Racine's Brownies

These fudgy brownies use unsweetened chocolate melted with a full stick of butter, giving them that intense, bittersweet cocoa flavor that cocoa powder alone can’t deliver. The second stick of butter gets creamed with the sugar separately, which builds a smooth, dense batter with no graininess.

Cake flour instead of all-purpose keeps the texture tender and cakey at the edges while staying fudgy in the center. The eggs go in slowly to prevent the batter from breaking. Once the melted chocolate mixture is added, you fold everything by hand with a spatula. No electric mixer at this stage. Overmixing develops gluten and turns fudgy brownies into tough ones.

The presentation is simple but sharp: a whole walnut pressed on top of each square with melted semisweet chocolate drizzled over. Serve warm with ice cream or cold straight from the pan.

Pro Tips

• Let the melted chocolate and butter cool before combining with the creamed mixture. Hot chocolate will melt the creamed butter and change the texture.
• Fold by hand with a spatula once the chocolate goes in. A mixer at this point overworks the batter.
• Pull them from the oven when a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs, not clean. Clean means overbaked for a fudgy brownie.

Variations

• Use pecans instead of walnuts for a sweeter, more buttery nut flavor.
• Add a layer of peanut butter swirled through the batter before baking for a chocolate-peanut butter brownie.
• Sprinkle flaky sea salt over the chocolate drizzle while it’s still wet for a salted chocolate finish.