I kinda wish I was kidding when I say that I tested these brownies 4 times before I was happy with them. But alas, I am not kidding. And I did in fact make these brownies 4 times before I was truly happy with them. To be honest, it was frustrating and annoying. But, I had my mind set on some brownies with that signature crinkly top, and I damnit I was stopping at nothing short of that.

The first day that I made these, I tried them three separate times. Writing down what I liked and disliked about each one… the taste, the texture, the way they looked. And slowly but surely with my own critiquing, a few youtube videos, and a solid 7 hours of sleep, I made them the next morning. And… wellllll… magic was made.

They were well worth the wait, and the frustration. I finally got my crinkly tops and the fudgy center that I dreamed about. Not to mention, I got those things without the seemingly raw or dense gooeyness that you get with some brownies. Not to say those textures are bad, but they aren’t my taste.

So with no time to spare… the brownie recipe! Please note — a hand mixer is essential here in order to get these beloved crackly tops. 🙂

Should I use milk or dark chocolate?

Whichever you like more! Or heck, you can even go for a mix of the two. I love rich brownies so I go for a semi-sweet chocolate, but if dark isn’t your forte, go for milk chocolate! My boyfriend prefers sweeter, milkier brownies so he likes these with milk chocolate. Either choice works.

Can I make these without beating the eggs?

I guess technically you could… but they would not turn out as intended! The beating of the eggs is ESSENTIAL for the signature delicious crackly tops. The fluffier that you beat the eggs, the more of a crackly top you’ll get. When you whip the air into the eggs and then bake the brownies, the air escapes out of the top of the batter and eventually creates the tops — magic! (aka science)

How to add the dry ingredients into the batter

Sift them in! This is typically recommended for most batters that call for flour and/or cocoa powder, but especially when cocoa powder is involved. Cocoa is one ingredient that tends to clump up over time, and to make sure you are left with a smooth brownie batter, make sure to sift the dry ingredients (flour and cooca powder) into the batter.

Hot tip for mixing the batter

So… mixing the batter is a step that contains a very minor but important point. That point is folding instead of vigorously mixing. Folding the dry ingredients into the wet batter will help retain the air that was whisked in from the electric beaters and ensure the crackly tops arise!

Fudgy Crinkle Top Brownies

3 from 4 votes

Recipe by Lindsey Goldschmidt Difficulty: Easy

Servings

pan

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Chocolate (dark chocolate or milk chocolate both will work!)
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit & line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper.
In a small pot over low heat, melt butter until it begins to bubble slightly, and remove the pot of butter from the heat. Then, immediately pour the hot butter over your 1 cup of chocolate in a heat safe bowl. The hot melted butter will melt the chocolate.
Lightly stir the melted chocolate & butter until they are fully combined. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. This is important as we’ll be adding it to a bowl with eggs and don’t want to butter to cook the eggs! Yikes.
In a separate bowl, beat 3 eggs with an electric hand mixer, gradually streaming in the granulated sugar. Continue beating eggs & sugar until bubbly & fluffy – about 45 seconds – you need this in order to get the signature crackly top.
Once your mixture of eggs & sugar is fluffy, gradually add to it the cooled mixture of butter & chocolate, and vanilla. Continue beating everything together for another 30 seconds.
To your wet mixture, sift in flour & cocoa powder and then fold in delicately. It’s important to fold in slowly & carefully here so that you retain the air that we mixed into the batter with the hand mixer.
Once the dry ingredients are fully folded into the wet mixture, add the batter to the parchment lined pan and bake for 22 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let the brownies cool & then slice into those fudgy, crackly brownies!

If you made this recipe, I’d love to see it! Let me know in the comments and tag me on IG at @simply_unbeetable 🙂