Barefoot Contessa’s Brownie Pudding
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A decadent rich chocolate brownie pudding dessert that is easy to throw together. Barefoot Contessa’s Brownie Pudding tastes like an undercooked brownie! Perfect with a scoop of vanilla icecream
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I don’t know about you but I find it very hard to resist not eating a spoonful of batter when I’m whipping up a batch of brownies. I know, uncooked eggs and all that but I can’t help having a spoonful. But ok, you’re right so not supposed to do that.
So what’s a gal to do? Bake this brownie pudding instead.
That’s what this dessert tastes like with the crunchy top of a brownie to boot. I mean this is basically the dessert for anyone who loves a good under cooked brownie. It has the consistency of a brownie and a pudding all in one.
To Make This Brownie Pudding You Will Need:
- 2-quart oblong baking dish (I used a 7×11 2-quart dish)
- Small Saucepan
- Kitchenaid mixer
- Sifter/Strainer
- Larger Dish to place the brownie pudding in as it bakes- I use my 13×9 Pyrex Dish
How To Make This Brownie Pudding
The recipe starts first with melting your butter in a saucepan.
Pro Tip: After it’s melted, be sure to let it cool before you add it to the rest of your mixture so as not to scramble the eggs.
Next is mixing your eggs and sugar until they are thick and yellow. You definitely want to use your stand mixer for this step. The eggs and sugar need to get a thick yellow stage which takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. If you are using your hand mixer, it will take longer.
In a separate bowl, sift your flour and cocoa powder. Sifting is super important to make sure the cocoa powder and flour are completely incorporated with each other. Whisking will just not accomplish this. Once its sifted, add this to your egg mixture along with your vanilla.
Now super important. Do. Not. Overmix. I like to always finish mixing my flour in by hand so as not to overmix.
Last but not least, time to add the cooled butter. Just add in slowly with your mixer on low. So you know don’t have butter all over your walls.
When you go to bake this dessert, you want to bake this in a hot water bath or in fancy french terms- a bain marie.
What Is Water Bath?
A water bath is essentially a slow way to cook the cheesecake. A cheesecake is type of custard and we want it to cook slowly so the texture is smooth and creamy. To achieve that, we place the cheesecake pan into a second larger pan with water.
This is similar to baking a cheesecake. To do this, place your dish inside a larger oven safe dish and fill the larger one with boiling hot water. By cooking the pudding in a hot water bath, the dessert cooks slowly and helps to contribute to what makes this dessert so ooey gooey delicious.
If you are nervous about baking with a bain marie, you can get away with placing an oven-safe dish on a lower rack in your oven filled with boiling hot water. The steam will rise and heat the dessert slowly and you don’t have to worry about hot water seeping or splashing into your pudding and ruining your day. (Source: Food52)
Watch That Pan Size!
I had this happen the first time I made the dish. I assumed I knew what a 2-quart baking dish was. I was wrong. If you use a slightly different dish, then it will affect the overall baking time. So make sure you are using a 2-quart (I used a 2-quart 7×11) to get that ooey gooey brownie texture at the 1 hour mark.
If you use a smaller or larger pan then you will need to adjust the baking time.
More Baking Tips For This Brownie Pudding
- You want to make sure you measure your flour correctly. Here is a tutorial on how to measure your flour correctly.
- The key to this dessert it to not. overbake. it. The toothpick is supposed to come out with some ooey gooeyness on it.
- Be sure to use natural unsweetened cocoa powder, not dutch process. Here is a long nerdy post on why the two cocoa powders are not interchangeable.
So if you love an ooey gooey molten brownie, then you might be finding yourself hoarding this dessert all for yourself.
And hey, not going to blame you one bit.
If you love this recipe, then be sure to leave me a comment and rating below!
Brownie Pudding
Ingredients
- * 2 sticks unsalted butter plus extra for buttering the dish
- * 5 large eggs at room temperature
- * 2 cups sugar
- * 3/4 cup good cocoa powder
- * 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- * 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter an 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2 inch) oblong baking dish.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes until thick and yellow.
- Meanwhile, sift the flour and cocoa powder and set aside.
- When the egg mixture is ready lower the speed and add the vanilla, cocoa, and flour mixture. Mix only until combined. With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.
- Pour the brownie mixture in the prepared dish and place into a larger baking pan. Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to the halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour. A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out three quarters clean. The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is between a brownie and a pudding.
- Allow to cool and serve with vanilla ice-cream.
Baked for exactly 1hour…way over cooked…better directions…start checking @ 45 minutes…I will try it again and start checking @45 min
Steve I’m so sorry it overbaked on you. A couple of reasons this may have happened. Too high of a baking temp possibly. Or This may be due to pan size (this happened to me the first time I made it as well). If the pan size is different than the 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2-inch) it can change the baking time. I made sure to put a note in the recipe for this!
This look so good! But I think you’re missing the word “cup” for 3/4 CUP good cocoa powder.
Thanks Melissa! I fixed it, so all set now 🙂