Decadent and Gooey Brownies

Aside from cookies, brownies are one of the most popular and easy desserts you can make. Everyone has a chocolate craving, and these are the perfect recipe to hit your sweet tooth perfectly.

I absolutely love chocolate, from hot cocoa to chocolate lava cakes, I can’t get enough. That being said, I know how to make the best decadent and gooey brownie you can make.

If you’re a chocolate addict like me and need something that’ll satisfy your chocolate needs, keep reading to find out the best brownie recipe and other ways to deck out the brownies.

RELATED: Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 Cup of Butter, Softened
• 1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1 1/4 Cups Sugar
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1 1/4 Cups Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Instructions

STEP 1:

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lining a 9×9 inch pan with either nonstick foil or parchment paper.

STEP 2:

In a microwave safe bowl, microwave your chocolate chips together and stir until smooth.

STEP 3:

Add your butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla and mix well.

STEP 3:

Whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder in with the wet ingredients until incorporated. Then add your microwaved chocolate.

STEP 3:

Transfer all of this to a pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes. You can cook a bit longer if you want chewier brownies.

STEP 3:

Once baked, either let cool or serve immediately with ice cream.

CHECK OUT: No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites

Customizations

Like cookies, brownies truly are a blank slate to do whatever you want. There are so many ways that you can customize your brownie recipe, but these are some of my personal favorites.

For add-ins, you can include nuts such as walnuts, pecans or even almonds for a wonderful nutty crunch. A personal favorite is to include chocolate chips, but not melted, whether that’s white chocolate or more milk chocolate morsels. I’ve seen several recipes use peanut butter chips as well. This could create some delicious brownies. Or, if you want a little pick-me-up, feel free to add in some espresso! It might even give you an excuse to eat these for breakfast.

Toppers are a whole other story with the variations and possibilities. I absolutely adore making it a la mode with some vanilla ice cream on top of a brownie that has just come out of an oven. Top that with some caramel or chocolate sauce? Delicious!

Another way to customize the brownie is by creating cheesecake brownies. This was a dessert that I’ve been creating since I was in middle school, but primarily in high school. It was my go-to recipe for friends during their birthdays and is still a favorite from my family. You can either make cheesecake base by scratch, or you can pick up a box mix and then just top the brownie base with the cheesecake or swirl it around in the batter for a perfect mixture.

Substitutions

Found out you don’t have all the ingredients or enough of them? There are some ways you can substitute items in the recipe to still satiate your sweet tooth.

If you’re dealing with no white or brown sugar, you can actually replace the sugar with one or the other. There won’t be much difference, except with the white sugar as a replacement, you won’t get much molasses flavor, which is a minor thing.

But what about flour? You can actually make this flourless, creating for an amazing fudgy-like brownie.