Oreo Browned Butter Brownies

Perfect brownies that are fudgy, chewy, and have that crackly, paper-thin shiny top. Made even better with browned butter and Oreo cookies! These Browned Butter Oreo Brownies are a favorite around our house and can be whipped up in about 40 minutes with no mixer required.

What Makes the Best Brownies

In my opinion there’s no competition. A fudgy brownie will always beat a cakey brownie. So how do you achieve a fudgy brownie at home? You gotta know which ingredients to use, and use the best quality you can. Brownies really don’t have many ingredients – so we want to make sure that the ingredients we choose are the best because it will make a difference in the final result. The two most important ingredients to think about for brownies are – chocolate and butter.

• Chocolate. A mixture of cocoa powder and melted chocolate is the way to go here. All cocoa powder and you’ll have a cakey brownie. All chocolate and it’ll be more like fudge. I use melted Ghirardelli semi sweet chips and Ghirardelli Dutch Process Cocoa Powder.
• Butter. High quality butter will both brown better and taste better. I find that if I use a lower quality butter it tends to burn easier when browning and doesn’t have the same depth of flavor. My go to is always Kerry Gold, but other great options are Pulgra, Danish Creamery, or Tillamook.

How to Make Oreo Browned Butter Brownies

Start by browning the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. The butter will melt, then start to bubble and pop. There’s no need to stir it, just swirl the pan around occasionally. Once the fat and milk solids separate and the butter begins to brown, it will quiet down, stop popping, and start to foam up. At that point, watch it closely to avoid burning it. Once the bits at the bottom of the pan are nice and browned and the butter has a nutty aroma, it’s done!

While the butter is browning, add the chocolate chips to a medium sized bowl. Pour the hot browned butter over the chocolate and let it sit for 1 minute to allow the chocolate to start melting. Then stir the mixture together until all the chocolate is completely melted and it’s smooth. Set it aside to cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Leave a bit of an overhang with the parchment so that you can easily lift the brownies out of the pan once they’ve cooled enough to slice.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs, and egg white for 5 minutes. This step is super important. Because we aren’t using any leavening agents (baking powder or soda) in this recipe, whisking air into the eggs is what will help the brownies rise in the oven and get that shiny top!

Whisk until your arm feels like it’s gonna fall off and the mixture is pale yellow in color. Whisk in the vanilla until combined. Then slowly pour in the melted chocolate while whisking. Pour slowly and whisk fast so that the warm chocolate doesn’t cook the eggs.

Then switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and top with Oreos. Break up the Oreos into small pieces to make it easier to slice the brownies when they’ve cooled.

Bake for 30 minutes. They will still be a little gooey at that point, but will set up as they cool. Let cool, then slice and serve!

Brownie FAQs

• Can I Make these Brownies Gluten Free? Yes, all you need to do to make these GF is use a 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour in place of the all purpose flour.
• How Do I Store Brownies? You can keep them on the counter for up to 2 days, but once they’re sliced brownies have a tendency to dry out. I recommend storing them in the fridge in an airtight container (for up to a week) and then popping them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds before eating.
• Why Did My Brownies Turn Out Cakey? My guess would be that you improperly measured the flour and/or cocoa powder. It’s super easy to prevent by buying a kitchen scale and measuring your ingredients by weight. But, if you don’t have a kitchen scale make sure you spoon and level your flour and cocoa powder vs scooping it out of the bag with the measuring cup.
• Can I Bake in a Different Sized Pan? Yes. You can bake these in a 9X9 pan for 27-28 minutes for slightly thinner brownies. If you bake in a larger pan than these options, you might want to double the recipe.

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