How to Tell When Brownies Are Done: 7 Quick Ways (2024)

FAQs

How to Tell When Brownies Are Done: 7 Quick Ways? ›

If the toothpick is totally clean, the brownies may already be over-baked. For cakey brownies, you're looking for a toothpick that is clean or has just a few crumbs attached.

If the toothpick is totally clean, the brownies may already be over-baked. For cakey brownies, you're looking for a toothpick that is clean or has just a few crumbs attached.

Problem 2: My brownies are too GOOEY

Honestly, there is a slim chance they are underbaked, but it's more likely that they just need to firm up in the fridge.

Wait until your brownies have completely cooled to room temperature. As brownies cool, they will solidify and set up, so slicing into them too early can result in brownie squares that fall apart or become a mess very quickly. Note: I don't recommend slicing baked brownies until just before you plan to serve them!

Gently shake the pan back and forth a few times and look at the middle of the brownies—if you're cooking fudgy brownies, they should wobble or jiggle slightly. They'll finish cooking after you take them out of the oven. If you're cooking chewy or cakey brownies, you shouldn't see any movement in the middle of the pan.

It's a sliding scale, and you can make just about any brownie texture from very gooey, to very cakey. Some might call brownies that fall in the middle chewy, however, we'll just call them slightly gooey, or slightly cakey.

Put the brownies back in the 300 degree oven and bake until a cooking thermometer reads 195 degrees, or about 30 more minutes. Finally, you'll cool the brownies for 30 minutes in the pan, then for 10 minutes on a cooling rack before slicing with a pizza cutter (my favorite tip) and serving.

Brownies keep cooking after you remove them from the oven, so you'll end up with an overcooked batch if you wait until there are no crumbs at all. Using an oven thermometer can also help you avoid overbaking because it'll tell you the exact temperature of your oven.

The temperature

Pre-heating your oven is of utmost important. Brownies also sink in the middle because they weren't baked for long enough.

How to tell if brownies are done without a toothpick? ›

Our Favorite Alternative to Toothpicks

Look at your knife set and find the one with the thinnest blade. Then insert the blade into the center of the cake. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is done. If batter or crumbs stick to the blade, let your cake bake a few minutes more and retest with a clean knife.

If you make brownies or bake often, consider using or purchasing a metal pan to use in place of your Pyrex dish. Metal pans, specifically aluminum, absorb and transfer heat more consistently than glass, making them perfect for delicious, evenly-cooked, moist brownies every time.

The area of a 9x13 pan is 117 square inches. The area of a 8x8 pan on the other hand, is 64 square inches, or close to half that of a 9x13 pan. This means you can scale a recipe down from a 9x13 pan to an 8x8 pan by simply halving the recipe. Conversely, to go from a 8x8 pan to a 9x13 pan, you double the recipe.

In America's Test Kitchen's chewy brownie recipe — which swept the competition — it says to “bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.” Not only did this tell me what to look for on the toothpick, but also where to insert it.

Bake for 16 minutes, then rotate pan halfway. Cover pan loosely with aluminum foil and continue baking for another 16 minutes. At this point, the brownies should be pulling away from the pan's edges and the top should have developed a few modest cracks.

If the recipe you're using gives instructions for a specific cooling method, follow it and wait for your brownies to cool completely. If there aren't specific instructions, leave the brownies in the pan, put the pan on a rack and let them cool completely (which means a 2 to 3 hour wait).

If you've waited to take your brownies out of the oven until there are no more crumbs stuck to the toothpick, brace yourself for the disappointment of overcooked brownies. Instead of soft and fudgy, these are more likely to be dry and crumbly.