Nutty bourbon brownies – gooey, fudgy brownies with a boozy kick and plenty of crunchy nuts.
It has been a long time since I shared a brownie recipe on here; I am making up for that though with these nutty bourbon brownies as they are very, very good! I actually made the recipe a while ago but hadn't gotten round to sharing it here, looking at the pictures again is making me think that I will have to bake another batch!
These are gooey, fudgy chocolate brownies filled with lots of crunchy mixed nuts; they have a rich, deep chocolate flavour, a mouthwatering texture and a decent kick from the bourbon!
If you don't want to use bourbon in these then whisky, rum, amaretto, Kahlua or Irish cream would all work wonderfully instead. Alternatively, to make them kid-friendly (as written they are very much just for grown-ups!) you can just use milk instead.
As for the nuts, I used a mixture of pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts so that there was lots of variety, but feel free to use whichever kinds you like.
I chopped half of the nuts up and folded them through the batter, the other half I left whole and arranged on top. That way the nuts are evenly dispersed throughout the brownies and they look very attractive with their nutty topping too!
How To Make Nutty Bourbon Brownies:
Place the butter and chocolate in a pan over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
Place the eggs and sugars in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until extremely thick and pale and the sugar has almost dissolved.
Beat in the chocolate and butter mixture followed by the bourbon and vanilla extract.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt then fold it into the chocolate mixture until no pockets of flour remain. Stir in the chopped nuts.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it level. Scatter (or arrange carefully) the whole nuts on top.
Bake for about 30 minutes until the brownie feels firm to the touch and a skewer comes out gunky but not wet. If it comes out clean the brownies are over-baked so keep an eye on them.
Nutty Bourbon Brownies
Ingredients
- 200 g (1 ¾ cups) mixed nuts (I used pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts)
- 120 g (½ cup) butter cubed
- 200 g (7oz) dark chocolate chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 125 g (⅔ cup) light brown soft sugar
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) bourbon (or whisky, rum, amaretto, Irish cream or milk)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 180 g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Grease an 20cm/8 inch square cake pan and line with a strip of baking parchment, making sure that it overhangs either side so that it is easy to lift the baked brownies out of the pan. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.
- Roughly chop half of the nuts, not too small, and set aside. Place the butter and chocolate in a pan over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
- Place the eggs and sugars in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until extremely thick and pale and the sugar has almost dissolved.
- Beat in the chocolate and butter mixture followed by the bourbon and vanilla extract.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt then fold it into the chocolate mixture until no pockets of flour remain. Stir in the chopped nuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it level. Scatter (or arrange carefully) the whole nuts on top.
- Bake for about 30 minutes until the brownie feels firm to the touch and a skewer comes out gunky but not wet. If it comes out clean the brownies are overbaked so keep an eye on them. You may need to loosely cover the top with tin foil partway through baking to stop the nuts from catching.
- Leave the brownie slab to cool completely in the pan (I like to put it in the fridge overnight once it has cooled so that the brownies are easy to slice neatly), then carefully lift it out using the overhanging parchment and use a sharp knife to cut it into squares.
I originally made these nutty bourbon brownies for DIYs, check them out for some awesome craft and recipe ideas.
Sally
These look gorgeous Hannah. Would make a nice present
Jayne Keegan
I would like to bake a pan of these, using Frangelico liqueur and a teaspoon of espresso powder.
Mo
These sound great.
Are you using salted or unsalted butter?
hannahhossack
Hi Mo, I always use unsalted butter.
Janice
Absolutely heavenly! So many good things, these are just the best looking brownies.
Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet
Wow, you must have a really sharp knife and a lot of patience to cut through nuts like that. Very pretty and I bet it tastes awesome!
Nadia
Oh how delicious and gooey do they look! 😀 Brownies are definitely a weakness of mine!
Tafiya
Hi
These look delish I have to bake some for the fast approaching holidays. Did you use roasted or unroasted nuts?
Thanks for sharing.
Tafiya
hannahhossack
Hi Tafiya, Thank you! I used unroasted nuts as I thought that roasted ones may get a bit dark on top of the brownies. Feel free to use roasted ones in the batter if you prefer the flavour though!
Sara
Hi!
Wondering if I could sub the butter for vegan baking block and the eggs for flax eggs, to make this vegan?
Hannah
Hi Sara, I haven't tried making this recipe vegan yet but that could potentially work. Alternatively, you could try swapping 80ml of the milk in my fudgy vegan brownies recipe for bourbon and adding the nuts: https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2021/10/20/fudgy-vegan-brownies/