Bake

Brownie Brittle

by:
June 10, 2024
4.3
6 Ratings
Brownie Brittle
Photo by Elvin Abril
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 35 minutes
  • makes 12 to 16 pieces
Author Notes

This cocoa-and-chocolate-chip brittle manifests somewhere between a cracker and a shortbread, and is the kind of sweet you can have after lunch without later crashing and falling asleep at your desk. The recipe comes from Chula King in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. —Amanda Hesser

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate — can use chips or a bar, roughly chopped
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 13-inch x18-inch sheet pan and place a piece of parchment paper on the greased pan. This will ensure the parchment paper does not slide around when you are spreading the thick brownie brittle batter. Set aside.
  2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and then set aside.
  3. Combine the vegetable oil and bittersweet chocolate in a microwave-safe dish. Microwave on 50% power in 30-second increments until the chocolate is melted, about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Stir to combine. Allow to cool slightly.
  4. Beat egg whites on high in a medium bowl until frothy, about 20 seconds (this can be done with a wire whisk instead of a mixer). Add sugar and vanilla extract. Beat on high until satiny, about 30 seconds.
  5. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg whites. Beat on high until well combined, about 20 seconds.
  6. Add the dry ingredients to the egg-white mixture. Beat on low just until combined. Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips and the toasted pecan pieces, saving some to sprinkle over the top. The batter will be thick.
  7. Transfer the brownie brittle batter to the prepared baking sheet and spread it into a thin layer. It doesn’t need to reach the edges, but you’ll want to spread it as thinly as possibly, keeping the layer a somewhat even thickness. Sprinkle remaining pecan pieces on top.
  8. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until crispy. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Break into pieces. Enjoy!
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  • Smaug
    Smaug
  • Allison
    Allison
  • Amanda Hesser
    Amanda Hesser
  • ellemmbee
    ellemmbee
  • AntoniaJames
    AntoniaJames
Amanda Hesser

Recipe by: Amanda Hesser

Before starting Food52 with Merrill, I was a food writer and editor at the New York Times. I've written several books, including "Cooking for Mr. Latte" and "The Essential New York Times Cookbook." I played myself in "Julie & Julia" -- hope you didn't blink, or you may have missed the scene! I live in Brooklyn with my husband, Tad, and twins, Walker and Addison.

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25 Reviews

Lynn W.
Lynn W. June 24, 2024
Made this recipe as written and it was delicious and crispy. I spread the batter thinly on a sheet pan (it almost made it to the edges). Baked it for 30 minutes for a crispy crunch throughout.

Batter is very thick and does not spread during baking, but it does puff up.

Crumbled some into coarse crumb and sprinkled it as crunchy topping on trifle, and ice cream. Yum!

The family loves this recipe.

 
Smaug
Smaug June 21, 2024
I tried it as drop cookies; it worked considerably better than I expected. I had doubts since as made in the recipe it didn't spread noticeably, but my globs melted down into very neat cookies. I guess they were about 2tsp. each; the dough isn't conducive to neat portioning- at any rate I got 18 cookies out of 1/2 recipe. I subbed butter for the oil and used the egg yolks, so they were a bit richer. I cut baking time to 25 min; still very crisp. I tried a couple with raw pecan halves pushed in on top- the pecans didn't actually burn, but they were a bit overcooked; otherwise it worked ok.
 
Brie
Brie June 16, 2024
This recipe turned out quite nice. I couldn’t get the mixture as thin on the pan as I would have liked, resulting in a little less crispiness than desired, but it was still tasty and a nice change from brownies. We served it with vanilla ice cream… but my mother, who loves chocolate, will enjoy it all on its own.
One thing I did wrong: the recipe said ‘mix all dry ingredients’ so I mixed the sugar in with the other dry ingredients. Then when it was time to beat the egg whites I realized that the sugar should have been held to mix in with the egg whites. It all worked out; I beat the egg whites and just added the vanilla. Once combined, no one was the wiser! That’s what I get for violating the rule of reading the whole recipe beforehand! ;)
Otherwise great recipe.
 
