Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Brownie Bark: Achieve Crispy Edges Every Time with This Easy Copycat Recipe
Calling all passionate brownie edge lovers! If you’re constantly seeking that perfect crispy, chewy, and intensely chocolatey bite, then you’ve landed in the right place. Our Chewy Chocolate Brownie Bark is a delightful creation that masterfully blends a satisfyingly crisp texture with an undeniably chewy center, all generously topped with a scattering of rich chocolate chips. This irresistible treat makes it utterly impossible to stop at just one piece, promising that coveted crunchy brownie edge in every single bite. Get ready to discover your new favorite chocolate indulgence!
Table of Contents
- What’s to Love About Brownie Bark
- Essential Ingredients for Brownie Bark
- How to Make Homemade Brownie Bark from Scratch
- Pro Tips and Essential Tools for Perfect Brownie Bark
- Storage Tips for Brownie Bark
- Frequently Asked Questions About Brownie Bark
- Discover More Irresistible Brownie Recipes
- Full Chewy Chocolate Brownie Bark Recipe
This exquisite chewy chocolate brownie bark recipe is straightforward, yet it delivers an extraordinary snacking experience. It’s chewy, intensely chocolatey, inherently brownie-like, and boasts that distinctive bark-like crunch we all crave. It’s the ultimate solution for anyone who finds themselves constantly vying for those crispy, dark edges of a freshly baked brownie, leaving the softer, gooey center for others. With this recipe, every single piece is an edge!
Consider this your definitive guide to crafting a copycat brownie brittle recipe that rivals any store-bought version. For those unfamiliar, brownie brittle is essentially a thinly spread, oven-baked brownie batter transformed into a delicate, crisp snack. The baking process renders it wonderfully brittle, resulting in a wafer-thin treat that delivers the deep, luxurious chocolate flavor of traditional brownies, but in an entirely new and addictive texture. It’s a game-changer for dessert enthusiasts and a perfect alternative when you desire something lighter and snappier than a dense brownie square.
The bottom line is simple: if the crispy perimeter of a brownie is your absolute favorite part, prepare to fall head over heels for this homemade brownie bark. It’s designed to satisfy that specific craving with maximum flavor and minimal fuss.
What’s to Love About Brownie Bark
Beyond its incredible taste and texture, there are countless reasons why this chewy chocolate brownie bark will become a staple in your baking repertoire. Here’s a closer look at what makes this recipe truly special:
- Irresistibly Crunchy and Chewy: This bark offers the best of both worlds. Each piece delivers a satisfying snap when broken, followed by a delightful chewiness that melts in your mouth. This textural contrast is what makes it so incredibly addictive, ensuring every bite is an exciting experience.
- Rich Chocolate Flavor: We’re talking about a deep, intense chocolate profile that sings with every bite. Crafted with high-quality cocoa powder and an optional, yet highly recommended, touch of espresso, this brownie bark is a testament to pure chocolate decadence. It’s a flavor that chocolate lovers will truly appreciate.
- No-Fuss Ingredients: Forget specialty store runs. This recipe relies on readily available pantry staples that you likely already have on hand. Simple, accessible ingredients mean you can whip up a batch of this delicious bark whenever a chocolate craving strikes, without any last-minute grocery trips.
- Perfect Edges Every Time: Say goodbye to the eternal struggle for the corner pieces! With brownie bark, every single piece is a crispy edge. The thin spread and precise baking method guarantee that delightful crunch throughout the entire batch, ensuring everyone gets their favorite part.
- Minimal Cleanup: Baking often means a mountain of dishes, but not with this recipe. The process is streamlined, using just a few bowls and a single baking sheet. Plus, baking on parchment paper means a virtually mess-free clean-up, letting you enjoy your treats with peace of mind.
Essential Ingredients for Brownie Bark
Crafting the perfect brownie bark starts with understanding the role each ingredient plays. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what you’ll need and why:
- All-purpose flour: This fundamental ingredient provides the necessary structure and stability to your brownie bark. It’s crucial for achieving that delicate yet firm texture. Since it’s a common pantry item, you won’t need to make any special trips, making this recipe convenient and accessible.
- Salt: Don’t underestimate the power of a tiny pinch of salt! It acts as a flavor enhancer, significantly boosting the rich chocolate notes and perfectly balancing the sweetness of the sugar. This ensures your bark is deeply flavored, not just sweet.
- Baking soda: A key leavening agent, baking soda helps create a slightly open texture, contributing to the bark’s signature chewiness. For the best results, always ensure your baking soda is fresh. A quick test: if it fizzes when mixed with a bit of vinegar, it’s still active and ready to use!
