Generally speaking: less flour, more chocolate, eggs, and butter. And undercook them a little.
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I have an old volume of Joy of Cooking here that gives a recipe for brownies and it says:
If you want them chewy and m oist, use a 9 x 13-inch pan; if cakey, use a 9 x 9-inch pan.
So, I see that the instructions for your Kodiak Cakes mix say to use a 9 x 9-inch pan. Why not try using a 9 x 13-inch pan and see if that gives you fudgier brownies from your mix?
[edited for clarity]
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Man. If you find this information dizzying in its variety you are really gonna lose your shit if you try and look up weight loss.
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CiCO, baby
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I discovered by accident that if you follow the directions on box brownies exactly except forget to mix in the water until the very last step before baking, they turn out more fudgy and… almost juicy in a way?
I think really, you need to get the texture right before you play with other things. But perhaps this quest is a prelude. Certainly there’s probably more interest in making brownies, not that all brownies aren’t special.
I’ve used the same recipe for fifty years, and there have been times when they were awfully fudgy. The difference is enough that I don’t think sloppiness is the reason.
I’ve made maternity brownies from time to time, the same recipe but some ground up tofu. I don’t remember how much. But so important for the mother to be, keep that chocolate coming but extra protein.
But I all post have up making brownies, they were way too chewy. There was some even trouble, so maybe temperature factored in. But I definitely added more flour, and it was more like I like. I think I cut back the sugar too. Maybe raised the temperature, but I wasn’t scientific, just made some changes and was more satisfied with the results. But that doesn’t explain why the brownies changed before I did anything different.
I don’t have the recipe handy. But now that pot brownies can be legal, I’ll probably get back nto it.
I’m sure the dog would be happy, not only does he love chocolate, it doesn’t affect him, but he’s got a permanent limp so maybe that medical marijuana stuff works. I’m not sure if it’s legal for dogs without a vet’s prescription.
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There is a discussion of brownie fudginess as it relates to the ratio of flour to fat and chocolate on page 410 of my go-to book for baking chemistry, _Bakewise_
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That actually makes a lot of sense. When we’re talking baked goods the thing that allows them to be leavened is protein trapping air (either mixed in or from leavening). Often Gluten from the flour. Gluten develops two ways. Contact with water, and mixing/agitating the dough/batter. mixing the dry ingredients separate from the liquid, and only combining them at the end with minimal mixing is called the muffin method. It limits the flours contact with water, and limits the mixing of the batter after its added to minimize gluten production.
Its used in quick breads (like muffins, pamcakes etc) to keep the the results tender, soft, and ■■■■■. With a dense, consistent and tight crumb structure. That’s gonna make a brownie seem fudgier, even juicy in a way.
Egg whites are what make it rise. They’re almost all protein and water, and they’re pretty good at trapping air as they cook. But they also apparently make batters and doughs drier. Think meringue.
Egg yolks. I don’t remember what they do specifically besides having fat. But the analogue is probably custard?
Apparently removing a white and adding a yolk is a common way to get moister, richer results for a whole host of baked goods.
It’s an aside, but the pot brownie recipe in The Alice B Toklas cookbook is apparently more a fudge than a brownie. And she didn’t try it. She asked people she knew for recipes and someone turned this one in. So maybe it doesn’t even work. Maybe none of the recipes work, people handing in recipes they got from someone else, and Alice not having a test kitchen to make sure they all worked. Though maybe that’s better than one cookbook I have which seems to have nutritional yeast in every second recipe.
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Ann Hodgman describes her extremely fudgy brownies as “frosting you can pick up” (and also “custardy” and “unctuous”). The recipe is in her book “Beat This!”, but Google Books also has you covered. You really should buy her book, though.
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The old fashioned way to get fudge-y brownies was to use a little extra canola oil (never butter) in the batter. A guy I know that is a good baker but a bit of a douche about it says swapping ducks eggs for chicken eggs is the secret (and a cast iron pan). I’ve never seen anywhere claim anything but adding fat to make denser, chewier, and richer brownies. The idea that you would add whites is just bonkers because that’s literally how you make cake cakier.
EDIT
Oh, and cook time matters a lot.
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It’s not fudge, either: it’s sugar and butter, not even cooked, with pulverized marijuana smooshed into it. It’s a super weird recipe, and it’s a shame that her name is so intimately associated with the recipe, because as you said, it’s not even hers: it’s from a chapter at the end that has her friends’ contributions, and some of them are barely food, like “birthday ice cream” (it’s made of toast, and I wish I were kidding).
But if you can find the book, you should read it, because it’s so fascinating, much more a travelogue/history than a cookbook. Toklas and Stein knew everybody who was anybody in the worlds of art and literature back then, and Toklas really knew how to make it all come to life.
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these. more sugar, fat, and egg yolks. less egg whites and flour. no baking soda or powder.
adding melted solid chocolate increases the sugar, fat, and emulsifiers as well, and can be substituted for some of the cocoa powder.
duck eggs are typically larger with much larger creamier yolks. but canola, bleck, butter all the way.
once you’ve played around with brownie recipes a few times, you’ll have them adjusted just how you like them personally. most desserts really have a lot of variety in their execution, chocolate chip cookies are the same. when you get that one just the way you like, man that is true bliss. best of luck.
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This is the recipe you’re looking for: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/rich-fudgy-brownies
40 minutes is probably too long. I’d check them at 30 minutes, and don’t worry if they’re still gooey in the middle. They’ll set somewhat when they cool.
The brownie mix I get at the store specifically says 2 eggs for fudgy, 3 for cakey. Makes sense since the eggs are a binder, so it would stand to reason that more binder equals stiffer texture.
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I always held to the ‘it’s all in the edge, baby’ school of thought on brownies. Let lil miss sweet tooth (Mrs Enk, the Enkwife, She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Denied-Her-Brownies!) eat the center mushy bit. I’m happy carving out the edges and enjoying the rich gooey innards with the crunchy crispy outer edges.
Also fudge is good. You only need a heat-safe vessel, a stick of butter, a bag of chocolate chips and a small can of sweetened condensed milk to make a quick fudge. Use a bit less butter (mb a scoshi less of the ‘milk’ bit, or, more chips!) to make em set up firmer.
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brownies give me heartburn.
Once you have them, what to do with them?
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Cocao powder: cakier. Dark chocolate: fudgier. The difference whole chocolate has more cocoa butter.
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