This is a great cocoa Nutella brownie recipe because you can do so many things with it. Add nuts. Add chocolate chips. Add dried fruit. Add a combination of those items. Leave them as-is & appreciate the chocolaty goodness.
We did something different this time with the ingredients. In the stand mixer – and as opposed to starting with the dry – we started with the wet and proceeded to whip the butter, sugar, vanilla & eggs until light & fluffy. It certainly started to form soft peaks as it would with a butter cream icing. In addition to having the baking powder & soda to make them a bit lighter in texture, the whipped butter & eggs did likewise and have to say, it’s the same great taste but a lovely lightness to them. If you have a stand mixer, feel free to try this but if doing by hand, they come out great the traditional way too.
You can see in the pan photo below that the batter looks more like icing than it would brownie batter but it cooks & finishes just as it should. If you want to try a lighter, fluffier version of brownies, whip the butter, sugar, eggs & vanilla before adding the baking powder, baking soda, cocoa & flour.
Taking a step further outside the realm of normal, try using chopped real bacon bits instead of chocolate chips, chopped nuts or minced dried fruit.
And as with all really good things, these brownies are more fudgy the next day.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cold large eggs
- 4 tbsp Nutella
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup choco chips ( or chopped nuts, minced dried fruit, etc.)
- PB cream cheese filling/topping
- 4 tbsp peanut butter
- 4 tbsp cream cheese
- 4 tbsp sour cream
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- You will need: A 10-inch square baking pan, 9" x 13" baking pan or muffin pans.
- Chocolate note: Any unsweetened natural or Dutch-process cocoa powder works well here. Natural cocoa produces brownies with more flavor complexity and lots of tart, fruity notes. I think it's more exciting. Dutch-process cocoa results in a darker brownie with a mellower, old-fashioned chocolate pudding flavor, pleasantly reminiscent of childhood.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Combine all dry ingredients into large mixing bowl & mix well. Unless your butter (or margarine) is at room temperature, in a separate bowl melt butter (or margarine) & let cool (about 10-15 min). Whisk in 2 eggs & vanilla.
- Stir the wet mix into the dry until completely combined. At this point, stir in the nuts, chocolate chips or chopped fruit, if using. If you really want to change things up, try some crushed pretzels, rice crispies or granola.
- Spread evenly in the pan or use two table/teaspoons to spoon into muffin pans 1/2 way (using veg spray on muffin pan helps tremendously). Spoon tsp amount of PB cream cheese on top of batter then top off /w small spoonful of batter (PB cream cheese will be sandwiched between the layers of brownie batter).
- Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack if doing in pan or for muffins, flip onto cooling rack.
- If doing minis (two-bite size), put batter in pan to 3/4 & top /w tsp of PB cream cheese. Bake for 15-20 min.
- Remove from pan(s) and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into squares. Cover to ensure they will stay chewy.