- Eggs: You’ll need 1 large egg and 1 large egg white. This specific combination is a secret weapon for texture. The whole egg provides richness and binding, while the extra egg white contributes to the bark’s crispness and a lighter, more delicate crumb, ensuring that perfect balance of chewy and crisp.
- Sugar: Simple granulated sugar is all you need here. It provides essential sweetness and helps achieve that desirable crisp texture when baked thin, caramelizing slightly to form the brittle quality.
- Cocoa powder: For an authentic, deep chocolate flavor, opt for unsweetened cocoa powder, similar to what I recommend in my skillet brownie recipe. Its pure chocolate essence shines through, delivering an intense, unadulterated taste that elevates the bark.
- Espresso powder: Listed as optional, but I genuinely encourage you to include it, even if you’re not a coffee enthusiast! Espresso powder doesn’t make the bark taste like coffee; instead, it profoundly deepens and intensifies the chocolate flavor, making it richer and more complex. It’s the secret ingredient behind the incredible depth in my brownie cookies recipe as well.
- Vegetable oil: Unlike my pecan pie brownies, this recipe uses vegetable oil instead of butter. Oil contributes to a lighter, more tender texture and allows the pure chocolate flavor to remain the star, without any competing buttery notes. It’s essential for the unique bark consistency.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla is a crucial flavor enhancer, bringing warmth and depth to the chocolate. If you have it, using homemade vanilla extract will elevate the aroma and taste even further, adding a gourmet touch.
- Chocolate chips: The choice is yours, but I personally love a blend of dark and milk chocolate chips. This combination offers a complex sweetness and a varied melt that’s not just fantastic for brownie brittle but also my secret for the most irresistible chocolate chip cookies. They provide delightful pockets of molten chocolate that solidify into satisfying chunks.
For precise measurements and detailed ingredient quantities, please refer to the complete recipe card below.
Kelly’s Note: The original recipe for brownie bark often included nonfat dry milk powder, but I’ve intentionally simplified this version to eliminate the need for such an obscure ingredient. You don’t have to worry about sourcing special items; the result is even more delicious and achieves that perfect brittle texture without any extra hassle. Simplicity meets supreme flavor!
How to Make Homemade Brownie Bark from Scratch
Creating this copycat brownie brittle is surprisingly straightforward, making it an ideal project for bakers of all skill levels. The magic lies in spreading a thin layer of brownie batter onto a baking sheet, much like you would for a traditional brittle candy. Then, it’s baked to crispy, chewy perfection. But don’t limit yourself to just snacking on this chocolatey delight; its delightful crunch adds a fantastic texture to various desserts, from creamy ice cream and rich yogurt parfaits to elegant layered desserts. Let’s walk through each simple step to achieve flawless brownie bark:
- Prepare Your Workspace: Begin by preheating your oven to 325°F (160°C). This ensures your oven is at the ideal temperature for even baking from the moment your bark goes in. Crucially, line a large baking sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper. This non-stick surface is essential for easy removal and prevents sticking, which is key to achieving crisp bark.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl, use a whisk to thoroughly combine the all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda. Whisking them together ensures they are evenly distributed, preventing pockets of unmixed ingredients in your final batter. Set this mixture aside for a moment.
- Prepare Wet Ingredients: In a separate, larger bowl, whisk together the large egg and the additional large egg white until the mixture becomes light and noticeably frothy. This aeration is important for the bark’s texture. Next, incorporate the granulated sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, the optional but recommended espresso powder, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Continue whisking until the mixture is completely smooth, glossy, and well-combined, ensuring no lumps remain.
- Combine and Add Chocolate Chips: Gently add the whisked flour mixture into the bowl containing your wet ingredients. Stir just until everything is combined and no dry streaks of flour are visible. Be careful not to overmix, as this can lead to a tougher bark. Once the batter is just mixed, fold in half of your chocolate chips (½ cup). These will be incorporated into the bark itself, adding pockets of melty chocolate throughout.
- Spread Thinly: Pour the entire batter mixture onto the prepared parchment paper on your baking sheet. This is a critical step for achieving the signature thin, brittle texture of brownie bark. Using an offset spatula (my preferred tool) or the back of a spoon, spread the batter as thinly and as evenly as possible across the entire surface of the parchment paper. Aim for a consistent thickness to ensure even baking. Once spread, sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips evenly atop the thin layer of batter. These will be visible on the surface, adding visual appeal and extra chocolatey goodness.
