If you’ve been following The Creative Cottage, you’ll quickly discover that Food and Drink is one of the main topics I cover on the blog. Although I’m trying to eat healthier these days, when it comes to desserts, anything that includes chocolate as one of the ingredients has got to be one of my favorites. Follow along this recipe and learn how-to make fudge brownies, using dark chocolate cocoa powder.

I love chocolate anything, but when it comes to milk chocolate or dark chocolate, usually the richer the better. I’ve been using dark chocolate cocoa powder for a number of years so I wanted to come up with a recipe for dark chocolate brownies. These cocoa powder brownies have a dense, chewy, fudge-like texture. Dark cocoa powder can be a bit bitter so, you can always substitute regular cocoa powder if desired.

Fudge Brownies Recipe

Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Here's a delicious recipe that makes a pan full of rich fudge brownies. The secret ingredient is dark cocoa powder.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Course Dessert

Servings 16 bars

Ingredients

10 tbsp butter unsalted
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 whole eggs large
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts optional
1/4 cup chocolate sauce optional

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Add the butter to a medium saucepan and place it on the stove.
Turn the heat on low and stir occasionally until all the butter is melted.
Turn the heat off and remove the pan from the stove.
Whisk in the sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla extract.
Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until throughly mixed in.
Stir in the flour until well blended and the batter is smooth, with no lumps.
Stir in the nuts, if you are using them. This step is optional. You can also sprinkle slivered almonds on top of the brownies instead of mixing them into the batter.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8" pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. These brownies taste best if slightly undercooked, rather than overcooked. You want the final product to be rich, moist, dense and chocolatey!
Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Drizzle with chocolate syrup if desired. This step is optional.
Cut the brownies into 16 pieces and enjoy!
I also like to use these dark chocolate brownies as the first layer of a brownie ice cream sundae.

Notes

You can substitute regular cocoa powder for the dark cocoa powder.
I like to add a light dusting of powdered sugar on top of the brownies before serving.
I've also drizzled chocolate or caramel syrup over the top of the brownies.

Keyword desserts

History of Dark Chocolate

According to Wikipedia, Dark chocolate is produced by adding fat and sugar to the cacao mixture. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls this “sweet chocolate”, and requires a 15% concentration of chocolate liquor. European rules specify a minimum of 35% cocoa solids. A higher amount of cocoa solids indicates more bitterness.

Semisweet chocolate is a dark chocolate with a low sugar content. Bittersweet chocolate is chocolate liquor to which some sugar (typically a third), more cocoa butter and vanilla are added. It has less sugar and more liquor than semisweet chocolate, but the two are interchangeable in baking. It is also known to last for two years if stored properly.