Dominique Ansel is a famous French pastry chef who introduced Americans to Cronuts. He published a cookbook back in 2020 called Everyone Can Bake, and in it he shares his "go-to" recipes. This is my version of Dominique Ansel's brownies recipe. I wish I'd found it sooner. These 8-inch pan brownies are different and very good. They have a thick crust, soft centers and what seems like an absurd amount of dark and milk chocolate chips, which ends up being not so absurd once the brownies are baked.
8-Inch Pan Brownies Ingredient Weights
This correct measurements for this recipe are in grams, so definitely use a scale. The volume amounts with the original recipe were a little odd to me. For instance, it says 115 grams is 1 cup of flour. For most of us, that's actually 127 to 140 grams. And 3 eggs usually weighs closer to 150 grams than 135. In the recipe card below I put the volume amounts I got with each weight. Then again, I'm not the one who won a James Beard award. Just make the recipes using the grams and you'll be happy.
Update: I have to amend what I just said about flour weighing 115 grams per cup. The day after I posted this I bought a bag of flour -- a different brand. I scooped it and swept it and got 115 grams! Imagine that. Dominique Ansel was right! But seriously, this was all-purpose flour right out of the bag, and I've never had it come in at such a low weight. Yet another reason to use a scale.
Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
Another thing that I'm pretty sure helped make these exceptional brownies was the Guittard Rouge Dutch process cocoa powder. The brownies have a teaspoon of baking powder in the recipe, so the alkaline Dutch chocolate works in tandem with that for rising. If you use natural cocoa powder, expect different results. I love natural, but am glad I went with the Dutch process here.
Milk Chocolate Chips
About those chocolate chips, Dominique Ansel's brownies call for milk chocolate chips. I used a mixture of my favorite Guittard milk chocolate chips and Costco's Kirkland semisweet. The flavor of the milk chocolate chips really stands out in every bite and in a good way. If you can't find the Guittard chips, you could use any other brand.
There's not much to say about these because they are just out-of-the-ballpark good, which is not surprising given the source.
Link to the Book: Dominique Ansel's Everyone Can Bake.
Recipe
Dominique Ansel's Go-To Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour (115 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 teaspoons (150 grams)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300 grams)
- 3 medium eggs (135 grams)
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder plus 2 tablespoons (70 grams)
- 1 ⅓ cups chocolate chips, I recommend a mix of milk and dark (225 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil or parchment and grease bottom only.
- Weigh your flour and whisk it with the baking powder and salt. You only need to sift it if it's lumpy. Set aside.
- Begin melting butter in the saucepan. When it's about halfway melted, add just ½ cup (100 grams) of the sugar. Heat the butter and sugar together for 1-2 minutes to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and remaining 1 cup of sugar until smooth, then whisk in the melted butter mixture along with the cocoa powder. Stir until smooth, then stir in the flour mixture. Let cool a little if still warm (so that you don't melt the chocolate chips).
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Scrape the thick batter into the prepared pan. Smooth top with a spatula.
- Bake at 350 degrees f for 30 to 35 minutes (I baked the full 35).
- Let cool completely, then lift from the pan and serve. If desired, chill before serving.
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