Got 5 minutes to spare? Well, boredom coupled with sugar cravings calls for some yummy, gooey brownies that will instantly melt in your mouth.
The best part? Now you don’t need to go through the hassle of messing up your kitchen, do a large pile of bowls, and kitchen countertops filled with cocoa powder mixed with flour.
Instead, this quick and easy fudge brownie recipe with cocoa powder will remind you of your good ol’ days at grandma’s with its perfect texture and crispy crust that will leave you craving more.
In this guide, I will show you a step-by-step process of making the ideal fudge brownie, nutritional benefits, tips, and FAQs that will make you a pro by the end of the article.
Brownie Recipe With Cocoa Powder
Ingredients:
- Hot, melted, unsalted butter 1/2 cup
- Cooking oil 1 tbsp
- Superfine or caster sugar 1 1/8 cup
- All-purpose (or plain) flour 1/2 cup
- Unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 cup
- Salt 1/4 tsp
- Large eggs 2
- Pure vanilla extract 2 tsp
- Chocolate chips (optional)
Method:
- Mix all the dry ingredients like sugar, cocoa powder, flour, chocolate chips, and salt in a medium bowl. Remember, all your ingredients, when mixed, will have a light brown color. If you have a few traces of white (from the flour), properly mix those sections as well.
- Now it’s time to mix the wet ingredients. Take a bigger bowl and whisk together your cooking oil (or olive oil), eggs, vanilla extract, and melted unsalted butter in it.
- Next, sprinkle the dry mixture into the wet one. It’s a good idea to sifting the dry mixture while adding to your bowl. The resulting batter will be thick—and that’s OK.
- Pour the batter into an 8×8 inch baking pan lined with parchment paper. You can use a rubber spatula to evenly distribute the batter across the pan.
- Baking time! Transfer the pan to an oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Remember to preheat this oven to 325 degrees and let the brownie rise fully.
When you use your toothpick to check whether the brownie is done, it will come out with a few crumbs and thick chocolate, and that’s exactly how fudge brownies are supposed to look.
You can store the leftover at room temperature for 3 days or even freeze it for up to 30 days to help you enjoy this treat as an evening snack.
Nutritional Benefits of Cocoa Powder
We all like a good fudge brownie to support us during our happy and sad times. But what limits us is the guilt of eating sugar after a full course meal.
However, there is a positive way to see this.
Sure, sugar at high intake may not be the best idea, but cocoa’s myriad of nutritional benefits can surely make up for that.
Here are some of the nutritional benefits of eating fudge brownie.
Improved Cognitive Health
Research suggests adding cocoa powder to your regular diet can help boost cognitive health. Considering how your cognitive health deteriorates as you age, eating cocoa regularly can help reduce these chances.
This means you are likely to have a better working memory, improved attention, and sleeping cycles.
Stronger Immune System
As the cocoa powder is packed with selenium, zinc, and iron, these help your body give a mineral boost to improve your immune system. This is essential during outbreaks and other contagious diseases where you are always at the risk of damaging your health.
However, not all cocoa products offer the same benefits. Cocoa powder is rich in polyphenols (more on that later) which offers incredible anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects to keep a balanced body.
Unfortunately, during processing and heating cocoa, most of its beneficial properties get lost. Although this takes away the bitterness from cocoa, it has 60% less flavanol content than the original.
Therefore, it is crucial to get your hands on organic, high-quality cocoa powder that can help you make the most out of cocoa minerals.
Reduced Radiation Therapy Side Effects
We use radiation therapy when you are treating cancer symptoms. This can lead to nausea, diarrhea, sore skin, and face sex, and infertility issues. Luckily, the selenium present in cocoa powder can put a limit to these side effects so you can aid cancer without fear.
Lower Risk of Heart Disease
The flavonols present in dark chocolate are ideal for lowering blood pressure and preventing cell damage. Thus, if you are struggling with constant high cholesterol or blood sugar level, consuming a little cocoa powder in your everyday life plays a big role in reducing the risk of heart disease.
Keep the dose in moderation, though. As beneficial as the cocoa powder is, it can do more harm than good if you aren’t mindful of its intake. Read this study on the risks of overeating cocoa to help you get a proper idea.
Reduce High Blood Pressure
Cocoa powder and dark chocolate are known to lower blood pressure in no time. This result was analyzed after research done on cocoa drinking people from an island in Central America. The results showed people who drink more cocoa are likely to have lower blood pressure than people who don’t.
How?
As mentioned earlier, cocoa is packed with flavanols. This helps increase nitric oxide levels in the blood, which inevitably improves blood vessels’ functioning and reduces blood pressure.
Because of this, you can rest assured to solve many other health issues associated with high blood pressure like Dementia, Aneurysm, or weak kidneys.
Improve Mood and symptoms of Depression
Besides the regular impact on your cognitive abilities, cocoa powder also offers significant benefits to improve your depression symptoms and boost your mood. The conversion of tryptophan to a mood stabilizer helps add sensory pleasure and shows dramatic results in lowering stress levels.
A study conducted on pregnant women shows that continuous consumption of chocolate can help improve stress levels and better mood of their babies. However, more research is needed to prove this point.
It offers the same benefits as caffeine
As a general rule of thumb, you will find 12 mg of caffeine in one tablespoon of cocoa powder. So forget the guilt that comes with cocoa’s notion and indulge yourself in mouthwatering brownies.
It also offers painkilling advantages, especially for headaches and women on periods, to make it a must-have ingredient in every kitchen.
However, these benefits are only possible if you stay consistent with your use of cocoa powder. So sit back and think of the regular desserts that you like to eat and find out how you can add cocoa powder into them. Simple changes like this can ensure you are incorporating cocoa powder without overeating it.
Hot Cocoa Mix Recipe: Things to Consider Before Making Brownie Recipe with Cocoa Powder
Now that you are fully armed to make your fudge brownie, there are a few things that pros do to make their brownies stand out from the rest. Here, I have compiled a list of things to consider making brownie recipes with cocoa powder.
Master that crackly top
The crackly top gives the fudge more structure and depth. While hard brownies aren’t our best friends, too gooey isn’t either. Thus, use hot melted butter that can help you reach the sweet spot. You should also beat your eggs for a good minute and whisk butter and sugar together to create foam.
The perfect texture
If you are a brownie lover (and baker), I am sure getting the perfect texture is the struggle we all face. I did too.
Here, the best way to improve the texture of your brownie is to prevent overbeating your batter. This creates air in the batter and gives it a cakey texture. However, if that’s your thing, you can always go overboard with the mixing.
Another thing that can ruin your texture is overbaking. Mine usually takes 23 minutes to get the ideal texture. According to your preference, you can check up o the brownie in 23 minutes and customize the timing to get the texture you prefer. This will create the fudgiest brownies you’ll ever have!
Remember, it’s better to take them out too early instead of too long. No one likes dry brownies, so take proper caution before you put them in the oven.
Right after you take your brownie out of the oven, you will notice the middle section is still gooier than the rest. This can ruin its shape while you’re eating. Therefore, wait for them to cool before you sink your teeth into them.
Trust me, letting it cool gives a fudgier texture that will bring out the true rich chocolate flavor. I recommend leaving it at room temperature for around 2 hours for a softer texture and in the fridge to get the ever-needed firmer brownie.
Get the taste you’ve been craving for
Crackly top? Done.
Perfect texture? Of course.
But what about the taste? You just can’t afford to mess that up!
The secret to amazing brownies is high-quality ingredients. The better the quality of your cocoa powder, chocolate chip, and butter is, the better it will taste. I also recommend switching up and experimenting with different oil kinds, like olive oil, if you prefer the taste of olive or canola oil if you like a more neutral flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How to tell when brownies are done?
Learning to recognize when your brownies are done can help make sure that your brownie is never under or over-baked. To find out, you will see the edges of the brownie will be visibly baked. However, the middle section should be slightly gooier but not wiggly.
You will also b able to get a general idea of the texture by sticking a toothpick in the brownie and see a few crumbs on it.
Are brownies better with cocoa powder or chocolate?
As from my experience, brownies made with cocoa powder are better than the ones made with chocolate. This is mainly because cocoa brownies are low in calories with very little cocoa butter (and fat); they are unsweetened, which helps you customize the sweetness of brownies according to your liking and offers better texture. However, brownies made with chocolate are easier to make for many beginners.
So if you are just starting out, I suggest you experiment with different ingredients and find the one that works for you.
Can I use hot chocolate powder instead of cocoa powder?
Well, yes and no. If you’re out of cocoa powder and making brownies, I suggest you make an effort and grab one online or from the nearest supermarket. As cocoa powders help add more “chocolaty” flavor to your brownie, it will totally be worth it.
However, if you use chocolate powder to make icing, cookies, or cake, you can rock chocolate powder easily.
What makes brownies fudgier?
The fat-to-flour ratio of your batter will indicate how fudgy or cakey your brownie is. Here, fudger brownies have more fat using more butter and chocolate. Thus, if you are aiming for fudginess, try giving the chocolate a shot which can add more fat using its cocoa butter. As for the cakey texture, you can add more flour and baking powder that adds more dryness to it.
So, What’s Next?
If you’re reading this, congratulation, you are now a fudge brownie pro!
After you are done baking and setting your brownie, there are many ways to spice it up (figurately) and personalize it as you like. For example, for cookie lovers, take vanilla or caramel ice, mix it with cookie dough and add one scoop on top of your scrumptious piece of brownie.
For a more fruity flavor, you can also try serving it with lemon, raspberry, or strawberry whipped cream to balance the intense cocoa flavor of your brownie.
Enjoy!
