I realized my brownie preferences are pretty particular and most recipes tend to miss the mark, in my opinion. So to satisfy my cravings, I needed to figure out what recipe would give me the specific brownie texture and flavor I wanted. As a result, my house was tasked with the burden of eating brownies multiple times a week until I found the perfect recipe. And, I am excited to say I have finally found the best homemade fudgy brownies.

Brownies can range from cakey to chewy, but I am a fudgy and chewy brownie type! These brownies are super fudgy with a chew factor that keeps you coming back for more.

Making Homemade Fudgy Brownies

The basic ingredients of brownies are relatively straightforward: sugar, flour, fat, eggs, and chocolate. The difference comes down to the ratio and how you incorporate the ingredients.

To make these fudgy homemade brownies, each ingredient plays a role:

Chocolate:

In this recipe, using a combination of chocolate and cocoa powder helps create a fudgy and chewy texture. The higher amount of cocoa butter from using melted chocolate typically results in a more fudgy brownie. Alternatively, to get a deeper overall chocolate flavor we use cocoa powder. Most of the cocoa butter is removed from cocoa powder, which creates a more "pure" chocolate flavor.

Fat:

Many fudgy brownie recipes will call for oil because it has less water content than butter, which creates a more dense brownie. Whereas, butter has a higher water content that introduces more air in the batter, creating a more cake-like brownie. By melting the butter on low heat and omitting a chemical leavener in the batter, such as baking soda or baking powder, we don’t have to be as concerned with the aeration that butter may create, while still getting a delicious buttery flavor in each bite.

Coffee:

Have you ever had a piece of chocolate while sipping on some coffee? Doesn’t it seem that the coffee seems to make the flavor of the chocolate that much more delicious? That is because coffee helps enhance the flavor of chocolate. By using a couple of teaspoons of espresso powder, it deepens the chocolate flavor.

Sugar:

Sugar is the sweetener of your recipe, but it can also affect the texture. To get optimal chew factor in the final result, a combination of granulated and brown sugar are used. Additionally, the sugars and eggs will be thoroughly incorporated by whipping them together in order to get a delicious crinkle top for an added crunch.

Eggs:

As mentioned above, we are not using a chemical leavener, which makes the eggs the only leavener in our recipe. Whole eggs are used to help create a slightly chewy texture.

Flour:

Less flour equals a more fudgy and dense brownie. More flour equals a cakey brownie. This recipe uses cocoa powder, so minimal flour is needed to keep the dry ingredient ratio low and the finished product fudgy.

Salt:

Salt is your dessert's best friend and helps enhance the sweetness in a dessert.

Close up overhead image of fudgy brownies

How to get a Crinkle Top on Fudgy Brownies

A crinkle top gives that perfect crunch that makes biting into a deliciously fudgy brownie that much more enticing.

So what gives brownies that crinkle top?

Sugar and eggs
Incorporating air into the sugar and eggs

By incorporating air into the sugar and eggs, you are essentially creating a meringue-like texture that helps create the crinkle crust when you bake your brownies. To do this, use the whisk attachment of a stand or hand mixer to properly aerate the egg and sugar mixture. If you don’t have a stand or hand mixer, have no fear, you can also do this by hand with a whisk, it just may take a little longer. 🙂

For this recipe, the whisking time is not very long, making the crinkle top less prominent. I wanted these brownies to have a nice thin crust for texture, but not become aerated to where the top separates from the base of the brownie.

If you would like a more prominent crinkle top, then you can extend the whisking time until the sugar and egg mixture is light and fluffy.

Process image of stand mixer with sugar in bowl

Process image of stand mixer whisking sugar and eggs

Process image of stand mixer mixing sugar and eggs to a pale color

Tips for Knowing When Brownies Are Done

Are my brownies undercooked or overcooked? That is the question, especially when making gooey fudgy brownies.

I recommend to start checking whether your brownies are done 5 minutes before the recommended bake time, because every oven is different. Insert a toothpick into the center of the pan, and there should be a few moist but dull-looking crumbs on the end. It shouldn't be liquidy.

If it is liquidy, keep baking for another 5-10 minutes, depending on how liquidy the batter comes out on the toothpick.

If the crumbs on the end still look shiny then keep baking and check every 1-2 minutes until a few dull-looking crumbs come out on the end of the toothpick.