Mayo Has Been The Secret To Moist Brownies All Along
Making brownies from scratch is a lot harder than it looks at first glance. Not only do you have to take extra steps like sifting your flour, which you wouldn't do with box brownies, but it can also be tough to get the brownies to be moist. Many times, they come out flaky, dry, and just not quite right.
The good news is that there's a hack you can use to get around this and keep your brownies moist and delicious — adding mayonnaise. Mayonnaise helps keep your brownies soft and prevents them from getting too dry. Even though it sounds odd, you won't taste the mayonnaise in the brownies. Better yet, you can actually use this trick in your boxed brownies, too, although it's not usually needed.
If this idea has you intrigued, here's a quick rundown on how to make brownies using mayo. Plus, we present a few other tips and tricks you can use to keep your brownies from being too dry.
How to make brownies using mayo
Making brownies with mayo is actually surprisingly easy. For this recipe, you'll need ¾ cup of flour, 1 teaspoon each of vanilla extract and backing powder, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 cup each of chocolate chips and sugar, and ½ cup of mayonnaise. You can also add ½ cup of chopped walnuts if you want.
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lining an 8x8 square baking pan with parchment paper, aluminum foil, or cooking spray. Then, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl and set them aside. Next, in a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate chips. Remove this from the heat and add the eggs, vanilla, sugar, and mayonnaise and stir the ingredients until they're smooth. Then, add the flour to the mix and stir. If you're using walnuts, toss these in now as well.
Now that your batter is prepped spread it into your baking pan and bake the brownies for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the brownies from the oven, turn them onto a wire rack, and then cut them into 16 squares and enjoy!
Other unexpected ingredients to add to your brownies
Besides adding mayo to your brownies, there are a few other things you can do to prevent them from drying out. One trick for keeping your brownies soft and moist is to pay attention to how long you beat the batter. Overbeating your batter can cause it to fluff up more, which leads to brownies that are fluffier as opposed to denser and moister. Instead, try to mix the batter until the ingredients are just blended and then pour it into the pan.
Speaking of the pan, you'll also want to pay attention to what pan you use. Make sure not to opt for a size up or down when baking brownies. Pans that are too small cause your brownies to be underbaked, while pans that are too big can cause your brownies to be overbaked and dry.
Lastly, you can also play around with other ingredients in your brownies. One easy trick is to swap out the oil in your recipe for melted butter, which will give your cookies a softer texture. You can also cut down the amount of egg or use just the yolk to prevent your brownies from getting too fluffy. This helps keep them moister and denser when they come out of the oven. Whichever trick you use, any and all of these are great ways to keep your brownies soft and moist.