Swedish Brownies

Recipe for fudgy Swedish chocolate brownie recipe, the same as you can buy at coffee shops in Stockholm. Brown butter brownies with nuts are just the best treat for Fika.

This is not the kladdkaka; that is a very different chocolaty delicacy.

These have a nice crackling top, are lightly nutty, and browned butter gives extra caramel notes to the taste. These brownies are very chocolaty since they have both cocoa powder and also dark chocolate.

Difference between brownies and kladdkaka

The Swedish kladdkaka is baked in a round pan and is sticky and fudgy in the center. When making kladdkaka you just mix the ingredients. Brownies, on the other hand, are made by whipping the sugar and eggs first into fluff. Brownies are baked in a square or rectangular pan and eaten as squares.

Another Swedish chocolate delicacy not to confuse these brownies with is kärleksmums, a chocolaty sheet cake with icing.

These brownies I think, are a heritage from the US-but they are served in many cafes in Sweden and are baked in many homes. The brownies are very chocolaty, moist, and usually have nuts in the batter. The choice of nuts is up to you. My favorites are walnuts and pecans.

Browning the butter is my take on the brownies, and I think this method gives these a little extra deep flavor.

Ingredients and substitutions

• Flour. All-purpose wheat flour works great for these brownies.
• Sugar. You can also use brown sugar or have half and half. If you feel like using maple syrup, it is moister, so you need to reduce the amount of butter or have one egg less in the batter.
• Butter. Salted butter is great for brownies since salt elevates the chocolate tones.
• Walnuts. You can bake these brownies without nuts or use pecans or hazelnuts instead.
• Dark chocolate.
• Cocoa powder.
• Eggs. In theory, you could use flax eggs or apple puree, but I have not tested it in this recipe. The consistency would be very different without eggs.
• Vanilla Extract. In Scandinavia, we use vanilla sugar. Both work great in this recipe.
• Baking powder. You can manage without also if you don't have it at home since the egg whip gives air in the batter.
• Salt.

What cocoa powder is best for chocolate brownies

Dutch-process cocoa at is perfect to use; it gives an intense chocolate flavor. You can use cacao powder also, but this does not give the same richness of taste in flavor. If you use cacao, you can add a pinch of espresso to the batter to give more flavor.

What about the chocolate?

All dark chocolates above 50 % cacao content work. The darker chocolate, the more profound and bitter flavor you get. I used a cacao content of only 50 % in my brownies. It was regular dark chocolate meant for baking.

Equipment

For the recipe, you need a pan of size 9x9 or 8x12. I baked these in an old pan in size 20x 27cm. It is relatively small, but the amount makes 12 decent size pieces or 16 smaller ones.

To whip your eggs and sugar, you need a hand whip, hand mixer, or stand mixer.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, 175C. Line an 8x12-inch or similar pan with parchment paper. You get it to set in the corners, for example, by wrinkling it first with your hands to a ball.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. The butter gets foamy with cracking and popping noises when the liquid evaporates. Once the crackling stops, swirl the pan until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Once the bits are amber in color, remove the pan from heat.

3. Add in the slightly chopped chocolate and stir until melted.

4. Combine the eggs and sugar. With a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat on medium-high speed until completely fluffy in texture and pale in color. This takes about 8-10 minutes. Add in the vanilla extract.

5. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the egg whip with a sieve.

6. Mix at a low speed for some seconds and pour in the butter and chocolate mix. Mix gently.

7. Add in the nuts.

8. Pour the batter into your pan and even it out with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes. Let the brownies cool down before serving.

Variations

Gluten-free: You can make gluten-free brownies by replacing the flour with a gluten-free mix. In my experience, gluten-free mixes absorb more liquid, so I would reduce the flour amount by some tablespoons from the original recipe.

Milk-free: If you need to make these milk-free, you can replace the butter with margarine, but skip the step about browning since you can not brown margarine the same way as butter since it does not have the milk proteins that caramelize.

Storing

Best eaten within two days of baking. To keep your brownies from drying out, store them tightly wrapped in a cool, dry place.

Yes, you can freeze your brownies, also. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Other Scandinavian desserts you might enjoy

• Swedish chocolate balls-kokosbollar
• Swedish blueberry pie
• Swedish cinnamon buns
• Small strawberry cake with whipped cream
• Oven pancake