These are super fudgy and chocolatey brownies that are made with cocoa powder rather than solid chocolate, crazy right?
I was having a major brownie craving but I didn’t have your traditional brownie ingredients in the house. I did however have cocoa, so I threw caution to the wind and these were born! It was the best decision I’ve made in recent history.
Like most of you probably are, I was put off by the idea of making cocoa brownies. What’s the point in eating brownies if they’re not perfect! But when the craving becomes too strong, you can’t be held responsible for your actions. After some searching on the internet I found this recipe that was adored by so many blogs I came across, the recipe is originally by Alice Medrich and since trying it by myself I can see why everybody was raving! It ticks every brownie box and then some, fudgy delightfulness in every single bite!
I have a shameful history with brownies. I tried to make them many, many years ago and they came out rock solid (I’m pretty sure J K Rowling modelled Hagrid’s rock cakes on my brownies) and I was distraught. That was about 10 years ago, this is only the second time I’ve made them since (I don’t deal with failure well!), and what a way to restore my brownie making faith in myself! I really do urge you to give these a go the next time you have a real brownie craving and only have cocoa in the cupboards, you won’t regret it and neither will your tummy!
These brownies are made pretty similarly to your regular brownies and you can do it by hand. You melt the butter, sugar, cocoa and salt together. Let it cool if it’s hot and add the eggs and vanilla, beat the mixture until it’s smooth and shiny and add the flour. Beat hard for a couple of minutes, giving you a pretty thick mixture. I had some m&ms laying around so I mixed those in too. Then bake for no more than 30 minutes and voila, yumminess is in your hands (make sure they’re gloved hands, no burns please!).
[recipe title=”Cocoa Brownies”]
Ingredients
- 140g unsalted butter
- 250g caster sugar
- 75g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 60g all purpose flour
Method
- Preheat the oven to 325F/160C and grease and line 8×8 baking pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, cocoa and salt and melt in the microwave in 30 seconds intervals, stirring between until all melted.
- If the mixture is hot, leave to cool slightly as you don’t want to cook the eggs!
- Using a wooden spoon, stir in the vanilla. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, combining each time until batter is thick and shiny.
- Add the flour and stir vigorously for a couple minutes. Stir in any nuts or chocolate chips you may be adding.
- Pour into pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out almost clean, a few moist crumbs is good, you just don’t want them still wet and you definitely don’t want to over bake them!
- Leave them to cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Put them in the fridge for a few hours to get nice clean lines when you cut them!
[/recipe]
