How to Keep Brownies From Getting Hard Around the Edge of the Pan

It can be challenging to bake brownies without burning the edges. To achieve a soft texture and rich flavor, make sure you follow the recipe exactly. Overcooking them is often the result of incorrect oven temperature, which causes these sugary treats to harden around the edges.

Treating yourself to warm brownies can make your day infinitely better. If you're in the mood to bake, you can skip the store-bought version and prepare something at home. When you make treats in your kitchen, you get to decide what ingredients go into them, which means you can have healthier brownies.

Cooking at home also means that you're in charge. Attention to detail is important when you're baking anything, even if you're using a boxed mix. If you're careless, you can end up with brownies that are hard around the edges but soft in the middle. Unless you like tough brownies, stick to your recipe and cook them perfectly.

There are a few tips and tricks you can use to make sure that your brownies come out perfectly. The James Beard Foundation recommends baking until the brownies are slightly puffed up.

To test their readiness, insert a clean toothpick in the center of the brownies. When you pull the toothpick out, it should be mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached. If you see batter on the toothpick, your brownies are underdone. However, if it's completely clean, they're probably overdone.

When your dessert is done baking, leave it on a rack to cool for two hours. Once it's cooled to room temperature, you can cut the brownies and separate the edges from the pan using a paring knife.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has some suggestions for a healthy brownie recipe. These modifications will lower the fat content. They suggest replacing butter or margarine with unsweetened applesauce. Instead of whole eggs, they suggest using two egg whites to cut down on fat but keep the binding agent.

Brownies can be high in fat, so reducing their fat content isn't a bad idea. Two ounces have 12 grams of fat, according to the USDA. That might not seem like much, but 2 ounces is a relatively small serving size. Chances are, you're eating more than that.

A September 2019 review published in ‌Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases‌ has found that simply reducing fat intake is not enough to prevent metabolic syndrome. Researchers explain that reducing saturated fat, not just all fat, may help lower the risk of developing this condition. Butter is high in saturated fat, which means that replacing it in your brownie recipe can help.