What kind of baking blog would this be if there wasn’t a recipe for easy, classic, homemade brownies? These brownies use both cocoa powder and chocolate chips and come together in no time.

Whether you’re a fan of edge brownie pieces or the coveted middle piece, these brownies are for you. They’re fudgy and a little, moist, and have that glossy, crinkly, crackly flakey top. I bet they’ll remind you of the boxed mix brownies you grew up on.

What You’ll Find In This Post

Feel free to jump to what you need!

• What You’ll Need (Ingredients and Equipment)
• What Type of Chocolate to Use for Brownies
• How to Cleanly Cut Brownies

What You’ll Need to Make Basic Bea Brownies

Ingredients for Basic Bea Brownies

Necessary Tools & Equipment

These brownies are made in an 8-inch x 8-inch glass baking dish, lined with aluminum foil. The aluminum foil makes it easy to remove the brownies from the pan, cut them into pretty slices, and serve them up (also you won’t need to clean the baking dish after – praises).

You’ll also need an electric hand mixer, two medium-sized mixing bowls, a whisk, and a stiff spatula.

You can make these by hand in a pinch, but the electric mixer makes it easier to whip up the eggs and get that signature glossy top.

What Type of Chocolate Chips Should You Use for Basic Bea Brownies?

When I originally tested these brownies, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but they turned out way too sweet. After that, I opted for bittersweet chips (look for ones in the 70%-80% range) and found that the balance of these brownies came out way better.

I opt for using chocolate chips in this recipe instead of a chopped bar of chocolate because I like how they partially melt in the butter and result in melted chocolate bites that are spread throughout the batter.

How to Cleanly Cut Brownies

Brownies are rich and fudgy – which is what we love about them. But that can make creating those pretty and clean brownie slices a bit difficult.

For the cleanest slices, go through the following steps:

1. Wet a clean chef’s knife under warm water. It shouldn’t be dripping wet, but there should be a bit of water on each side of the blade.
2. Press the knife down through the baked brownies so that the slice is made in a singular downward motion. Don’t use a sawing motion.
3. Gently remove the knife from the brownies and wipe it clean.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for each cut until you have all of your necessary cuts.

If you make these basic bea brownies, let me know your thoughts and how they turn out! Be sure to tag me @ficklebea on Instagram so that I can see what you make.

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