- First Bake and Score: Place the baking sheet into your preheated oven and bake the bark for 20 minutes. After this initial bake, carefully remove the pan from the oven. While it’s still warm and slightly pliable, use a sharp knife to gently score the bark into desired square or rectangular pieces. It’s crucial that you do not separate the pieces at this stage. Scoring it now ensures that when the bark cools and hardens, it will break neatly along these lines, guaranteeing that perfect, clean brownie bark texture you’re aiming for. This step is a secret to uniform pieces and preventing crumbling.
- Second Bake and Cool: Return the scored bark (still on the baking sheet) to the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes. This second, shorter bake allows the scored edges to crisp up further and ensures the bark achieves its ultimate brittle consistency. Once the second bake is complete, remove the bark from the oven and place the entire pan on a wire rack. Allow it to cool completely on the pan. Patience is key here; the bark will continue to crisp up as it cools. Once entirely cooled, gently break apart the pieces along the scored lines. You’ll find that every piece is now a perfectly crisp, chewy brownie edge – no need to fight over the coveted corners ever again!
Pro Tips and Essential Tools for Perfect Brownie Bark
Achieving the perfect brownie bark is easy with these insider tips and handy tools:
- Baking Sheet Size Matters (But is Flexible): While the recipe is adaptable, a larger baking surface is better for spreading the batter thinly. Any size baking sheet or a jelly roll pan that is at least as large as a quarter sheet tray will work perfectly. The key is to have enough surface area to achieve that signature thinness.
- The Secret to Even Spreading: The most critical step for thin, consistent bark is even spreading. An offset spatula is an invaluable tool here; its angled blade makes it incredibly easy to smooth the batter into a uniform, paper-thin layer. If you don’t have one, the back of a large spoon can also do the trick with a little extra care.
- Monitor Your Oven: Oven temperatures can fluctuate significantly, so stay vigilant! Keep a close eye on your brownie bark, especially during the final minutes of baking. You’re looking for a crisp texture without burning. If you notice the edges browning too quickly, a common occurrence, simply cover them loosely with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent over-browning while the center finishes crisping.
- Elevate with Sea Salt Flakes: For an exquisite touch that enhances the chocolate flavor, sprinkle a generous amount of flaky sea salt over the hot brownie brittle as soon as it comes out of the oven. Just like in my recipe for salted chocolate chip cookie bars, this addition creates a delightful contrast of sweet and savory, taking these crispy treats to an entirely new level of deliciousness.
- Effortless Cutting: After the first bake, when the bark is still warm and slightly soft, a pizza cutter is surprisingly effective for quickly and cleanly scoring the bark into neat squares. Its sharp, rolling blade makes the job much easier and faster than a traditional knife, ensuring precise cuts for your final pieces.
- Don’t Skimp on Cooling Time: It’s tempting to break into the bark immediately, but resist! Allowing the bark to cool completely on the pan is crucial. This is when the bark fully sets and achieves its optimal crispness and brittle texture. Patience will be rewarded with perfectly snappy pieces.
Storage Tips for Brownie Bark
Proper storage is essential to maintain the crispness and freshness of your homemade brownie bark. When stored correctly, you can enjoy this delightful treat for up to a week.
Store your brownie bark in an airtight container at room temperature. Choose a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight or excessive humidity, as moisture is the enemy of crispiness. Layering the bark between sheets of parchment paper can also help prevent sticking and maintain individual pieces.
If your brownie bark begins to lose some of its desired crunch over time, don’t despair! It’s easy to revive. Simply spread the pieces on a baking sheet and reheat them in a low-temperature oven (around 250°F or 120°C) for a short period, typically 5-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on it to prevent burning. This brief reheating will help evaporate any absorbed moisture, restoring its original crisp and brittle texture, making it just as delicious as when it was freshly baked.
Frequently Asked Questions About Brownie Bark
Absolutely! Brownie bark is incredibly versatile and welcomes various additions. Feel free to incorporate chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans for extra crunch, dried fruits such as cranberries or cherries for a touch of tartness, or even crushed candy canes during the holiday season for a festive twist. Just gently fold them into the batter along with the chocolate chips, or sprinkle them on top before baking. Experiment with your favorite flavors!
If your brownie bark turns out too soft, it usually indicates that it needs more time in the oven. The key to brownie bark is achieving that brittle, crispy texture, which comes from sufficient baking. Double-check your oven temperature with a thermometer to ensure accuracy, and make sure the bark is spread as thinly and evenly as possible. If it’s still soft after cooling, return it to a low-temperature oven (e.g., 250°F / 120°C) for another 5-10 minutes, monitoring closely until the edges are noticeably crispy and the center is firm. Remember, the bark will crisp up further as it cools.
