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Dessert

Brown Sugar Brownies

A chocolate brownie made with brown sugar, butter, eggs, flour, and walnuts.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and walnut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,548 recipes. Both carry 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

Brown Sugar Brownies

2 dozen
Oven325°F
Total1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

  2. Grease an 8 x 8 x 2‑inch square baking pan.

Make the batter

  1. Cream sugar and butter until fluffy.

  2. Beat in eggs.

  3. Beat in melted chocolate.

  4. Mix in flour, then stir in nuts.

  5. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake about 25 minutes.

  2. Cool in pan, and cut into squares.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

865Calories
21 gProtein
29 gFat
126 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chocolate + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Light brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a chewy, caramel-like depth of flavor.
Butter or margarine
Provides fat for a tender crumb and rich mouthfeel.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during baking to give structure.
Unsweetened chocolate
Supplies the chocolate flavor and a dense, fudgy texture.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the brownie together.
Walnuts
Add crunch and a toasty, nutty contrast to the soft crumb.

The step that matters

Bake until just set. Brownies keep firming from residual heat after leaving the oven. Pulling them when the centre is just set keeps them fudgy, while overbaking dries the crumb and makes the texture cakey.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, chocolate, flour):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Macadamia nutfits better
  3. Hazelnutfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, chocolate, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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