Name: Walnut Brownies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 200g unsalted butter, in cubes; 200g dark chocolate, 74% cocoa solids, broken into pieces; 150g soft brown sugar; 50g caster sugar; 3 large eggs; ¼ teaspoon fine salt; 100g plain/all-purpose flour, sieved; 25g cocoa, sieved; ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder, sieved; 100g chopped walnuts (or use pecan nuts); 16 unbroken walnut halves (or use pecan halves)

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The addition of walnuts to these delicious chocolatey brownies adds wonderful layers of flavour and crunchy texture which blend perfectly with the soft, gooey, fudgy centre and slightly crispy top.

I took these photographs when I made the brownies for my husband to take into work. COVID 19 was having a huge impact around the world and specifically for us, in London. Most people were working from home but as a surgeon, he was still going into the hospital and he took these for all the wonderful staff he was working with – the nurses, physios, other doctors and administrative staff, all vital to providing ongoing care. He took in the walnut brownies as well as some nut free brownies and I’m told they were gone in seconds!

They are based on my Daffodil Brownies – Core Recipe. The method and cooking instructions are all the same apart from the added chopped walnuts to the cake batter and the walnut halves on top of the brownies.

How to make Walnut Brownies

This recipe is adapted from my Daffodil Brownies – Core Recipe. For further brownie ideas and inspiration, see here.

Collect all your ingredients together and line the baking tin:

In order to guarantee soft and fudgy brownies, it is important to use the correct size tin – in this case it is a 20cm/8inch square tin. If your tin is larger the depth of your cake batter will be less and the cake will cook more quickly. Equally if the tin is smaller, your cake batter will be deeper and cook more slowly.

Sit the tin on greaseproof paper making sure the paper is large enough to line the tin, come up the sides and have a little overhang.
Cut out the corners of the paper so it will fit easily into the tin
Fold the paper from corner to corner so the size of the centre of the paper matches the base of the tin. Slot inside the tin.

Brownie Ingredients:

unsalted butter, in cubes
dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
soft brown sugar
caster sugar
large eggs
fine salt
plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
cocoa, sieved
instant coffee powder, sieved
walnuts (or pecan nuts)

Make those brownies:

Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 minutes.
Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.
Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee
Sift directly over the cake batter.
Fold until nearly mixed in. Now you need to fold in the chopped walnuts but be careful not to over-mix at this stage. (I forgot to photograph the addition of the walnuts!!)
Transfer to your baking tin and level the surface, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
Top with 16 evenly spaced walnuts
Cook in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how squidgy you like the centre to be. It will carry on cooking when you take it out of the oven so bear this in mind. (I cook mine for 23 minutes in London and 24 minutes in Switzerland.)

This gives me a slightly crispy top but a gorgeous gooey centre. The cake will be slightly risen and cracked around the edges (see the pictures below) but the centre will feel quite soft. Remember the cake will continue to cook after you have taken it out of the oven.

Ovens do vary so make a note of how long it takes to cook to your favourite consistency in your oven. Remember the less you cook it, the more gooey it will be and the more you cook it, the more cake like it will be.

Top the cake with the walnuts:

Topping the cake with the walnuts not only looks great and adds crunch but it makes it obvious to anybody allergic to nuts, that these brownies are probably not for them!

The brownies are also just as yummy made with pecan nuts. Make in exactly the same way using the same quantities.

Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodilkitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.

Walnut Brownies

The addition of walnuts to these delicious chocolatey brownies adds wonderful layers of flavour and crunchy texture which blend perfectly with the soft, gooey, fudgy centre and slightly crispy top.

Course afternoon tea, Cake, Dessert, Morning Coffee, Snack, treat

Cuisine American

Keyword Chocolate, crunchy, Fudgy, Gooey, Walnuts

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 16 portions

Author Susan

Ingredients

Brownie Batter:

200g unsalted butter, in cubes
200g dark chocolate, 74% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
150g soft brown sugar
50g caster sugar
3 large eggs
¼ teaspoon fine salt
100g plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
25g cocoa, sieved
½ teaspoon instant coffee powder, sieved
100g chopped walnuts (or use pecan nuts)

Topping:

16 unbroken walnut halves (or use pecan halves)

Instructions

Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
Preheat oven to fan oven 170°C/190°C/375°F/Gas 5
Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 minutes.
Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.
Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee.
Sift directly over the cake batter.
Fold until nearly mixed in and add the chopped walnuts.
Fold in but be careful not to over-mix at this stage.
Transfer to your baking tin and level the surface, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
Top with the walnut halves placing them in the correct position to be in the centre of the 16 brownies when you cut them out.
Cook in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how squidgy you like the centre to be. It will carry on cooking when you take it out of the oven so bear this in mind. (I cook mine for 23 minutes in London and 24 minutes in Switzerland.)
Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes and then, using the overhanging parchment, transfer the brownies to a cooling rack – do not remove the parchment, they will be too fragile
Leave to cool completely before cutting into squares
N.B. To speed up the cooling process and/or create particularly neat edges when cutting, transfer to a fridge to cool and slice when very cool. However, they are best served at room temperature

Recipe Notes

Equipment

Large microwave safe jug or heatproof bowl
Electric whisk and mixing bowl
Kitchen scales and measuring spoons
Sieve
Chopping board and knife
20cm/8inch square baking tin lined with baking parchment

Be very careful melting the chocolate. Chocolate can be very difficult to work with. You can overheat it very easily and the mixture will go grainy. When this happens, there is no way to resolve it I’m afraid!

Microwave: I give the chocolate and butter a minute in the microwave, take it out and stir it well, then let it sit for a few minutes to see if it continues melting sufficiently to melt all the chocolate. If not, I then continue with the microwave but in 10 – 15 second bursts.

Bain Marie: if you do not have a microwave, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Heat until the chocolate and butter are very nearly melted then take it off the heat and take the bowl off the saucepan. Be very careful not to burn yourself as the bowl will be hot and steam will escape from the saucepan. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes for the residual heat to melt the remainder of the mixture. Again, be careful not to over-heat.