Brownies Recipe
My ultimate brownies recipe – it’s never failed me yet.
Dress it up or down, add in pretty much anything that you like and I’ve included instructions to make it gluten-free and / or dairy-free if needed.
It’ll still produce some killer brownies.
I came up with the additions and changes to this brownies recipe when I needed to whip up a quick dessert for a friend who couldn’t eat wheat. Lots of testing later and this recipe was born. I’ve never looked back – and no-one could tell that it was gluten-free, winners all ’round.
I also know that a lot of mums will be looking for a dairy-free brownies recipe, so this one will hit the mark there too. It’s a pretty simple swap – just ensuring that the chocolate you’re using is dairy-free, I’ve done the rest for you.
Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil I use rapeseed, sunflower oil would work too
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 2 eggs either large or medium size will be fine
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon strong espresso or use 1 teaspoon of made up strong instant coffee or instant espresso if that's what you have use decaf if preferred - or if sharing with kids!
- 1/2 cup plain flour to make it GF just use a 1:1 ratio gluten free plain flour, I use Dove's Farm Plain Flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder Unsweetened
- 1/2 tsp sea salt I prefer Maldon sea salt for the crunch
- 25 grams chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips dairy-free if required
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (or 160*c fan)
- Grease a 20cm square baking tin with oil or butter and line with baking / parchment paper
- Mix oil and sugar with an electric whisk or stand mixer on high for at least 2 minutes- or by hand for at least 4 minutes
- Add in eggs and vanilla, whisk again until the mix is pale in colour and thickened slightly - around 3 minutes with an electric whisk or stand mixer, longer if you're doing it by hand. Stir in espresso / coffee.
- Set aside a pinch of salt for later and then sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt
- Add the flour mix to the wet ingredients, folding very gently until it's just combined - ie, when you can't see any dry flour or cocoa in the mix. Make sure not to over-mix.
- Pour the batter into the tin, tap the base on the counter to release any air bubbles and smooth the top if needed.
- Top with chocolate chunks / chips if using and sprinkle on the reserved pinch of sea salt crystals
- Bake for 18-23 minutes, the sides will have cooked a bit and risen slightly and the centre of the brownie should be just set. A toothpick will come out with some mix on it for a fudgy brownie.
- Allow to cool in the pan until they're room-temperature and then cut into 16 portions (or as many as you're willing to share)
Notes
Notes
Feel free to add in any other flavourings or ingredients to your brownies – nut butters, tahini & orange zest, pecans – there’s loads that could work well. Use this as a base recipe, experiment and see what you enjoy!
*Recipe adapted from my favourite CafeDelites fudgy brownie recipe here *
Sarah
Loved this, kept us all entertained on a rainy day and tastes amazing! It’s a keeper.