This brownie recipe is from Zingerman's, a food business in Ann Arbor, Michigan, known primarily for its high-quality artisanal food products. Zingerman's opened in 1982, and has since grown into a collection of gourmet food-related businesses, including bakeries, a creamery, a coffee company, and a mail-order business. My favorite is of course the bakery, which we visited while on a road trip to Canada. This recipe really does make brownies similar to what they call Magic Brownies served at the bakery.
Bake Sale Favorites
What's great about this recipe and why I put it under the Top 5 "Bake Sale" recipes is the Zingerman's brownies are fairly sturdy and you can wrap them individually. These are not the flashiest brownies, but that makes them even more fun because when you bite into the brownie you'll experience a little surprise at how pleasing the texture is compared to the humble appearance. They have a soft, not-quite-cake texture and just the right amount of chocolate flavor. For bake sale purposes, they're easy to wrap in plastic or you can buy fancy little sleeves and make cute labels.
Zingerman's Brownies Variations
At Zingerman's they make a variation of the brownies called Buenos Aires Brownies where they pour dulce de leche over the top. I've put directions in the notes. They also call their brownies either Magic Brownies or Black Magic Brownies depending on whether or not they have walnuts. If you add walnuts they're Magic Brownies, otherwise they're Black Magic. And finally, they have brownie edges! In Austin there was a business called Mrs. Butters' Brownies that sold brownie edges as "Brownie Butts". Zingerman's does the same with their edge pieces, which you can purchase in a bag.
Zingerman's Cookbook
So here's the recipe for the brownies which should taste just like the deli. I should also add that it's adapted from the Zingerman's book, so I've since made changes now that we have the true Zingerman's recipe. Prior to this, there were just versions floating around where people had cut sugar, etc. etc. All were good, but this one's the best.
Recipe
Zingerman's Magic Brownie Clone
Ingredients
- 13 tablespoons unsalted butter (190 grams)
- 6.5 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped (195 grams)
- 1 ½ cups pastry flour (you can also use cake flour or a mixture of cake and all-purpose, just weigh to make sure it's 218 grams (218 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 2 ¾ cups sugar (540 grams)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup chopped nuts or dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Grease a 9x13 inch pan and line with parchment paper. You can also use foil, just line with foil and grease bottom only. If using a glass pan, preheat to 325 degrees F.
- In a heavy small saucepan or in a double boiler, heat the butter over medium heat. When halfway melted, reduce heat to low and add chocolate; stir until melted and smooth. Set aside. You can also do this in the microwave.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of paper or into a bowl.
- Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until light yellow and fluffy, scraping side of the bowl occasionally. Add slightly cooled (it will still be a little warm) chocolate mixture and vanilla to egg mixture. Beat on low speed or by hand until combined. Add flour mixture; beat on low speed or stir by hand until combined, scraping sides of bowl. Stir in nuts (if using) or chocolate chips.
- Spread batter in pan. Bake 40 minutes (begin checking at 30) or until brownies appear set. Cool in pan on wire rack; cut into bars.
- To freeze, let cool completely, wrap tightly in foil without cutting. Freeze until needed.
Emily L. says
I grew up in Ann Arbor and used to live for Zingermann's baked goods (it helped that my aunt is a baker for them, so we always got great discounts).
By far, my number one choice was always their magic brownies. Now that I live far away, I never get to enjoy them anymore. I guess I'll have to make these and see how they compare.
Brittany says
Oh, dulce de leche. I brought a lot back from Buenos Aires last time I went and made some amazing brownies. I didn't quite get the swirl I was aiming for, but the result was even better: the dulce molecules seemed to bond to the chocolate molecules and the whole thing was incredibly moist and rich and amazing.
Anna says
VG, happy belated Earth Day to you!
Sarah, I just scanned your post and will read it again more thoroughly, but I did see that you were not thrilled with Ina's "Outrageous" brownies. Interesting. I used to love that recipe, but kind tired of it. Then I realized that the brownies didn't hold up well in the heat and seemed to need more refrigeration. So I moved away from the Outrageous recipe. I did like them quite a bit, though.
Randi, again, many thanks for the recipe...
Anonymous, thanks for those CL recipes! The sour cream coffee cake muffins looked particularly good.
Kalyn, that peace pledge seems like a nice thing for elementary school kids to hear every morning. I actually like having a Texas pledge, but it's sort of redundant in that it just mirrors the regular USA pledge. Your tilapia looks good btw. Makes me wish I liked fish.
Kalyn says
Saying the pledge over the school intercom is a big deal! My students would give anything to do that. We say the "peacebuilder's pledge" after the pledge of allegiance:
I am a peacebuilder. I pledge
-to praise people
-to give up putdowns
-to seek wise people
-to notice and speak up about hurts I have cause
-to right wrongs
-to help others
I will build peace at school, at home, and in my community each day.
I think it's actually pretty effective at reminding them about those things.
Randi says
I bought a jar of the dulce. Our store brand(Presidents Choice) is really excellent and its from Argentina. The best part is its only 2.99 a jar.
Stacey says
If you were to use dulce de leche to swirl in, do you just buy a jar of it, or, where do you get this or make this?
Randi says
I can be very persistant eh?
I really, really hope you like them since I've talked them up so much. I used callebaut when I made them the first time, but at work I used baker's unsweetened. People still loved them.
Sarah says
Dulce de leche in brownies...yum!! It must be a brownie kind of day, since I posted about brownies today too! 🙂
VeggieGirl says
Those brownies look quite decadent - yum!!
Stay positive, Anna!! :0)