Many people are intimidated by the thought of baking brownies from scratch, but they are actually really easy to make. This step-by-step tutorial will guide you through the process so you can approach baking your own homemade brownies with confidence.
To illustrate this guide, I will use my Chocolate Cocoa Brownies recipe. It is one of my all-time favorite brownie recipes and produces a thick, moist brownie with lots of deep chocolate flavor. I have broken the directions down into individual steps so you can see what happens at each stage of the mixing process.
I like to use an electric stand mixer for most of my baking, but you can certainly use a hand-held electric mixer to make these brownies. You can also whisk the ingredients together by hand, if you prefer.
Step 1. Gather all of the ingredients called for in the recipe and then measure out the accurate amount for each ingredient.
Step 2. Position the oven rack in the middle of oven. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Step 3. Line a 13-by 9-inch metal baking pan with foil, then grease with nonstick cooking spray. You can also use unsalted butter to grease the pan, if you prefer. Or, use nonstick foil to line the pan.
Step 4. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients – all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
Step 5. Whisk the dry ingredients together until they are well combined. Be sure to get all the way to the bottom of the bowl so there are no remaining white streaks of unblended flour. Set this mixture aside for the moment.
Step 6. Place the eggs in a large bowl. All of my recipes are formulated to use large eggs, the standard size used in baking.
Step 7. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, lightly beat the eggs. You can also whisk the eggs and batter by hand.
Step 8. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the beaten eggs.
Step 9. Beat on medium speed until the egg and sugar mixture is well blended, about 2 minutes. The beaten mixture will look like this.
Step 10. Gradually stir in the vegetable oil and beat until well combined. Stir in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure there are no unblended ingredients hiding from you. This is what it looks like after the oil and vanilla are blended into the mixture.
Step 11. On low speed, gradually stir in the flour mixture, beating after each addition just until blended. I like to add the flour in three equal portions.
Step 12. This is what the mixture looks like after the first portion of the flour mixture has been beaten in and the second portion of the flour mixture has been added to the bowl.
Step 13. After all of the flour mixture has been blended into the mixture, the finished batter will look like this.
Step 14. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Step 15. Bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Place the pan on a wire rack and cool completely.
Step 16. After the brownies have cooled, unfold the foil extensions and use them to carefully lift the cooled brownies from pan and place on a cutting board. Fold down the foil and cut the brownies into the desired size.
Here is a plate of finished brownies ready to enjoy. These go really well with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot just-brewed coffee and will satisfy a chocolate craving any time of the day.
See, that wasn’t difficult. Now, go have fun baking some brownies yourself and impress your family with the special taste-treat that can only be found in rich, chocolaty, moist, homemade brownies fresh from your own kitchen.
Copyright © Linda J. Amendt 2011
