Candy Cane Brownie Blossom Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to pimp brownies? ›

Add a teaspoon of instant coffee or espresso powder. Throw in a handful of nuts—pecans, walnuts, macadamia, whatever you have on hand. Scoop in a palmful of dried or frozen fruit. Add an extra splash of the top-shelf vanilla extract, or a dab of vanilla paste, or a dash of vanilla powder, to the batter.

Brownie batter fluctuates wildly in temperature during the making process, and it can often lead to the mixture splitting, which makes for a greasy, grainy bake. How to fix it: Vigorously beat in a teaspoonful of alcohol-based vanilla extract, or a couple of teaspoons of milk until everything smooths out.

When you whisk the eggs in a separate bowl before adding them to the batter, you are essentially adding air to the eggs. That air is what makes the top of your brownies crinkle, creating a crispy texture, with cracks of gooey, moist chocolate peeking through.

Some of our team's favorite ways to spruce up brownie batter involve using flavor enhancers like malted milk powder, browned butter, and high-quality vanilla (either extract or from the bean).

Add nuts – Add a handful of finely chopped pecans or walnuts if you love brownies with nuts. Add mix ins – Jazz up a basic brownie mix with chopped mini peanut butter cups, white chocolate chunks, or your favorite chopped up candy bar. Add a swirl – Swirl in spoonfuls of peanut butter or Nutella before baking.

If you opt to add more eggs, say double the amount, something interesting happens. Even though you are adding more moisture, the air bubbles that you catch in the extra eggs add volume, which decreases the density of your final product. This makes your brownies rise and gives them a much more cake-like texture.

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Martina says, “Late in the mixing stage, eggs will incorporate better if you lightly beat them before adding to the batter. The finished cake may be slightly shorter than expected, but its flavor and tenderness shouldn't be affected.” For egg-leavened cakes, the eggs are crucial.

Achieving a fudgy brownie is all to do with the ratio of fat to flour. A fudgy brownie recipe will use more fat than flour. Generally this is achieved by adding more butter or real chocolate to your brownie recipe. A cakey brownie recipe on the other hand will call for more flour in the ratio of fat to flour.

Mistake #1: Too Much Flour

Of our four main recipes, cakey brownies clock in with the largest amount of flour, at 1¼ cups. That's not a lot. For context, most chocolate sheet cakes call for at least 2 cups. If you add too much flour, your brownies will likely come out too dry and taste stale.

Why do my brownies taste eggy? ›

Not using large eggs.

Small eggs are rich in taste – to avoid imparting that strong flavour in your cake, swap them out for large eggs (although most recipes will specify large eggs). Not cooking your cake at the right temp or time; cooking your cake for a longer bake time than needed could make your cake taste eggy.

If the recipe you're using gives instructions for a specific cooling method, follow it and wait for your brownies to cool completely. If there aren't specific instructions, leave the brownies in the pan, put the pan on a rack and let them cool completely (which means a 2 to 3 hour wait).

Decorate with sprinkles, cocoa nibs, pop rocks, and fancy salt.

If you want to get a little more creative with your brownie mix hacks, add an extra egg to the batter. The extra protein will help thicken up the batter and make it fluffier, creating a more decadent, fudgy texture. You can also add the yolk by itself in addition to the 2 eggs a box brownie mix typically calls for.