Chocolate Fudge Brownies Sea Salt

There's a particular moment late on a Sunday afternoon when the kitchen fills with that unmistakable chocolate warmth, and suddenly everything feels a little softer, a little more forgiving. I discovered these brownies almost by accident, chasing that impossible texture between cake and pure indulgence, and the sea salt trick came from watching a neighbor carelessly sprinkle it on hers—which should have been chaos but somehow became magic.

I made these for my brother's roommate who showed up to a dinner party empty-handed but armed with strong opinions about brownies, and watching him eat three in a row without saying anything felt like the highest compliment I'd ever received. He texted me the recipe request the next day.

Ingredients

• Semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, 170 g: The soul of the brownie—don't skimp here or use chocolate chips, which won't melt as smoothly and can leave graininess behind.
• Unsalted butter, 115 g: Room temperature chocolate and cool butter create that glossy shine, so let them meet gently over gentle heat.
• Granulated sugar, 200 g: This is your structure and your sweetness—measure it honestly and resist the urge to add more.
• Light brown sugar, 50 g: The molasses adds a whisper of depth that pure white sugar can't match.
• Large eggs, 2: Room temperature eggs emulsify better and create a more tender crumb—take them out of the fridge 20 minutes before you start.
• Pure vanilla extract, 1 tsp: Vanilla shouldn't be invisible; it should be the supporting actor that makes chocolate shine.
• All-purpose flour, 95 g: Weigh this, don't scoop—overflouring is the quickest way to turn fudgy into dry.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder, 30 g: Dutch-process cocoa gives deeper color, but regular works fine; just sift it so no bitter specks remain.
• Fine sea salt, ½ tsp: This dissolves into the batter and rounds out the chocolate flavor.
• Flaky sea salt, ½ tsp: Maldon is traditional, but any flaky salt that hasn't been pulverized will do.

Instructions

Set up and preheat:

Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F) and line your 20x20 cm pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang to lift the finished brownies out—this is not optional if you want clean edges. While the oven preheats, gather your ingredients so you're not scrambling when the chocolate melts.

Melt chocolate and butter:

Place your heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water itself, and watch as the chocolate and butter come together into something glossy and dark. Stir gently and often, and the moment there are no visible chocolate chunks, pull it off the heat and let it cool just enough that you can hold your hand over it comfortably.

Combine sugars:

Whisk both sugars into the warm chocolate mixture until they're fully dissolved and the texture becomes silky. This takes about a minute or two of steady whisking, and you'll feel the grittiness disappear under your whisk.

Add eggs gently:

Crack your first egg into the chocolate, whisk it completely into submission, then repeat with the second one—rushing this step or dumping both eggs in at once can create scrambled bits. Once they're fully incorporated, stir in your vanilla extract.

Fold in flour and cocoa:

Sift your flour, cocoa powder, and fine sea salt over the top of the mixture, then fold everything together with a spatula using as few strokes as possible—fold, turn the bowl, fold again, until just barely no white streaks remain. Overmixing here develops gluten, which turns your fudgy dream into a cakey disappointment.

Pour and top:

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and use a spatula or the back of a spoon to smooth the top gently. Sprinkle your flaky sea salt evenly over the surface, letting some grains settle into the batter and others sit on top.

Bake to fudgy perfection:

Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, checking around the 28-minute mark with a toothpick—you want it to come out with a few moist crumbs still clinging, not clean and not wet. If the top is browning too quickly, you can tent with foil halfway through.

Cool completely:

Let the brownies cool entirely in the pan on a wire rack until they've set enough to hold together. This takes patience, but warm brownies fall apart, so resist the urge to cut them early, then use those parchment overhangs to lift the entire block out and cut it into 16 pieces.

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There was a moment at 2 a.m. when I realized I'd forgotten to add vanilla and almost threw out the whole batch, but decided to bake them anyway—they were still incredible, which taught me that sometimes the ingredients are so good they don't need saving. Since then, I've learned to trust the process more than my own panic.

The Salt Question

The sea salt on top isn't just flavor—it's contrast, the cool bitter note that stops sweetness from becoming cloying and makes people take another bite. I learned this from tasting a dozen brownies side by side, and the salted ones disappeared first every single time. If you skip the flaky salt topping, you're not making a mistake, but you're missing the best part.

Storage and Serving

Keep these in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days, though they rarely last that long in my house. They're perfect at room temperature, better slightly warm, and absolutely transcendent with a cold scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top. The flavors stay vibrant because the salt acts as a natural preservative, keeping them fudgy longer than unsalted brownies.

Making Them Your Own

The beauty of this brownie is that it's a canvas, not a locked recipe—the chocolate and salt are non-negotiable, but everything else is flexible. I've added chopped walnuts, swirled in peanut butter, and once pressed a few espresso chips on top just to see what would happen. The structural integrity stays the same, which means you can experiment without fear.

• Toasted walnuts or pecans add a subtle crunch that plays beautifully against the fudge.
• A sprinkle of fleur de sel instead of Maldon is just as good if that's what you have on hand.
• Pull them from the oven a minute earlier for extra gooey centers, or a minute later if you prefer them slightly more set.

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These brownies are the kind you make when you need something beautiful to appear from your kitchen without much effort or thought. They never let you down.