Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies
- Total Time
- About 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ½cup cocoa
- ½cup butter (1 stick)
- 2eggs
- 1cup sugar
- ¼cup flour
- 1cup chopped or broken-up walnuts or pecans
- 1teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
226 calories; 15 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 17 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 25 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
- Step 2
Melt butter in saucepan with cocoa and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.
- Step 3
In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, nuts and salt. Add to the cocoa-butter mixture. Stir until just combined.
- Step 4
Pour into a greased 8 x 8-inch-square pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Do not overbake; the brownies should be gooey. Let cool, then cut into bars.
Private Notes
Comments
This has been my go-to brownie recipe for 30 years, even after going to baking school! I agree that using the best cocoa possible makes a difference. These days, I use Callebaut. In the 80s, an acquaintence in Germany to whom I brought some of the brownies, and who considered herself a great cook, asked for the recipe but was never able to get it to work. She kept asking me what she was doing wrong and I was never able to solve her problem. Eventually, she moved to the US and stole my husband!
This is the go-to brownie recipe for so many people, including me, that I wasn’t planning on commenting. However, it seems like all the other people who love this recipe are swimming in a sea of Valrhona chocolate like Scrooge McDuck diving through piles of gold coins. Just wanted all the other bakers getting cocoa powder at Trader Joe’s and Walmart to know that everyone loves these brownies, even if made with regular ingredients. *Everyone* loves fat and sugar. Sincerely, a broke grad student
Bake it like Kate: Food & Wine published this recipe in a dessert book published in the late '80s. They left the method in Miss Hepburn's original rendition. Step 1 calls for the eggs and vanilla to be added to the melted cocoa/butter mixture, and then you "beat it all like mad." This you must do with perfect posture and cheeks sucked in, of course.
Made these yesterday as instructed but with roasted Italian hazelnuts. Super easy, perfect brownie texture. However, even though I used high quality cocoa powder, we really felt they lacked the rich chocolate flavor you kinda want in a brownie. I’l probably make them again in the future because they were that quick and easy, but would take the advice of others and reduce the sugar.
Absolutely love this recipe. Super easy, super forgiving, and that fudgy, sticky-chewy bite is perfection. My lazy cleanup hack: I melt the butter, cocoa, and chocolate right in one large microwave-safe bowl, let it cool slightly, then mix everything in the same bowl. I also use a parchment sling so I can lift the brownies right out and transfer them straight into an airtight container. I’m generous with the nuts — toasted walnuts, pecans, sliced almonds, pistachios, whatever I have on hand. This recipe is endlessly adaptable and honestly hard to mess up. A total keeper.
You do not need expensive chocolate for this recipe. There is so much cocoa you can't tell. Also if you don't have time to heat everything on the stove, melt the butter "slightly" in the microwave. You can just add everything together in one bowl. Be sure to just add eggs last so they don't cook in the batter.