Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Tons of sweet chocolate cocoa flavor perfectly balanced by the nutty walnuts.
Texture: Super fudgy and moist with a nice chew.
Ease: I think these are almost as easy as box mix brownies, but oh so much tastier.
Pros: Your new go-to classic brownie recipe.
Cons: None whatsoever!
Would I make this again? Absolutely. These are the perfect treat to bring to work, school, or to say “thank you” to someone special.
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If you subscribe to my emails (there’s a sign up box at the bottom of this post), then you know my dad had a pretty serious surgery at the beginning of the year.
Thankfully, everything went perfectly and he’s already on the mend. I actually made some of these brownies for the hospital staff who helped restore his health. I don’t know about you, but homemade treats make the best “thank you” gift in my book!
This Walnut Fudge Brownies recipe truly is the ultimate version of that classic brownie so many of us grew up eating and loving. I used to be on the fence about adding nuts into brownies.
Then I met a food scientist who made a brownie recipe with walnuts very similar to this one. He told me that he ALWAYS bakes brownies with walnuts because of the natural “umami” flavor they add that perfectly complements the sweetness of the brownie itself.
That’s why when I began my partnership with The California Walnut Board last year, I knew I would have to share a walnut-loaded brownie recipe at some point!
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Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons (142 grams) unsalted butter
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (67 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 2/3 cup (66 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
- 2/3 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (80 grams) chopped California walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate for about 45 seconds on high power. Stir and continue heating in 20-second bursts, stirring between each burst, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
- Stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder. If still very hot, let cool slightly before adding in the vanilla, eggs, and egg yolk. Stir until very well combined. Add in the flour, cornstarch, and salt and stir until just combined. Fold in the walnuts. Batter will be thick.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Let cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares and serving. The brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days, or in the fridge for 1 week.
I made these yesterday and the flavor is very good, but the texture is hard and crumbly. I’m sure it’s operator error, but not sure what?
Hi Gail! How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe – resulting in things like dry, hard, crumbly brownies. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time. I also recommend looking at your cocoa powder. Many grocery store varieties of cocoa are not high in fat, and this can also yield dry brownies – learn more about that here! I hope this helps! Happy baking 🙂
Tessa, This is the first recipe of yours that I tried.
What an awesome brownie…moist and chewy perfection!
I forgot to add the vanilla but didn’t notice. Also, I baked in a 9×9 pan and topped the baked brownies with homemade chocolate frosting.
Thank you for this keeper recipe!
Sounds delicious, Jan! Thanks for sharing!
Not bad, but very crumbly
I’m sorry to hear your brownies didn’t turn out! Crumbly brownies tend to happen either from too high of oven temperature, overbaking or too much flour/cocoa powder. Did you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients?