Salted Double Chocolate Brownies

Salted Double Chocolate Brownies are moist, gooey, and what chocolate dreams are made of. We use both cocoa powder and high-quality baking chocolate to achieve a sinfully chocolatey brownie you’ll come back to time and time. Nutty brown butter is the base, adding another layer of flavor while a heavy hand of flaked Maldon salt gives these a wonderfully sweet and salty finish. Trust me, you don’t want to miss these! 

Salted Double Chocolate Brownies

Admittedly, I don’t have the biggest sweet tooth. More times than not, I’d rather indulge in an extra portion of carbonara, ravioli, or lobster instead of ordering a round of dessert. The exception? Brownies. Of all kinds. But specifically, our Salted Double Chocolate Brownies.

I am DEAD when it comes to these brownies and would happily skip dinner in lieu of a double (or triple) portion of these guys. They’re sinfully chocolatey, gooey, sweet, and salty – all of the things a quality brownie should be.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of gobbling up a batch of homemade brownies, I can promise you, after trying our version, you will never go back to boxed brownies.

Our Salted Double Chocolate Brownes are just as the name implies, packed with two kinds of chocolate – cocoa powder and high-quality baking chocolate – and have a lovely salty finish. What the name doesn’t imply, but should, is these guys are irresistibly gooey and full of complex flavor thanks to swapping out regular melted butter with brown butter.

The inside is ridiculously gooey and fudge, and the outside has that classic crackly top essential to a perfect brownie. Don’t miss these!

I’ve tried many many recipes over the years and this recipe includes my takeaways from many of them. Here’s my top two for inspiration:

Ina Garten: Her brownies, while delicious, make a HUGE portion and require three different kinds of chocolate so they aren’t super approachable. I love that she uses REAL chocolate though and have taken that to my recipe.

Cafe Delites: This is always my go-to recipe when I want a purely cocoa powder brownies. It’s a straightforward brownie recipe that never disappoints.

Ingredients in Salted Double Chocolate Brownies

The wet ingredients

Butter. There are a lot of recipe out there with canola oil as the base and while they do yield gooey brownies, they lack flavor. I ALWAYS use butter when it comes to brownies. In this particular recipe, we intensify the flavor by browning the butter. This adds a really lovely nutty, almost caramel flavor to the finished double chocolate brownies.

Sugar. A cup of sugar may seems like a lot, but it’s necessary for the perfect brownie.

Vanilla. Always always use pure vanilla extract. And a little extra splash has never proven to be wrong.

Eggs. Egg are really important in a good brownies recipe. They are what give you that fudgy texture synonymous with brownies. I like to up the fudge factor even more by adding an egg yolk in addition to the two large eggs.

The dry ingredients

Flour. We still classic here with regular all-purpose flour.

Cocoa powder. While using a good quality cocoa powder does correlate to a superior finished product (I love to Ghirardelli) I have tried this recipe with off brand cocoa powder as well, and they still turn out wonderfully.

Chocolate. Our second form of chocolate comes in the form of semi-sweet baking chocolate. I like to use this or this brand. Because it’s in a bar form, you need to hand chop it. I’ll leave a few pieces chunky, but for the most part, I like them to be chopped fine.

What happens during the cooking process is the chocolate slowly melts and lends to the gooey factor in the end.

High quality chocolate is notoriously expensive, but since we use a very little amount to compliment the cocoa powder, it’s no more than buying a bag of chocolate chips, making this double chocolate brownies recipe still very budget friendly.

Salt. Okay, this is definitely a specialty ingredient, but Maldon sea salt is the perfect way to add a sweet and salty flavor profile to our double chocolate brownies. Each granule of salt is super large and flaked so it holds up really well during the baking process.

I always have it on hand to sprinkle on avocado toast, eggs, steaks, and everything in between. One box will last you a year, at least, unless you’re me and put it on everything.

Let’s make Salted Double Chocolate Brownies

Prep the pan. Brownies are notoriously hard to get out of the pan. We’re going to be proactive and do everything we can to avoid the brownies sticking.

