You won't miss boxed brownies with these delicious, fudgy brownies... with the crinkle top!
When I started cooking solely from scratch, one thing kept me very frustrated, for a long time. Homemade brownies never tasted as good as the boxed brownies. They were missing a certain taste, and that shiny, tissue thin flaky top. Until now 🙂
Dutched cocoa powder
The missing something flavor-wise is in the cocoa. Cocoa powders can be processed several different ways, and the result yields widely varying tastes. In the homemade brownies (or chocolate cakes for that matter) we can get that taste using Dutch processed cocoa.
Dutch processed, or double Dutch processed, or even Dutched black cocoa, (the latter being the kind used in things like Oreos) is a completely different tasting cocoa powder.
The difference has to do with the processing of the cocoa, and the resulting alkalinity. It’s actually kind of interesting. Basically, these Dutch cocoas lack the acidity of your basic Hershey's cocoas and other regular cocoas. This results in a smoother, more mellow taste like in boxed brownies.
How to get a flaky top on brownies
Another major woe of switching from boxed to homemade brownies is the frequently lacking shiny, crinkly tops. This is not something we have to live with! Whisking the eggs and sugar together in the beginning until it lightens up, before adding the rest of the ingredients will guarantee that tissue paper top.
- You must beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture lightens up in color.
Then you can begin folding the rest of the ingredients in. This is a thick, spreadable batter.
Because of this, these are very dense, chewy, fudgy brownies.
Also try:
Crinkle Top Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup cocoa powder dutch process
- 1 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup optional semi sweet chocolate chips or coarse chopped chocolate of choice (optional )
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9 inch square baking pan, or line with parchment paper.
- Mix or whisk sugar, egg and vanilla for up to 10 minutes until lightened in color.
- Gently fold in remaining ingredients, just until mixed.
- Spread into a 9x9 inch baking pan.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes until edges are set. The center should feel soft but will set as they cool.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes at room temperature before cutting.
Notes
- Pull the brownies out of the oven when the edges are set, and the middle is still gooey-they'll set as they cool.
- Be sure to beat the eggs and sugar until the eggs are pale yellow in color to create a flaky crinkle top brownie.
- Fold the ingredients together only until things are just combined and no further.
- If using a 9x9 inch square pan, you'll likely need to reduce cooking time by 4-6 minutes.
- If using a 13x9 inch rectangular pan, reduce cooking time by 5-7 minutes.
Wendy
Made this recipe *exactly* as written and the end result, while delicious, isn't really brownies; it's more like gooey, chewy candy. Very sticky, like toffee, at the edges of the pan and more gooey in the middle, even after extra time in the oven. It doesn't firm up even after cooling. It's great with ice cream, but for a real fudgy brownie square, you need a higher egg to sugar/cocoa ratio (for this recipe, at least 2 eggs) and maybe even a bit more flour. As for the crinkle top, that showed up a little only in the gooey center, not at all at the edges. For that amount of work, you're more likely to get a pan of brownies with perfect crinkle tops and fudgy middles by creaming softened butter and sugar and beating the egg whites. Keep the generous 1/2 cup of Dutch cocoa for lovely flavor and fudginess.
Big Chef Rich BoiArdee
I'm reading this comment as I'm putting the bownies into the oven 🤦♂️
I thought it was weird it was just 1 egg and no butter.
Vicky
Are we usingbonly 1 egg here?
Erin
Yep, makes for a fudgier brownie, but you can use two if you prefer them more cake like!
Big Chef Rich BoiArdee
I don't know why this has gotten such negative reviews, I made this recipe almost exactly as instructed, (I did also add a cup of reeses peanut butter chips) and while I haven't tried them yet (though with these ingredients I'm not too worried about the taste) and coming out the oven they look gorgeous ( I used a 11x13 and cooked for 20 minutes at 350) Very flaky top, just like you said, and as long as I let them sit for the 30 minutes I'm sure they'll finish setting right. Edges look perfect though so I'm optimistic for sure.
Big Chef Rich BoiArdee
Oh man, hands down some of the best brownies I've ever made. Thank you for the recipe it's superb
Vicki
What temperature should the oven be? The directions say 3 degrees....obviously an error. I'm wanting to make them now, so will set the temp at 350 degreee. Also....I'm not going to mix the first three ingredients by hand for ten minutes...it doesn't matter to me if the top of the brownies is shiny and crackly, I just want them to taste good! To tell the truth. I've never thought box brownie mix tasted as good as homemade.
Erin
Vicky, that's 350 degrees, thank you 🙂
Amanda Lewis
Instructions for a 9x9 pan say "Bake for 20-28 minutes until edges are set. Center should feel soft but will set as they cool"
Further down they say"If using a 9x9 inch square pan, you'll likely need to reduce cooking time by 4-6 minutes. " What should cooking time be?