Brown butter brownies with rich, nutty brown butter, deep chocolate flavor, and a melt-in-your-mouth texture? Yes, please!!
This recipe is inspired by my viral espresso brownies, except this version puts all the focus on the brown butter. I use a touch of dry milk powder for extra toasty flavor, plus dark chocolate and Dutch cocoa powder for a rich chocolate flavor that isn’t bitter and doesn’t overpower the brown butter.
And no, this isn’t how I made them in the bakery. Not a single bakery I worked in made brownies with brown butter!
Crazy, I know, but bakery brownies are built for speed and consistency. Think quick brownie flavors, like Oreo cookie brownies or marble brownies. So when browning pounds of butter is involved, bakeries typically skip this step.
But at home, you’re only browning ONE pound of butter, it takes just 10 minutes, and you’ll still have them out of the oven in under an hour.
How to Make Brown Butter Brownies
1
You’ll want to do this in a stainless-steel pan (or a light-colored one) so you can see the butter, milk solids, and milk powder turn a rich, amber-brown.
2
Stir in the chopped chocolate (I love using Lindt 70% cocoa bar in this recipe) and the cocoa powder into the browned butter until smooth.
3
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. The goal here is to dissolve the sugar into the eggs; it’s what gives them that paper-thin, shiny, crackly crust.
4
Slowly stream the brown butter/melted chocolate mixture into the eggs, whisking until combined.
5
Fold in the flour mixture and extra chocolate chips, and spread the brownie batter into a prepared 8×8 baking pan. You can sprinkle more chocolate chips on top.
6
Bake the brownies! If you love a sweet-and-salty flavor, sprinkle the tops of the brownies with flaky sea salt after baking.
If this is your first brown butter experience… I’m sorry in advance 😂.
Between these brownies, brown butter cinnamon rolls, no-bake brown butter rice krispies… the list goes on. You’re going to be as obsessed as I am!
— Enjoy! Cambrea 🫶🏻
If you tried this or any other recipe on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments; I love hearing from you! Also, please leave a star rating while you’re there! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!
Brown Butter Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, *See notes below for measuring*
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, European butter, like Kerrygold, is preferred
- 3 tablespoons dry milk powder, I used Carnation
- 3.5 ounces dark chocolate 70% cocoa bar, roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1/2 cup semi-chocolate chips, discs, or wafers, plus more for the top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F(180°C) and line a square 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper to cover all four sides. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, flour, and salt. Set aside.1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (66 g) all-purpose flour, 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- In a stainless steel pan, cook the butter over medium heat until it melts. Once melted, whisk in the dry milk powder. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the butter has amber brown bits of milk solids and it smells nutty. Scrape all of the brown butter (don’t leave any brown bits behind!) into a separate heat safe bowl and whisk in the chopped chocolate and cocoa powder. Set aside.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons (15 g) dry milk powder, 3.5 ounces dark chocolate 70% cocoa bar, 4 tablespoons (22 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- In a large bowl, hand whisk the sugar, eggs, and vanilla until the sugar dissolves (it won’t feel gritty when rubbed between your fingers).3 (155 g) large eggs, 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
- Stream the melted brown butter/chocolate mixture into the eggs, whisking to emulsify.
- Then, fold in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips (if using) until just combined.1/2 cup (80 g) semi-chocolate chips
- Immediately pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 28-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out covered in a few moist crumbs.
- After baking, let the pan cool on a wire rack for 1-2 hours. Then, lift the parchment paper up to remove the brownies from the pan. Cut with a sharp knife, wiping it clean between cuts, and enjoy!
These are stunning beautiful just everything a brownie should be. I was wondering though if you could down the line come up with a cakey/chewy brown butter brownie that is not fudgy at all (even if refrigerated) brownie that fits in a 9×9 pan and takes around 50 minutes to bake. The reason I ask is I recently made another bakers brownie recipe for raspberry cheesecake swirl brownies. They had a cheesecake swirl with powdered freeze dried raspberries (I added 10g) and 2 tbsp amoretti natural flavoring (the fruit puree based flavoring not extract) and raspberry jam swirls. They were amazing but the actual brownie part was to dense once refrigerated almost like a block of fudge. I tried adding raspberry extract to the brownie base too and it just didn’t taste at all like raspberry while the swirl of raspberry cheesecake was amazing. It was in a 9×9 pan and took 58 minutes to bake (much longer than the bloggers estimate of 35 minutes) so I went for a hunt online for a chewy cakey brownie and when I kid you not every single brownie claiming to be chewy was actually fudgy..I checked over 40 recipes. Not a single one was chewy even in the middle. So I switched to searching for cakey and found some okay basic ones. But I want a cakey middle chewy edge with brown butter and raspberry notes and a raspberry cheesecake and jam swirl. I know if anyone can do it, it’s you. That’s why I’m asking. Also it shouldn’t be thin should be a good thickness. I love all brownies though and I gotta say this recipe you posted here is amazing and I’ll be keeping it forever.
What can I use instead of the milk powder?
There isn’t a substitute for it, you can just leave it out.
I see your recipe is special with the black butter.
Bravo!
These may be the best brownies i’ve ever made! So delicious!
Usually butter is one stick (½ cup), but this recipe shows 1 cup—is that right? Can I reduce to ½ cup?
No, reducing the butter will result in very dry brownies!