If there is one thing we have in common, it is our love for the fudgy, rich, crackly-topped chocolatey delights known to many as the brownie. So when we were asked to bake something for a journalism article, we did what any reasonable brownie-obsessed individual would do: fall down a rabbit hole to scavenge for the internet’s most reputable recipes.
Eventually, we stumbled upon NYT Cooking, which boasts over 20 different brownie recipes — a classic dessert that’s supposedly “easy peasy.” After much scrolling and way too much bickering, we narrowed it down to three recipes to test side-by-side: a four-ingredient Nutella brownie, a seven-ingredient classic brownie and an eight-ingredient brownie with muscovado brown sugar.
To keep things fair for testing purposes, we skipped any added toppings such as icing and nuts, and judged the recipes on what really mattered to us: ingredients that are easy to acquire, time, taste and texture. For us, a perfect brownie needs not only flavor but also about how easily accessible the ingredients are and whether making it is a fun bake or an unnecessary time commitment.
The easiest recipe was by far the four-ingredient Nutella brownie, which turned out to be a true brownie blessing for struggling bakers. All four ingredients — Nutella, salt, eggs and flour — were ridiculously easy to find. The recipe recommended baking for 22 to 25 minutes, and we decided on the lower limit: 22 minutes.
The sweet result had a dense interior and a top that formed a satisfying crackly crust. The crispy top was a positive for us, though the brownie was slightly denser than Jen’s ideal brownie texture.
As for taste, the recipe deviated from the classic brownie — we both agreed that it was slightly too sweet and that the hazelnut taste took away from the depth of the chocolate flavor that we had come to love and expect from a brownie.
Ingredients: 5/5 Falcons
Time: 5/5 Falcons
Texture: Jen – 4.5/5 Falcons; Sasha – 5/5 Falcons
Taste: Jen – 4/5 Falcons; Sasha – 4/5 Falcons
Tester’s Note: To tone down the Nutella flavor and bring more of a chocolatey richness, we recommend that you substitute some of the Nutella for unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate, adding sugar according to preference.
Still, if you are not too fond of Nutella, this recipe isn’t going to magically convert you. “It tastes like Nutella first, brownie second,” Sasha said.
This seven-ingredient brownie was the most classic version of the three. Compared to the Nutella brownies, this one was less sweet and had a more brownie-like chocolate profile. The unsweetened chocolate was more of a specialty ingredient; Jen acquired the bars from Safeway.
The recipe took slightly longer than the Nutella recipe — the prep time alone took about 25 minutes — but was still manageable. One challenge was melting the chocolate over a stove, but if baking newbies like us can do it, you can too.
The recipe’s bake time was 20 to 30 minutes, but to our untrained eyes, the brownie still looked underbaked at 25 minutes. We decided to bake it for around 27 minutes in total.
In hindsight, we should have taken it out earlier, because the brownie turned out cakier than intended. For Jen, the taste was pretty solid, although it was a little too buttery; meanwhile, Sasha was harsher in her critique. She called the butter flavor “atrocious,” and declared that it overpowered the chocolate.
For texture, Jen noted that it was more crumbly than the previous recipe due to the longer bake time and stated her preference for a more moist, fudgy brownie. Sasha complained that it was not as dense as she would have liked and did not form the crackly top she admired in the Nutella brownie.
Ingredients: 4/5 Falcons
Time: 4/5 Falcons
Taste: Jen – 3.5/5 Falcons; Sasha – 2.5/5 Falcons
Texture: Jen – 4/5 Falcons; Sasha – 2/5 Falcons
Tester’s Recommendation: We advise those trying this recipe to start checking the brownies at 20 minutes and decide how much longer they spend in the oven based on the desired texture. If the butter flavor bothers you, browning or reducing it could help — though messing with butter can also affect the texture negatively. The disappointing results for this recipe could be a result of our incompetence, but we still suggest steering away from this recipe to be safe.
These eight-ingredient brownies took the most time with over an hour of effort, but they aren’t called “supernatural” for no reason. This recipe’s batch size was double those of the other recipes, but was absolutely worth it.
The only real downside of these brownies was the inconvenience of the ingredients: muscovado brown sugar is annoying to find and bittersweet chocolate bars are another specialty ingredient. This recipe was also quite difficult, requiring the use of the stove to melt two entire bars of chocolate along with two sticks of butter and two cups of sugar — that step alone took up 15 minutes of our prep time.
We found that the texture could easily be adjusted by changing the bake time: take the brownies out earlier for a brownie that is more moist or bake longer if you prefer crispy edges and a firmer bite.
As we couldn’t find a brownie pan large enough, we separated the batter into two pans to bake for 25 minutes at the same time — the recipe says to bake for 35 to 40 minutes for a single 13-by-9-inch pan.
After 25 minutes, the brownies came out with a perfect texture: It wasn’t too dense, too moist or too cakey.
Both of us believe the brownie was the best bite of food we put into our mouths for well over a month. Jen believes that the brown sugar added depth and richness, making these brownies truly taste out of this world.
However, an unfortunate event occurred when Sasha dropped half of the batch on the floor, earning her a scolding from Jen (we are back on good terms now).
Ingredients: 3.5/5 Falcons
Time: 3.5/5 Falcons
Texture: Jen – 5/5 Falcons; Sasha – 5/5 Falcons
Taste: Jen – 5/5 Falcons; Sasha – 5/5 Falcons
Tester’s recommendation: If you can’t find dark brown sugar like muscovado sugar, regular brown sugar should still get you close, because the key contribution is the richness from the molasses that complements the chocolate, butter and vanilla extract.
Final Takeaways
After much contemplation, we’ve come to the conclusion that complicated recipes are only worth the extra steps when those steps actually create noticeable upgrades in flavor or texture. The clear winner was the eight-ingredient muscovado sugar brownies. It proved that extra ingredients can add depth and make a brownie genuinely taste better, while the four-ingredient Nutella brownie recipe proved that simplicity can still deliver amazing texture and a satisfying result with the best return on effort — especially if you love Nutella.
We shared the same final ranking: eight-ingredient brownies in first place, Nutella brownies in second, and in last place, the 7-ingredient brownies.
Additionally, a blind rating from 12 other brownie enthusiasts resulted in eight of them choosing the eight-ingredient brownies as their favorite and four choosing the Nutella ones.
So there you have it: if you want the best brownie, putting in extra time can be worth it; if you want an easy brownie that still delivers, the four-ingredient nutella recipe is hard to beat — just don’t expect it to taste like a classic rich chocolate brownie.
