Supernatural Brownies

Recipe from Nick Malgieri

Adapted by Julia Moskin

Supernatural Brownies
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
About 1 hour
Rating
5(3,643)
Comments
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This recipe is an accidental creation by Nick Malgieri, who (in a rare human moment for a pastry chef) once forgot to double the flour when baking his own fudge brownie recipe. He also adds a measure of brown sugar to the basic formula. The experts are divided as to whether the brown sugar actually contributes flavor or simply makes the brownie moister (molasses, which makes brown sugar brown, is powerfully hydrophilic). It’s my belief that the slightly bitter taste of molasses acts as an invisible enhancer to the chocolate. The result is as complex and sophisticated as any terrine or truffle I have ever produced. —Julia Moskin

Featured in: Simple Pleasure, American Style

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Ingredients

Yield:15 large or 24 small brownies
  • 2sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
  • 8ounces bittersweet chocolate
  • 1cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado
  • 1cup granulated sugar
  • 4eggs
  • ½teaspoon salt
  • 2teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1cup flour
  • ½cup chopped walnuts or ¾ cup whole walnuts, optional
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (15 servings)

343 calories; 21 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 31 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 100 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter, chocolate and sugars together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt and vanilla.

  2. Step 2

    Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. If using chopped walnuts, stir them in. Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Tip
  • For best flavor, bake 1 day before serving, let cool and store, tightly wrapped.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
3,643 user ratings
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Comments

Hopbell

Do not make this if you live alone!!

Nick Malgieri

Somehow the instructions in this recipe got mixed up. Heating the sugars with the butter and chocolate is just plain bizarre. Here's the correct version: Melt the butter and chocolate together and stir smooth; stir in the dark brown or any other brown sugar you wish. In a large bowl, whisk the white sugar and flour together; a little at a time, whisk in the eggs, vanilla, and salt. Check the chocolate mixture for lumps of brown sugar and stir (not whisk) thoroughly into the egg mixture.

Kate

I'll never need another brownie recipe.

This must be the best brownie recipe on the planet; the perfect brownie, and so quick and easy to make. As we're just a house of 2, I halved the recipe and baked in an 8x8 square. Reduced cooking time to around 20 minutes in a fan assist oven - removed when the top was shiny and starting to crack and they were perfect, gooey in the inside, perfection!

Microwaving to 'melt' the butter, chocolate & sugar - so easy and quick.

Melanie

I made it as the recipe said.And my husband loved it. This is the only baked goods recipe that he has said is moist enough.

Eve S

I have made these a dozen times. Definitely best flavor after 24 hrs. For muscovado I subbed 1TB molasses in 1c light brown sugar. Might be even better this way.

Tam

I made an error and added almond instead of vanilla extract. They were so good I’ll never go back.

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Credits

Adapted from “Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers,” by Nick Malgieri (Morrow Cookbooks, 1998)

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