• First grease your 8×8 pan with butter.
• Next, cut parchment paper to fit inside the pan. I like to have two sides extend out over the edge, so I can easily pull them out after cooking.
• Butter the parchment.

If your brownies stick after doing all these things, you may need a new pan.

Brown the butter

If you’re a repeat reader, then you know we often brown butter to add flavor to different recipes.

Start by adding UNSALTED butter to a medium sauce pan. Put the pan over a medium-high heat. When the butter melts and starts to brown on the edges, swirl the pan. It’s really important too swirl the pan constantly so the butter evenly browns.

Continue to swirl the pan until the butter turns a DEEP brown color and smells very nutty. (See photo above.)

Butter can quickly go from brown to burnt, so be sure you don’t walk away from it. If you see it start to smoke or turn too brown, quickly take it over the heat and swirl the pan. Once the butter is brown, remove the pan from the heat.

Mix with sugar

Add the sugar to a large bowl. Pour the hot butter over the sugar. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment to beat the sugar and the butter together. I like to do this for at least a minute or two to add air into the butter and sugar. This is also going to help get that crinkly top on the brownies.

Add the vanilla. Mix until combined.

Add the eggs

Again, you want to really beat the eggs into the butter and sugar. I do this for at least two minutes until the mixture is airy and fluffy. If we weren’t using brown butter the mixture would become pale yellow, but you may not see the eggs turn this color because the butter is darker.

This is also an essential step in creating a crackly top crust.

Add the dry ingredients

Chop the chocolate. As mentioned, I like to use a chocolate bar meant for baking. I use a big chef’s knife to chop the chocolate really finely. It’s okay if there are some bigger pieces as they will simply melt into the double chocolate brownie.

Once the eggs are incorporated, add the flour, cocoa powder, and chopped chocolate. At this point, you want to stop using an electric mixer and use a big spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet. You want to do this because the electric mixer will make the double chocolate brownies a little too dense. You want to mix as little as possible at this point.

Add salt. Sprinkle the salt on top and give it a few stirs to incorporate it into the batter.

Let them rest!

This is SO important. These are gooey fudge brownies, which means not matter how tempting, they must rest before you cut into them. If they are hot at all, they will not cut into pretty little squares.

Let them rest for at least one hour or until they are completely cool.

When they are completely cool, use a sharp knife to separate the edges from the pan. Slowly lift out the brownies.

Use a very sharp knife to cut the brownies in thirds. Wipe the knife clean. Continue to do this wiping after each but until you have nine equal brownies. Sprinkle with salt. Enjoy!

Can I make these in advance?

Yes! In fact, I highly recommend making double chocolate brownies ahead of time. I’ll often bake them off in the morning and then let them rest until I need them in the evening. If I want them first thing the next day, I’ll bake them the night before, let them cool completely and then cover with plastic or foil.

What makes brownies fudgy vs cakey?

The less flour and dry ingredients you have, the more fudgy they will be. This is why we use plenty of butter and eggs and not a lot of flour and cocoa powder. Also, brownies that call for baking powder will be more cake-like in texture. In my opinion, a leavener is not needed for double chocolate brownies.

Substitutions and Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success

• Trust the recipe! I’ve made these HUNDREDS of times and following the recipe yields perfect results every single time.
• If you don’t have Malden sea salt you can use a coarse salt, but you may need to use less as Maldon salt has larger flakes.
• You do not HAVE to brown the butter, but I do think it adds a lot of flavor.
• Again, I can’t say this enough, but let them rest! And do not overcook them!

Don’t miss some of our other favorite sweets!

• These lemon strawberry shortcakes are the perfect summer dessert, but I also love to feel a little bit of summer in the winter with these.
• Absolutely OBSESSED with these Brown Butter Pecan Pie Bars. Good lord these are delicious.
• Peanut Butter Balls are always a hit! Do I need to explain?