Smaug
Smaug June 17, 2024
Interesting- I took had a little trouble spreading the batter, but they came out about as crisp as is possible. Could be the oven- I did 30 min. at 310 in a convection oven. At any rate nice to see some actual discussion of the recipe going on- don't get a lot of that here anymore.
 
Smaug
Smaug June 17, 2024
"...I too..."; still waiting for that edit function.
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. June 19, 2024
Glad you liked it!
 
Smaug
Smaug June 15, 2024
So anyway, got around to making the recipe. I made 1/2 recipe on a 12" round pan; I used 70g (35g for half recipe) for the melted chocolate. On the spur of the moment I added the egg yolk to the melted chocolate/egg white mixture, which at any rate didn't hurt anything. I did indeed find it a little hard to spread; I used Ghirardelli chips, which are a bit larger than most, and that didn't help. I ended up covering about 3/4 of the surface, which was OK- they came out about 1/4" thick and quite crisp. I also didn't toast the nuts- I rarely toast nuts other than almonds, as I don't really see it as an improvement, but they toasted during baking anyway. I might try this again as individual cookies, maybe with some ganache on top of I'm feeling decadent. The batter didn't really spread, just puffed up some, but it might work out as a drop cookie. Might need some flattening. All in all, a good recipe.
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. June 19, 2024
Thanks for giving it a try, Smaug!
 
Lorelei M.
Lorelei M. June 13, 2024
Eh, might be good as an ice cream sandwich, otherwise weird texture and kinda boring
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. June 19, 2024
Sorry it wasn't your cup of tea. I like the ice cream sandwich idea tho!
 
Bebewatson
Bebewatson June 12, 2024
King Arthur Flour has a very similar recipe (from last year)
 
Gail
Gail June 12, 2024
Is the bittersweet chocolate in a block like baking chocolate or chips or what? How Would you measure 1/4 cup from a block? My mother loved brownie brittle!
 
Smaug
Smaug June 12, 2024
That's a strange one; I have no problem with volume measurements in general (the need to use weights is greatly exagerated), but chocolate? Google isn't awfully helpful, but around 70g/ 1/4c. seems about right. Measuring fine powders like cocoa by volume is also problematic; I'd go for a packed 1/4c.
 
ellemmbee
ellemmbee June 12, 2024
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
 
Smaug
Smaug June 12, 2024
Not really helpful- like other sources, it gives weights for chips, chunks, and chopped, not for solid chocolate.
 
AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames June 12, 2024
The original Chula King recipe, as published by the Tallahassee Democrat, calls for "¼ cup (2 ounces, 57 grams) bittersweet chocolate chips." ;o)
 
Gail
Gail June 12, 2024
Thank you Antonia!
 
AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames June 12, 2024
My pleasure, Gail. Here us the link to the recipe in the Tallahassee Democrat, if you're interested:

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/entertainment/restaurants/2024/04/24/homemade-brownie-brittle-recipe-is-a-chocolate-lovers-dream/73418141007/

;o)
 
Nicole D.
Nicole D. June 12, 2024
Hi Gail! I apologize for not catching this when I uploaded the recipe—you can use a bar roughly chopped or chips. We made it both ways, but the original does call for chips. I’ve updated it above.
 
Nicole D.
Nicole D. June 12, 2024
Thank you for AJ! I uploaded this and updated the recipe above. We tried it both ways!
 
Nicole D.
Nicole D. June 12, 2024
Hi Smaug, I updated the recipe above. I originally omitted the kind of chocolate when uploading the recipe, then discovered we’d tried it with chips *and* a bar, roughly chopped. Either works!
 
Smaug
Smaug June 13, 2024
Ah- doesn't look like this is an absolutely critical measurement, but it really would be better to give it by weight; chips vary a lot in size and "roughly chopped" is too vague to be useful- most chocolate bars are sold by weight and divided into squares with consistent weight.
 
Nicole D.
Nicole D. June 13, 2024
Hi Smaug! I agree with you—we are trying to provide both measurements in all recipes going forward, especially our baking recipes.
 
Allison
Allison June 11, 2024
Brownie Brittle - easy and addictive! I subbed in walnuts for the pecans because it’s what I had on hand.
 
Amanda H.
Amanda H. June 19, 2024
Great -- happy to hear you liked it!