One-Bowl Salted Fudge Brownies

If you want a rich, chocolatey fudge brownie that’s the best combination of salty and sweet, you will love these one-bowl brownies. Made with just 8 ingredients including bittersweet chocolate, this easy recipe is great for sharing. Also, flaky sea salt is a simple way to make brownies look more fancy, and more importantly, salt and chocolate go perfectly together.

If you’re looking for another brownie recipe, try these oreo cheesecake brownies.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This is an easy one-bowl brownie recipe. That keeps the prep time quick and reduces cleanup. They turn out rich and chocolatey and have less than 10 ingredients. These are not cakey brownies. They are fudgy ones.

The sea salt on the tops of these brownies is everything. Salt adds so much to baked goods. It gives you that salty-sweet flavor, and the flakes add crunch and texture. I also think flaky sea salt instantly dresses up brownies.

Homemade brownies are a freezable dessert. Instead of letting them sit out at room temperature too long and dry out, you can freeze them. They thaw easily at room temperature and taste freshly baked again.

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Bittersweet chocolate: To get these brownies to turn out rich, I use 70% bittersweet chocolate, which is not as intense as dark chocolate that has a higher cocoa percentage.
• Butter: To help the butter melt more evenly with the chocolate, cut it into cubes. In general, I like butter rather than vegetable oil in brownies for taste.
• Sugar: The recipe calls for 2 cups of granulated sugar. This amount may sound like a lot, but it balances out with the bittersweet chocolate and the cocoa powder.
• Eggs: You will need 3 large eggs.
• Vanilla extract layers in subtle vanilla flavor.
• Cocoa powder: I like using both unsweetened cocoa powder and melted chocolate to get that nice fudgy consistency and plenty of chocolate flavor.
• Flour: I go with all-purpose flour for these brownies.
• Flaky sea salt: Use Maldon or another kind of sea salt that comes in flakes with some that are bigger than others.

How To Make One-Bowl Brownies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil. Then grease it with butter.

1. Melt the butter and chocolate. Do this using the double-boiler method. Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a large saucepan over low heat. Put the butter and chocolate in a bowl that fits on top of the pot without the bottom of the bowl touching the water. Stir occasionally to encourage melting.

2. Stir the cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla extract into the chocolate-melted butter mixture. Remove the bowl from the heat before you do this.

3. Whisk in the eggs.

4. Fold in the flour.

5. Spread the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Spread it into an even layer. Sprinkle the top with flaky sea salt. Take a knife and swirl it through the batter.

6. Bake the brownies until they are just set. The bake time is 30-35 minutes. When you insert a toothpick, it will come out with moist crumbs on it. It’s better for them to be slightly underbaked than over baked. They should have a somewhat crackly top closer to the edges.

How To Cut Brownies

These are gooey fudge brownies, so wait to cut them until they have cooled completely. This also gives them time to set. Use a chef’s knife and not a serrated knife to make cuts with a straight down motion. Don’t saw back and forth. It helps reduce mess to wipe off the knife in between cuts. Also, I like using a metal ruler as a straightedge to get equal squares. That is optional, but it does come in handy.

Serving

Because brownies and bar cookies are so easy to bake, I love them for a sweet treat at home and for sharing at cookie exchanges, potlucks, bake sales and Super Bowl Sunday. If you want this recipe to serve more people, you can cut them smaller, so you get more than 16 servings out of a single batch.

Leftover, Storage & Freezing

Brownies will keep for 3 days covered in the pan at room temperature. Put plastic wrap on the cut edges, so they stay moist. If you can, slice the brownies right before you eat them rather cutting them all at once. If you do have leftover brownies that are cut into squares, put them in an airtight container.

You can freeze brownies to store them longer. Wrap them individually, and they will stay good in the freezer up to 1 month. When you do thaw them, let them sit at room temperature still wrapped.