Hey! How was everyone’s week? I don’t know about you, but I was anticipating Thanksgiving vacation while cozying up in my warmest blankets. I was in bed contemplating my life (as one does) when I thought of something I haven’t made in a while, brownies. I am not one to specifically look out for brownies. Don’t get me wrong if they are there I’ll eat them, but I don’t make them very often. It’s difficult to make them for a crowd because everybody has a different preference. 

There are two types of people in this world. The ones who like their brownies heavy, dense, and fudgey, and the ones who like them best light and cakey. I felt it was my duty to discover the difference between the two.

There are five basic ingredients in a brownie batter – chocolate, butter, flour, sugar, and eggs. Playing with the ratio will produce a different outcome. The ingredients that will change the overall texture would be the fat, in our case the chocolate and butter, and the flour ratio. In a fudgey brownie there will be more chocolate, more butter, and less flour than a cakey brownie. I also tried for a chewier brownie by substituting brown sugar for white sugar, but white sugar is best if you want a crunchy top. 

Flour– When flour is mixed with the wet ingredients it forms gluten. The gluten will give a brownie more structure, which is what you want for a cakey brownie but not a fudgey brownie.

Chocolate and Butter– These fats will weigh your batter down making it difficult to rise resulting in a compact, dense, fudgey brownie. 

Brown Sugar– The molasses in the brown sugar will make our brownie much chewier.

White/Granulated sugar–  If you use white sugar, as opposed to brown, it will insure a crunchy top. The sugar will rise to the surface as your batter bakes and dries out, creating a delightful crunch.