CLOSE
Your mini basket
We don’t know anyone who doesn’t love a chocolate brownie, especially when the brownies are delivered to your door! But sometimes you just want to have a go at making the perfect brownie at home, so we came up with our top brownie baking tips.
At Indulge Brownies, we’ve been baking brownies for over five generations, so we think we know a thing or two about baking the perfect brownie. We’ve got lots of lovely local brownie fans in Gloucestershire, but not everyone can get to our bakery. That’s why we set up our brownie delivery in Gloucester, so people can enjoy our brownies at home, wherever they live in the UK.
We get lots of requests to share our secret brownie recipe, so we’ve put together some of the top brownie tips we’ve learnt from over 50 years of baking. Now’s your time to indulge…
When it comes to brownies, you can really taste the quality. It’s important to use fresh eggs and butter, but it’s the chocolate that really matters. Choose top quality chocolate that’s at least 55% cocoa. If you’re using cocoa powder, again, make sure this is the best quality you can find.
It all depends on what brownie texture you prefer. A cakey brownie will require more cocoa powder and flour; for a fudgy brownie texture, you’ll use melted chocolate and butter and even an extra egg; to create brownies that are rich and gooey like Indulge Brownies, look for recipes that have a high ratio of melted chocolate, butter and eggs.
Make sure you have all the ingredients to hand before you start. If you are looking for inspiration on what to bake, see our brownie flavour ideas article. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees so it is at the correct temperature when you’re ready to bake. Prepare your baking tin by lightly greasing the bottom and sides. It’s also a good idea to line the base with lightly greased baking paper so you can easily lift the brownies out of the tin once they are cooked. If you don’t have baking paper to hand, check out our article on how you can use foil instead.
While they may seem unimportant, some baking techniques really make a difference to the end result and shouldn’t be skipped. Always sieve the flour and cocoa powder – this creates a much lighter batter. When folding the warm chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients, do so with a large metal spoon or a spatula and use a slow, gently scooping motion. Overmixing is a no-no if you want that light and fluffy brownie texture. For more information on what makes a brownie cakey or fudgy, read our handy guide.
You want to avoid overcooking the brownies as you will lose that gooey, light texture that you’re after. Don’t open the oven until the brownies are at least half way through their cooking time otherwise they will sink. Use a clean skewer to test the brownies about 5-10 minutes before the end of cooking – it should come out with some mixture still attached. Remember the brownies will also continue to cook in the tin once they are out of the oven.
It can be tempting once you’ve got the brownies out of the oven to whip them out and start indulging straight away – after all, a warm, just-baked brownie is one of life’s great pleasures. But you should allow them to cool in the tin for the flavours to settle before attempting to take them out and cut them. You can even pop them in the fridge for an hour to speed up the process.
Don’t open the oven until the brownies are at least half way through their cooking time otherwise they will sink.
A classic brownie, like Indulge Brownies Keep it Classic brownie, only needs a handful of ingredients. But you can also have some fun with your brownie flavours and toppings as we mention in our unusual brownie flavours article.
At Indulge, we’ve used honeycomb (Bees Knees Honeycomb Crunch), nuts (Pistachio-Oh-Oh-Oh), fruit (Black Forest Blast) and more to keep things exciting. We also add milk and white chocolate chips to all our brownie mixes.
You could go totally off-piste and try adding coffee to bring out the dark chocolate notes, or even a hint of chilli to add some spice.
One of the things we love to do at Indulge Brownies is to add a secret layer to the middle of our brownies.
The Biscoff Big One is not only topped with crushed Biscoff biscuits, it has a hidden layer of Biscoff spread running through it! Our What a Nutter brownie has a gooey band of smooth peanut butter running through the middle and is topped with crunchy peanut butter spread and whole peanuts.
To add a hidden brownie layer, pour half the brownie batter into your tin, add your chosen ingredient (peanut butter, chocolate spread, raspberry jam, for example) then top with the remaining batter.
We’d love to know how you get on with your home-baked brownies. Drop us a picture via social media to share your creations.
And if things don’t go quite to plan, or you just run out of time or enthusiasm, don’t forget we offer a letterbox brownie delivery service.
Our brownie delivery boxes are specially designed to fit through your letterbox so you don’t even need to be in to receive them.
After all, what’s better than making chocolate brownies at home? Getting brownies delivered to your door!
It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, especially when it comes to discussing Christmas brownie ideas! Brownies are everyone’s favourite treat, which means in holiday season…
Read ArticleBrownies, those delectable squares of chocolaty goodness, have been a beloved dessert for generations. Yet, one of the most debated topics in the world of baking is the…
Read Article
