I attended pastry school in France. Here are 6 tips for making the best brownies.

Since brownies are all about their rich flavor, I like to use a high-quality chocolate or cocoa powder.

Because chocolate has varying levels of fruitiness and bitterness, it can drastically change the flavor of any dessert, so I always recommend experimenting with different flavor profiles to find what tastes best.

For a darker color and richer flavor, I prefer Dutch-process cocoa powder over the regular version, which has a more reddish hue and can have acidic notes.

To get the fudgiest brownies, I love adding the cocoa powder to melted butter, which helps break up any clumps that could remain in the final product.

Once the butter is melted and still hot, I add the cocoa powder to the bowl and mix until smooth, then add the recipe’s remaining ingredients. This process, called blooming, ensures the brownies have maximum flavor.

To enhance the chocolate flavor in a brownie, I love to add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder or instant coffee to the batter.

Coffee and chocolate share similar flavor characteristics that complement each other in baked goods, creating a deeper flavor. When combined in brownie batter, the bitterness of the espresso helps balance the chocolate’s sweetness.

A well-made brownie is known for the shiny skin that forms on top in the oven.

To achieve this, I always thoroughly whip the eggs with the sugar until they’re light and fluffy and turn a pale yellow. This process, which can take up to 10 minutes, ensures that a large portion of the sugar dissolves into the eggs, helping to create a cracked top.

Even though this step requires a bit of patience, it always leads me to the best results.

Brownies are fantastic on their own, but they’re also easy to customize with all sorts of toppings.

I love folding in some chopped chocolate, nuts, or crushed cookies. Or, to really take it to the next level, I like swirling in peanut butter, tahini, or caramel — and finish with some flaky salt on top when they’re right out of the oven. However, I never overload the batter with too many additions, since that could impact the texture and baking time.

Likewise, a brownie can serve as a great base for whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, fruit, or a layer of chocolate ganache.

My personal favorite is a brownie topped with tangy cream-cheese frosting.

Brownie batter has a high sugar content, and too much time in the oven can result in very dry, chewy brownies due to excessive caramelization and a lack of moisture. So, I usually err on the side of underbaking the brownies rather than overdoing them.

To test if the brownies are done, I just stick a toothpick in the center of the pan. The toothpick should have moist crumbs on it, since a completely cooked brownie may still be a little soft in the middle when fresh out of the oven.

For clean slices, I let the brownies cool completely before cutting into them. To speed up this process, I sometimes chill them in the fridge for an hour.