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Not Jenny’s Brownies

Last updated on By 14 Comments

This recipe is based on an old one called Jenny’s Brownies, however since posting I’ve changed it up quite a bit. This is the new and improved version of basic cocoa powder brownies.  They have a fairly generous amount of cocoa powder, but they aren’t overly rich or sweet. They also have a fudge-y texture, but not overly so.

Jenny's Brownies

Not Jenny's Brownies
 
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Very basic yet extremely tasty cocoa powder brownies.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 16
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (65 grams), I used King Arthur
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (225 grams)
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, optional
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square metal pan or line with foil and grease bottom.
  2. Mix together flour, cocoa and salt; set aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, melted butter and oil, then whisk in the eggs, one by one. Whisk in the vanilla.
  4. With a spoon or scraper, stir in the flour mixture and beat about 50 strokes.
  5. Stir in the chocolate chips
  6. Spread batter in pan and bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees F.

 

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Comments

  1. Anna, I put in 3/8 tsp of salt and they definitely didn’t taste as flat. Thanks for the heads up on adding salt.

    Shelley

  2. Thanks for the salt info. I’ll try these again after I go to the store for more butter. How could I be out?! DOH!

  3. The rule of thumb I follow is for every recipe that calls for “butter or margarine” use an extra 1/4 to 3/8 teaspoon of salt. If an ingredient list doesn’t call for any other salt, I go with 3/8 teaspoon. If the recipe calls for butter or margarine and has a little salt (such as this one), then I add an extra 1/4 teaspoon.

    In this case the recipe just called for “butter” so I wasn’t entirely sure whether the used salted or unsalted. I had a hunch it was salted, but I was still fairly conservative and just used an extra 1/8 teaspoon to make a total of 1/4 teaspoon. However, the brownies would probably have been fine with up to 3/8 teaspoon total. Since you noticed the flatness of the salt-free brownies, you probably appreciate salt and should use a full 3/8.

    I might make my next batch with 3/8 just for kicks. I don’t think they’d be too salty.

  4. You are a good detective! 😀 That’s exactly what happened. So, I want to try this again with unsalted butter (since that’s what I have). How much extra salt do you supposed I should try?

    Thanks,
    Shelley

  5. Hi Shelly,

    Did you use unsalted butter and keep the salt amount the same? I noticed the original recipe said butter and I think people in other countries might use salted by default — not sure, just a hunch. So I used unsalted and increased the salt. If you used unsalted butter and didn’t adjust the salt, the brownies would taste flat.

    You were right about the unsweetened cocoa.

    I think the addition of the vanilla helped, but the brownies shouldn’t have tasted flat without it. I’m thinking it was a salt issue.

  6. Hmmmm, wish I would have seen your changes before making these this afternoon. They sure were easy to whip up, which was nice. I ran out of white sugar so used 1/2 white and 1/2 light brown. I don’t think that affected the end result all that much.

    I felt like mine tasted a bit flat. I think adding some vanilla could have helped. I do like the consistency of them. Did you use sweetened or unsweetened cocoa? I wasn’t sure what to use so used unsweetened since there was a whole cup of sugar in the recipe.

  8. Those sound really good! My problem is that I would eat the whole thing!

    Maybe I could freeze individual pieces??

  11. It’s getting dark in the evening here. These brownies must be yum, & are quite similar to what I make. Only difference is that I use 1 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 a cup of cocoa & 2/3 cups of sugar. I also add walnuts, & sometimes give mine a mocha or cinnamon twist.Also just bake mine for 18 minutes…but they are so good!!

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