Small Batch Brown Butter, Walnut and Espresso Brownies with a Coffee Crumb

My first ever recipe. How bloody exciting.

I have a soft spot for all things brown butter and all things coffee so it felt apt for my first recipe creation to contain both.

The first time I tried the American version of coffee cake (a light sponge, usually topped with a streusel/crumble and confusingly not coffee flavoured but designed to be eaten WITH coffee) was making the Coffee Coffee Cake from my all-time favourite cookbook, Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz. The coffee crumble on the top was just the most moreish thing ever and I started to think about how I could use this in other recipes.

I had a search and couldn’t find too many recipes that had a brownie recipe with a crumble topping so that sparked some creativity. And after a couple of attempts, this Small Batch Brown Butter, Walnut, and Espresso Brownies with a Coffee Crumb recipe was born. I have a feeling I will have this recipe in my back pocket for years to come.

This is my kind of brownie - super fudgy and dense. The kind that looks completely uncooked when it comes out of the oven but the fridge works its magic and transforms it into the most decadent treat. Laced with brown butter and coffee, this recipe is rich - but it’s also small batch so it’s impossible to go TOO overboard.

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Ingredients

Coffee Crumb

• 30g plain flour

• 20g light brown sugar

• 2 tsp instant coffee

• 20g unsalted butter

• pinch of salt

Brownie Batter

• 110g unsalted butter

• 100g dark chocolate (I used 54% cocoa)

• 1 tbsp instant coffee

• 1/8 tsp salt

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 70g caster sugar

• 70g light brown sugar

• 1 large egg

• 75g plain flour

• 70g walnuts

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Method

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan.

2. Grease and line a standard 2lb loaf tin with baking paper, leaving an overhang over the sides.

TIP: use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is at the right temperature. Oven’s vary a lot and some can be as much as 20°C out which will affect the success of any recipe.

Toast the walnuts

1. Roughly chop the walnuts and place them on a baking tray. Place in the preheated oven for 5-7 minutes until they smell toasty and have browned slightly. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Make the coffee crumb

1. While the nuts are toasting, add the flour, light brown sugar, instant coffee, butter, and salt to a small bowl. Rub all the ingredients together with your fingertips until it becomes a sandy texture and holds together when squeezed. Set aside.

Make the brownie batter

1. Add the chocolate, instant coffee, vanilla, and salt to a medium heatproof bowl.

2. Brown the butter. Put the butter in a small saucepan and set over medium/high heat. Melt fully and continue to boil away while swirling the pan to avoid burning any of the milk solids that will fall to the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until the bubbles become a cappuccino-like foam.

3. Add the brown butter to the bowl with the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is fully melted. Let the mixture cool slightly.

4. Add the caster sugar and light brown sugar to the chocolate mixture and beat until smooth and velvety.

5. Add the egg and mix vigorously until combined.

6. Add the flour and toasted walnuts and fold until just combined.

7. Put the mixture in the lined loaf tin and even out the batter so it is level.

8. Sprinkle on the coffee crumb, covering the surface of the brownie.

9. Bake for 30 minutes. The batter will still have a significant wobble when taken out of the oven.

10. Place the tin on a rack and leave to cool for 1 hour. Once the tin has cooled down significantly, place it in the fridge for at least four hours, preferably overnight. DO NOT SKIP THE COOLING STAGE. This is part of the process to get a dense, fudgy brownie. Skipping this will mean you just have a molten heap of gooey brownie. Not a bad thing, but not what we are going for here.

11. Remove the brownie from the tin using the baking paper as handles. Slice eight equal pieces and enjoy!