No, you certainly don’t have to add espresso powder. It’s an optional ingredient, so feel free to omit it if you prefer not to use it, or if you simply don’t have it on hand. The brownie bark will still be wonderfully chocolatey and delicious without it. However, it’s highly recommended because it deepens and enhances the chocolate flavor without imparting any coffee taste, creating a richer and more complex profile. If you’re looking to intensify the chocolate, it’s a fantastic secret weapon!
Discover More Irresistible Brownie Recipes
If you’ve enjoyed the chewy, crispy delights of this brownie bark, you’re in for a treat! Our collection of brownie recipes offers a wide range of variations, from classic fudgy squares to innovative layered creations. Explore these other fantastic brownie recipes that promise to satisfy any chocolate craving:
- Marshmallow Brownies with Salted Almonds: A gooey, sweet, and nutty combination.
- Cheesecake Brownie Bites: Bite-sized perfection merging two classic desserts.
- Individual Fruit and Brownie Trifles: Elegant, fruity, and decadently layered.
- Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies: A romantic and fruity twist on a beloved classic.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies (Brookies): The ultimate mash-up of cookies and brownies in one amazing treat.
- Samoas Coconut Caramel Brownies: Inspired by your favorite cookie, rich with coconut and caramel.
And don’t forget to browse through all of my favorite brownie recipes for even more inspiration! Each recipe is designed to bring joy to your kitchen and delight to your taste buds.
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Chewy Chocolate Brownie Bark
Kelly Senyei
15 minutes
25 minutes
40 minutes
24
pieces
Ingredients
-
1/2
cup
all-purpose flour -
1/4
teaspoon
salt -
1/4
teaspoon
baking soda -
1
large egg white -
1
large egg -
1
cup
sugar -
2
Tablespoons
cocoa powder -
1/2
teaspoon
espresso powder (optional) -
1/4
cup
vegetable oil -
1/2
teaspoon
vanilla extract -
1
cup
chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F (160°C). Prepare a baking sheet or jelly roll pan by lining it with parchment paper; this ensures easy removal and a perfectly crisp underside.
- In a small bowl, thoroughly whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, and baking soda. This step ensures even distribution of the dry ingredients. Set this mixture aside.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk the large egg white and the large egg until they become light and frothy. Then, add the granulated sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, the optional espresso powder, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until the mixture is completely smooth and well-combined.
- Gradually whisk the reserved flour mixture into the egg mixture. Mix just until combined and no dry spots remain; be careful not to overmix. Gently stir in ½ cup of the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Using an offset spatula (or the back of a spoon), spread the batter as thinly and evenly as possible across the entire surface. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips evenly atop the batter.
- Bake the bark for 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and while still warm, use a sharp knife (or pizza cutter) to score it into desired squares or rectangles. Do not separate the pieces at this stage.
- Return the scored bark to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes. This second bake ensures maximum crispness.
- Remove the bark from the oven and allow it to cool completely on the pan set on a wire rack. It will crisp up significantly as it cools. Once entirely cooled, break apart the pieces along the scored lines. Enjoy your perfectly crunchy brownie bark!
Kelly’s Notes
- Any size baking sheet or jelly roll pan will work for this recipe, as long as it’s at least as big as a quarter sheet tray.
- Using an offset spatula is the easiest way I’ve found to spread the brownie batter into a thin, even layer. If you don’t have one, use the back of a spoon.
- Since oven temperatures can vary, keep a close eye on the brownie bark towards the end of the baking time to achieve the perfect texture. The edges tend to brown faster, so cover them with foil if needed to prevent over-browning.
- Store the brownie bark in an airtight container at room temperature in a cool, dry place for up to a week.
- ★ Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Nutrition
Calories:
104
kcal
,
Carbohydrates:
16
g
,
Protein:
1
g
,
Fat:
4
g
,
Saturated Fat:
2
g
,
Polyunsaturated Fat:
1
g
,
Monounsaturated Fat:
1
g
,
Trans Fat:
0.03
g
,
Cholesterol:
8
mg
,
Sodium:
46
mg
,
Potassium:
15
mg
,
Fiber:
0.4
g
,
Sugar:
13
g
,
Vitamin A:
27
IU
,
Vitamin C:
0.05
mg
,
Calcium:
11
mg
,
Iron:
0.3
mg
Did you try this recipe?
Leave a comment below with your star rating!