The Brownie Batter Mistake You Should Seriously Avoid

Understanding the science behind baking can help you become a better baker. When you understand the difference between baking soda and baking powder, or why you should always chill sugar cookie dough overnight, you'll begin to see the importance of using the correct ingredients and following recipes step-by-step. Just like in a science experiment, your results are bound to be different each time if you don't follow a recipe to a T. Among the most important baking steps you shouldn't miss is making sure not to over-mix your batter, and this is an especially common error when it comes to brownies.

Over-mixing brownie batter can greatly affect the texture of your batch of brownies. Depending on how you like them — either super fudgy or more cake-like — you might not mind the results that over-mixed brownies yield. However, if you tend to go for a fudgy brownie, you won't be happy with the results of an over-mixed batch of brownies. Many brownie recipes will instruct you to mix until "just combined," like our ultimate fudgy brownie recipe, and this is key to keeping brownies super rich. But if you mix for any longer than that, more air will get into the batter, meaning your brownies will end up tasting more like a chocolate cake. Of course, over-mixed brownies are still very much edible, but before you begin baking, consider what type of brownies you're looking for.

While you don't want to over-mix your brownie batter, you do want to make sure that everything is well incorporated and that there are no visible ingredients when you put the batter into the oven. The best way to be strategic about your mixing is by doing it by hand and avoiding the electric mixer. Use a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula and slowly fold the ingredients together, just enough so that there are no remaining bits of flour or cocoa powder.

When the wet and dry ingredients are combined, gluten begins developing, and individual gluten strands begin forming a network of sorts. While this network is important to the baking process, it shouldn't be forced, which is what happens when you over-mix your batter. However, using a spatula or a similar tool will make it easy to detect when those strands are forming: the brownie batter will become denser and harder to stir, so you'll know it's time to stop. And if you don't, you'll miss out on those fudgy, irresistible brownies.