Copycat Duncan Hines Brownies- The Brownie Wars
Ahh brownies. They are one of the most basic food groups in life. I first posted this in 2019 and have updated and revamped the post both for clarity and streamlining purposes. Onward!
And wars you say? Yes, I keep expecting people to pop up in chain mail with swords in hand and I promise you, I would join the fight. There is a brownie and there is NOT a brownie. To me a brownie is not a brownie without that lovely papery thin crackly top. No crackly top, you might as well call it chocolate cake. And if, horror of horrors you make them cakey!, then that’s what you’ve made. The whole point of a brownie, IMHO, is that it have a chewy texture and while somewhat fudgy NOT be gloppy in the middle. So these are many obstacles to overcome.
I’ve done myriad experiments with brownies, mostly on my beloved family, and hands down far and away, the boxed Duncan Hines mix (which was miraculously non-dairy, at least when I originally posted this in 2019) is the winner. I carefully didn’t let them know so that they wouldn’t come with preconceived notions about boxed mixes. Time after time, the mix won.
This was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I HAD to conquer this and make my own boxed mix type brownie. So, how do you go about deconstructing Duncan Hines? DH wondered if the chemicals in there alter the texture. Nay nay I said. Cannot be so. I checked into the ingredients (practically on the level of a chemist 🙂 ) and interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be any chocolate but rather cocoa. Also, you use oil to make it, not butter. Only 2 eggs and they use water in place of some of the oil, and baking soda. But then, aha, I spotted carrageenan – which I looked up and it’s a thickener made from seaweed. Gak, not something I can readily use. At this point I understood that I had to think out of the box (Ha) and went through tens of recipes where others had done the work and I would bake them and see if I could recreate the texture I so desired.
I will spare you my endless research only to say that my fave equipment provider of baking products, Wilton, also has recipes! Eureka! I figured they would go with the traditional textured brownie. I have a smug smile on my face of utter triumph when I tell you that Wilton did not let me down. Annnnd, yeah, it’s the copycat version of the Duncan Hines boxed mix. Hurray, I say. No more boxed mix (unless of course utter desperation strikes 🙂 ). Of course I mighta made a small change here and there…
On to the prep! Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together (I like to use a whisk) and set aside.
On the stovetop, melt together the butter/marg, water and sugar and stir till sugar dissolves. ** I’m updating here, the original post said that it didn’t work properly in a microwave. Not so Joe! I have revisited this and you”ll be happy to know it absolutely works. Just be patient and zap it and stir, zap it and stir so as not to overboil the sugar and have it caramelize (yep, it can happen). ** The sugar dissolving is critical to the crinkle top of the brownie, so this must be done.
Then, they wanted you to add chocolate chips while the mixture was still on the fire. Don’t, you might overcook or burn the chocolate. Take off the heat but immediately add the chocolate. The residual heat is still very strong and your chocolate will melt but not burn. I also wanted better tasting chocolate than just chips, so I added good quality chocolate which I chopped. It improves the flavor enormously. In the microwave, once you’ve mélted the sugar, immediately add the chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) and stir stir stir until melted and add the vanilla.
Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and combine, then the eggs (check to be certain the mixture isn’t too hot, you don’t want scrambled eggs)
A neat trick, take your parchment paper, and make cuts with a scissors into each of the 4 points and then the ends of the paper tuck into each other- and pour into the prepared pan, and bake about 30-40 minutes or till a wooden toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely on wire rack before cutting into squares.
The final crackle top results!
Note that they deflate somewhat in the center. This is normal, don’t stress about it. Of course, the best part is to eat the edges. Naturally, this is to present the brownies prettily and has nothing to do with sneaking the best bit in the kitchen… Glorious, box mix brownie texture and better flavor. Mystery solved.
Copycat Duncan Hines Brownies
1 1/2 cups (187.50 grams) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (151 grams) butter or marg
1 1/2 cups white sugar (300 grams) (NOT brown, if you’ve run out of white, just don’t make the brownies that day. Really. Brown sugar has molasses in it and it will completely change the texture of your brownie, thereby ruining all your hard work.)
1/4 cup (60 ml) water
2 cups (350 grams) chopped chocolate or chocolate chips or a combination thereof which is what I did, see above pic
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C degrees. Prepare a 9×13 (23 x 33 cm) pan by spraying with oil spray and then fitting parchment paper in.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
In a small pot (with high enough side, therefore not a pan), put the butter/marg and on low heat start to melt and add sugar to this, and the water. Stir together over the heat till the sugar melts. In microwave, zap the butter, water and sugar together until sugar melts. Do this in intervals. Start with a minute, stir, and replace in micro and repeat. Keep a sharp eye out so the sugar doesn’t start to caramelize on you. Remove from heat or microwave, add vanilla and chocolate and stir till chocolate completely melts. Add flour next and stir well till incorporated and lastly add the eggs (I add eggs last so they won’t curdle from the heat) stirring till smooth.
Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top if needed. Put into preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes depending on your oven. Check with a toothpick, they should have a few moist chocolaty crumbs clinging to it. They will puff up and when you remove them from the oven they look so pretty but then will deflate somewhat. This is normal. Let them cool completely!! no cheating, and then cut into even squares. Of course, you might trim off those less pretty edges and nibble them. After all, you worked hard for your brownies and that’s the chewiest bit. Mmmm yeah.
The original Wilton recipe is below:
https://www.wilton.com/fudgy-brownies/WLRECIP-265.html
I love this recipe! Just like the Duncan Hines I love, but safe from cross-contamination for my son who has food allergies.
So happy to hear it! Enjoy!
Could I substitute the chocolate for cocoa powder? Dairy free chocolate gets expensive! Otherwise, this sounds like a great recipe to try.
Here you need the chocolate for the right texture. On the blog I have other recipes for brownies which use cocoa. Maybe you could give those a shot!
Absolutely perfect. Brownies are my FAVORITE, and these are exactly what they should be!
Thank you Jessica!
Can I use oil instead of butter or margarine? Would I need to make any other modifications for the brownies to come out ok? And, if I can substitute oil, which kind would you suggest?
Hi Corey, I’ve made different brownies with oil but I feel the taste and texture does change. You can do so if you wish but beware – it may not turn out quite the same. This said, since you are melting the butter/marg it’s not as dramatic a change. So if you want to switch it out, use 1/2 a cup oil plus one tablespoon for the 2/3 cup of butter.
I used cocoa powder and it turned out so thick and chewy thanks you the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I’m wondering how much cocoa powder you used in place of the 2c of chocolate chips and do you do anything else to the recipe to change it?
Just a heads up, Duncan Hines now uses carob powder instead of cocoa powder. I checked ingredients after I noticed it didnt appear as chocolatey. I heard they changed a couple years ago. I will try this recipe, but am still looking for a copycat with cocoa powder. Thank you.
OMG!! carob powder! what is the world coming to. It’s really shocking, I wouldn’t know since I stopped using it but how can it possibly taste decent?