These chocolate chip brownies are bomb. They are made with just a simple bag of chocolate chips- nothing fancy, and they result in the perfect fudgy/chewy brownies with a crinkle top. You’ll fall in love with this recipe!
What are chocolate chip brownies?
Quite simply, brownies made with melted chocolate chips (instead of baking chocolate or fancier chocolate) with additional chocolate chips mixed in. This is a great recipe for all brownie lovers, who want to be able to throw together a pan with basic pantry ingredients and no advanced preparation necessary.
What makes these brownies so good?
They strike that perfect balance between fudgy and chewy for me. Not so fudgy that they are basically just melted chocolate, and not so chewy that they are dry. It’s the perfect marriage.
Another thing is how easy this is. In just a few simple steps, you’ll have brownies ready for the oven.
This recipe was born out of quarantine necessity! I needed to make do with the chocolate chips I had in the fridge when a brownie craving hit and these did perfectly!
Steps in making brownies:
Start off by assembling your ingredients. I find it much easier to have everything measured out and ready before proceeding with the recipe.
Chocolate chip brownie ingredients:
Chocolate chips: Any commercial brand will work well in this. I used Hershey’s because that’s what I had on hand. Nestle will be good too, something more premium like Ghirardelli will be fabulous.
Butter: I always use unsalted, and you might find it easier to cut the stick into thirds so it melts quicker with the chocolate, but it isn’t necessary.
Cocoa Powder: You can use either natural (like Hershey’s) or Dutch Processed (the darker usually European stuff) cocoa powder, because there’s no leavening agents in this recipe so it won’t make a difference.
Flour: There’s just a trace amount of flour in these, which is what makes them so fudgy and good. I always find it easier to weight out my ingredients, but if using measuring cups, use a spoon and sprinkle flour into the measuring cup until full instead of just scooping flour out of the pack with the measuring cup. That will lead to an overpacked cup.
Salt: A pinch of salt always brings the flavor of flour out.
Eggs: Room temperature, take these out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before using.
Brown sugar: I prefer brown sugar for the more intense molasses flavor it brings, but any soft moist brown sugar will work (light brown, muscovado). The funny thing is I was basing this recipe on a few I saw around the internet, all of which called for brown sugar and white sugar, and I completely forgot to add white sugar in. This recipe basically has half the sugar you’ll find in others, and it’s PERFECTLY SWEET! I couldn’t believe it till after I tasted them. I’ll always make them this way!
Vanilla: Anything will do, I didn’t have my fancy vanilla extract on hand and used imitation vanilla flavoring.
Mixing method:
You first melt together the chocolate, butter and cocoa powder in a double boiler.
What is a double boiler and how do I make one?
It basically means a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. I’ll fill a pot of water with several inches of tap water, bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat so that the water continues to simmer without boiling over. The concept is that the bowl shouldn’t directly touch the water, but rather hover above it and get heated from the bottom.
Why use a double boiler? To melt the chocolate more gently, so that it doesn’t burn. You don’t want to burn your chocolate and start over!
What if I don’t want to use a double boiler?
Fine, don’t. Lol. You can also microwave the mix, just be careful and do it on medium power in increments. I’d go for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until just melted.
After the chocolate melts with the butter, stir until smooth and set aside to cool slightly while you proceed with the rest of your ingredients. This is so that the chocolate doesn’t start cooking the eggs or anything like that.
You just have two more steps. One is whisking together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until well combined (1-2 minutes in an electric mixer). This is referred to as ribboning- it’s when the eggs and sugar start to lighten to a pale yellow hue. You can whisk eggs and sugar by hand, but be vigorous about it and it’ll probably take double the time. The next thing is simple to stir together flour and salt.
To combine, you’ll add the melted chocolate to the egg/sugar mix and whisk until combined, then sprinkle the flour mix on top of this batter and fold in with a spatula.
One very important tip, DON’T OVERMIX. If you mix too much, you are developing the gluten in the brownies too much and they’ll be hard and tough.
Baking the brownies:
DO. NOT. OVERBAKE. That is crucial to maintaining the perfect fudgy texture of a delicious brownie- otherwise, you’re just getting mediocre cake. I start checking at 20 minutes, then check every 2 minutes from that point on. If the toothpick comes out with totally raw batter- wet goo- the brownies still need time. If it comes out with some wet crumbs attached, that’s good enough.
Tips to know if brownies are done baking:
The top will be set, and should be crinkly.
The edges might have started to pull away from the pan
A toothpick inserted near the center comes out with wet moist crumbs, but not completely thin and raw batter.
FAQs:
Can I use other forms of chocolate?
Yes, you can use chopped up chocolate bars, or even milk chocolate if you like that flavor. Don’t go for a very high percentage dark chocolate, because these don’t have a lot of sugar in them in the first place, so you need the sweetness from the chocolate.
Can I use white sugar?
I haven’t tried it but it should be fine- the texture will be different though. The brown sugar helps add to that chew.
Can I double the recipe?
Yes you can, and bake them in a 9×13 inch pan. They might need an extra 5-10 minutes of baking time, so just keep checking and refer to the tips above for determining doneness.
Can I frost these?
Go for it! Try the ganache from this chocolate cake for a real treat. Or just spread with some Nutella and call it a day.
Chocolate Chip Brownies
Ingredients
For the batter:
- heaped 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks 115 g
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder, sift if lumpy
- 1 stick butter 113g
- 1/2 cup flour 63g
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup brown sugar 105 g
- 1 tsp vanilla
To mix in:
- extra 1 cup chocolate chips 170 g
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 F (180C) and prepare an 8×8 inch pan by lightly greasing it and lining it with parchment paper. This will make for much easier removal and cutting of the brownies.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk on medium low speeed until combined, 1-2 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl if you need to. Increase the mixer to medium and slowly pour in the chocolate mixture. Continue whisking on medium until the batter is smooth, about 1 minute.
- Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan, smoothing out the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. It shouldn't be completely dry at all- the brownies will set further out of the oven.
- Cool completely in the pan, then lift out brownies with the parchment paper overhang and slice. I got 16 squares!
If you liked this recipe, you might like:
Unbelievably Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake
No Fuss Chocolate Chip Cookies
Did you make this? Tag @everylittlecrumb or hashtag #everylittlecrumb and I’ll share your images!
Looks like a winner…Can’t wait to try.
Can I use gluten-free flour, although I’m willing to take the risk with regular 🙂
I think this would be great with gluten free flour, since it’s such a small amount of flour in the first place! Do let me know if you try it