Hi Bold Bakers!
In the past I have done videos that I call Best Ever, like my Best Ever Chocolate Cake
and my Best Ever Cinnamon Rolls.
Now, I call these Best Ever because they are the best recipes that I have come across over
my career as a pastry chef.
Today I'm going to share with you my Best Ever recipe for the fudgiest, most chocolaty
brownies.
So let’s get baking.
So first off I’ve got some good news.
Now if you're like me, you've got a hectic lifestyle, you're always on the go, and you
have go-to snacks.
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Now just a few of my favorite snacks are Garlic Pistachios which have a lovely sweet and savory
flavor.
Dark Cocoa Nom Noms, which are really decadent and full of cocoa, and then I really, really
love these guys, Asiago and Cheddar Cheese Crisps.
Now, I usually take a bag of those when I go flying on a plane and they're a great snack.
Now these are just a few, they have over a hundred snacks on their website and they add
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Now here’s the great part: NatureBox have partnered with me to bring my Bold Bakers
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So you want to go to Naturebox.com/Gemma and they will deliver your snacks straight to
your door, and if by any chance you don't like a snack, they will replace it for free.
So now all of this information and the link of where you can get your snacks can be found
in the description box below this videos, and unfortunately for right now it is only
available to the United States and Canada.
[Crunches] Okay, that's snacks out of the way, let’s talk brownies.
So now our first ingredient into the bowl is melted butter.
Now I get a lot of questions about the butter I use-- do I use salted or unsalted and I
always use salted, ‘cause it gives that little bit of extra flavor to all of your
baking.
But it’s honestly up to you what you want to do.
So our next ingredient is brown sugar.
Now I love to bake with brown sugar because it gives your baking a lovely caramel rich
flavor.
If you don't have brown sugar, you can always use white, and also, I have a.
Video of how you can make your own brown sugar on BiggerBolderBaking.com along with the recipe
for these brownies.
Then I'm gonna follow that with some white sugar.
So here I have some flavorless oil, and by flavorless oil I mean any type of oil except
for something very strong like olive oil.
Now what this does to your brownies, it makes them really moist and fudgy.
So you don't wanna miss out on this, it’s like our secret ingredient.
Then I'm gonna take my whisk and just whisk it all together for around two minutes.
So now I know to call something Best Ever you really have to stand by what you say,
but I know that you're going to love these.
Now you know when you get a brownie and there's a little bit of fudgy stuff in the middle?
Well these brownies are all fudge.
There's no cake, they're all rich, gooey, fudgy, yumminess.
So I know you're gonna freak out when you see them.
Okay, that's all mixed up, now we’re gonna add in our other ingredients.
So now, into here, we're going to add in some vanilla extract.
Now you know I love baking with vanilla extract, if you don't have it you can leave it out,
but I recommend adding it in because it gives such lovely flavor.
Next we're gonna add in some salt, because you know I always say baking needs salt.
So a little bit of salt in there brings out all the flavors of the cocoa and the chocolate,
yummy.
So our next ingredient are eggs.
Now I don't want you to worry, if you don't eat eggs, you can still make these brownies.
You can replace eggs with applesauce, mashed banana, I have lots of options on my website
so make sure you check out the recipe.
Now just crack all your eggs in there, and then just whisk them in until they're well
combined.
So this is the kind of recipe that I love because you mix it all by hand, you don't
need a machine at all.
Okay lovely, everything is combined, now we’re gonna add in our last few ingredients.
Now I'm gonna place a sieve over my mixing bowl, then into this I'm going to add in some
flour, now you can use gluten-free flour if it’s all purpose, or you can even use a
whole wheat flour because sometimes I get questions about that too.
Okay, now here is the star of the show: rich, dark cocoa powder.
Now when it comes to cocoa powder, don't buy sweetened cocoa powder.
You don't want any sugar in there.
You want pure, dark, rich, yummy, bitter cocoa powder.
So, buy as best quality as you can.
And just in case you're thinking of using hot chocolate powder instead of cocoa powder,
don't do it.
I used to do that when I was young.
It's not the same thing.
Okay, great.
Everything is in there.
Now just sift in your dry ingredients.
So now you don't often see me sifting ingredients but when it comes to cocoa powder, I always
sift cocoa powder ‘cause it can end up having lumps in it and you wanna make sure they work
themselves out before they go into your mix.
Okay, lovely, everything is in there.
This is looking great.
I’ve got my spatula now and I'm going to fold these ingredients together.
Now I have said this to you many a time but I'm gonna keep on saying it, when it comes
to adding in flour, you don't want to beat in flour, you want to gently fold it into
your mix, be it a cupcake, cake, whatever it is.
If you over mix flour, it can actually make your baked good kind of tough, so just very
gently mix it in, until it’s all combined and then stop.
Ohm this looks like chocolate lava goodness.
So now our next ingredient are big chunks of dark, bittersweet chocolate.
So in you go.
Now I like to chop up my own chocolate so I get big bits and small bits all the way
throughout my brownie.
But I always recommend, use something that's a little bit darker like 72% cocoa solids,
you get a really nice balance of bitter and sweet.
Okay, and then just gently fold those guys in.
Oh man, [laughs] this is hardcore brownie.
And that's it!
Lovely!
It’s ready for our tin.
So here I have my tin lined and ready to go.
Now this is 7x11”, now if you have a little bit of a bigger tin, you can use that, don't
worry about it, you just wanna make sure you don't overcook your brownies, so they might
take less time.
And then we're just gonna go ahead and pour in all of these lovely, gooey, yummy batter.
Look at that, it’s funny how I just know by a batter that this is going to be awesome.
Now all you want to do is take your spatula, and just kind of spread it out into the corners
of your tin, make it nice and level, gorgeous.
If you have noticed already these also make really thick brownies.
So they're definitely Big and Bold, for sure.
Okay, this is looking fantastic, mmm, tastes yummy, it’s ready to be baked off.
Bake your brownies off at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or 180 degrees Celsius, for 35-40 minutes.
Now when it comes to these brownies, the key is not to over bake them, you want to have
them still nice and squishy in the middle, so don't go longer than 40 minutes.
I am so happy with out these turned out, and they smell amazing.
So now I let these rest for around two hours just so they can kind of relax and settle
into themselves.
Now I'm gonna take them out of the tin.
You know when your brownies are perfectly cooked when they're a little bit firm around
the outside but they're still soft to the touch in the middle.
Then I'm gonna cut into them so you can see all our hard work pay off.
Now I'm cutting these brownies only into eight, but you can actually cut them up to 16 pieces
because they're really rich and thick.
So everybody is gonna have enough.
Just look at that.
Now the little bit of a scary thing about this is, and a little bit exciting, I have
no idea what it looks like on the inside, until you lift it up and show it, so I'm really
hoping all of my hype and building up to this is gonna pay off, so let’s have a look.
[Laughs] Yeah, that's it.
Absolutely insane.
Look at that.
Really fudgy, moist, it’s almost black on the inside.
That's how soft it is.
And then big chunks of chocolate dotted all the way throughout, like seriously, Best Ever
Brownie.
[Gasps] Of course now I'm gonna have to try some, because that's my job.
You see, this is the kind of dessert that I am all about.
It is rich, it is dark, it’s sweet, it has a little bit of bitterness to it, and it is
so unbelievably moist.
I stand by what I said, Best Ever Brownie recipe.
I really hope you make this recipe and love it as much as I do.
Let me know in the comments below what other Best Ever recipes you'd like to see me do.
And don't forget to head over to Naturebox.com/Gemma and claim your free snacks.
I know you're going to love them.
And I’ll see you back here real soon for more Bigger Bolder Baking.