of sugar to butter for this one bowl brownie glory. There is a lot of both but really an epic amount of sugar.
- Whisk those eggs: you are almost using the eggs as leavening. This would be easier to achieve if you add the eggs to the butter first, but hydrating the sugar is more important. This is also easier to achieve if you pre-whisk your eggs, but this requires a second bowl and, thus, is a nice to have but not necessary. I didn’t do it while making these brownies but I will in the future because what is one more bowl in the name of a flakey brownie top, anyways?! This is why it is easier to get that flakey top with a whole egg foam method {link to peppermint brownies}
- Cornstarch: this is the crowning glory of the trio. Cornstarch not only gives these brownies the magical chewy, fudgy texture of boxed brownies but will also help you achieve that top flakey crust.
One Bowl Brownie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter (Melted )
- 2 ¼ cups Sugar
- 4 Eggs (preferably pre-whisked)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon Coffee Extract
- 2 tablespoons Cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (not convection).
- Melt butter in a large heat proof bowl in the microwave or over a pot of simmering water.
- Whisk sugar into melted and hot butter until smooth.
- Whisk in eggs and salt, beating very well.
- Whisk in extracts.
- Whisk cornstarch, baking powder, flour, cocoa powder and salt into batter. I whisk these together in a second bowl first because I am who I am and we accept this!
- Bake in preheated oven 18-22 minutes or until it puffs and jiggles like Jell-O when gently shaken.
- Cool and then slice it up!
Video Instructions
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