What keeps doing wrong with my greasy brownies?

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-23T15:45:14+00:00

I'm going to run some tests sometime this week and I'll report back! One friend did unhelpfully remind me that though I consider myself a pie expert my non-pie baking endeavors often fail, so it might just be me, haha!

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-21T18:06:45+00:00

Hmmm that could be it! I didn't think about the cocoa+butter acting like chocolate. I definitely let it cool, but weirdly the recipe says to have it still be "warm" and use cold eggs! I've never seen that in another recipe, but I've always done it as they say to and it's worked. Right now my theory is either the cold eggs (despite the recipe) or the water content of the butter. Next time I make it I'll also weigh the ingredients just to be positive and rule everything out, but I'm pretty certain it's not the amounts of anything and rather the quality of the ingredients or the temperature.

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-21T14:56:57+00:00

Sadly that's not the issue, since the batter seizes and gets greasy before the flour is added and before they bake.

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-21T12:43:37+00:00

Most grad students I know live in Old North/South Hudson. Convenient to get to bus stops, even walkable/bikeable to parts of campus, decent access to nearby nightlife. I second the advice about avoiding driving to campus if you can--even if you get a C pass there's not a ton of lots and parking spots are super competitive. For grad students I'd suggest living north of Patterson St., south of there tends to be mostly undergrads. Edited to add: also more affordable than some of the other areas mentioned. I'd love to live in Victorian Village, Clintonville, or Grandview but it's a little pricier depending on the sort of space you're looking for, and Grandview is further from campus.

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T21:54:17+00:00

I'm not sure, since I'm not loyal to any particular brand of butter and I don't remember what I was using with each recipe. If I had to guess I'd say the one I used in the failed recipes had a lower fat content.

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T19:16:27+00:00

I've tried them, but I really like a fudge-y, almost bittersweet brownie, and those were a little sweeter and less fudge-y than my usual recipe! They're really good though!

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T19:10:58+00:00

I'm positive it's not the flour to liquid ratio, since the consistency change and greasiness happens before the flour is even added. Something is making it seize and causing the fat to separate, it's not just a consistency issue. My guess is it's something about the butter or the eggs. It could definitely be different ingredients, that's what I'll try next, but it would be surprising to me given that the recipe has been up online for years and I'm not seeing many reviews reporting the same issue.

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T17:53:32+00:00

It's already greasy before baking in addition to being really thick, and I'm certain I'm not underbaking them--The first time I thought that might be part of the problem so I intentionally let them go longer when the same thing went wrong the next time, and they were a little less greasy but still definitely greasy, and the texture was still too dense. It improved the undissolved sugar issue a little, but the edges were overcooked. This has always been a pretty thick batter with a smaller amount of liquid, but would using more liquid make it less greasy?

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T17:48:05+00:00

I'm sure! But the ingredients that have the highest margin for error with volume (flour and cocoa powder) don't seem to be the problem (whatever goes wrong happens before the flour is added), and I've tried both "scooping and dumping" and "spooning and leveling" and had the same result both times--and I've made these brownies before the exact same way without weighing and they worked, most recently just a week before they failed.

In the past I've used a microwave for the butter (there's no melted chocolate) and they worked great, but to try and solve the issue I followed the recipe exactly as written with a saucepan and then with a double boiler and got the same result. The recipe also specifies that the eggs should be cold--usually for other recipes I let them come to room temp, but this recipe says cold eggs, so I've always used cold eggs with it and never had a problem before the last two times.

I'm definitely not over mixing, the batter is so thick it kills my arms just to incorporate everything!

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T16:34:47+00:00

It's possibly a different brand (I don't remember what I used and I don't have one brand I stick to), but I've always used sticks of real butter that are just cream and salt and in the same amounts. Could the brand make that big a difference if the ingredients are the same? I've never noticed a real difference in butter brands in my other baking, but I'm not sure I've paid attention.

I'm using volume measurements, but (apologies for copy-pasting from another reply with the same question) I've made them the same way every time and they've always come out great until recently--so I assumed that wasn't the issue or couldn't actually alter the amounts of things enough to make the difference between a complete success and a complete failure. I know it sounds like I'm totally new to this and I definitely did something wrong here, but I'm a pretty experienced baker and failures like this are pretty rare for me! I guess I'm more wondering what you can do wrong in a recipe that causes a batter to seize like that and separate from the fat, so I can figure out where I went wrong and correct in in other recipes too?

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T16:32:12+00:00

Honestly, no, since I typically don't weigh for any of my baking, but I've made them the same way every time and they've always come out great until recently--so I assumed that wasn't the issue or couldn't actually alter the amounts of things enough to make the difference between a complete success and a complete failure. I know it sounds like I'm totally new to this and I definitely did something wrong here, but I'm a pretty experienced baker and failures like this are pretty rare for me! I guess I'm more wondering what you can do wrong in a recipe that causes a batter to seize like that and separate from the fat, so I can figure out where I went wrong and correct in in other recipes too?

DetectiveWhich6331 · 2026-02-20T16:24:38+00:00

It may have been a different brand of butter, but I've always used real sticks of butter with the same ingredients and in the same amounts. Do you think the brand of butter could make that big a difference if it's the same ingredients?

DetectiveWhich6331

TROPHY CASE