These Bourbon Pecan Brownies are rich, fudgy, and a little boozy! You can leave out the bourbon if that’s not your thing, or add a splash extra if you love the flavor!
Make sure to try my classic fudgy brownies too!
Bourbon Pecan Brownies are the Ultimate “Adult” Brownie Recipe!
These brownies are not for the faint of heart. They’re a rich, fudgy brownie recipe studded with pecans and amped up with chocolate flavor thanks to a little bourbon baked right in. The texture is thick and chewy, with so much flavor!
Can You Taste the Bourbon?
You can’t really taste the bourbon…a little bit if you know it’s there, but if you don’t know there is bourbon added to the recipe you most likely wouldn’t be able to put your finger on it.
The bourbon works a little like adding espresso or coffee to the chocolate, it just amps up the chocolate flavor without adding a distinct flavor of its own.
You don’t need to use fancy bourbon in these brownies…just use whatever you have on-hand. But you only need 3 tablespoons, so even if you only have expensive bourbon to use, it’s not a lot!
Ingredients You Need:
- 1 cup butter
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted, add in the granulated sugar, and stir constantly until the sugar is combined and begins to dissolve and gets shiny, but not bubbly. Temperature should reach 120°F. Remove from the heat.
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and bourbon. Mixture will be very thick. Add in the warm butter mixture and continue whisking until mostly smooth.
- Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon stir in the flour until combined, about 50 strokes. Add in the chocolate chips and pecans and stir until evenly incorporated.
- Spread the brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted 2- inches from the edge of the pan comes out clean.
- Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan before removing them using the parchment paper and transferring to a cutting board to cut into pieces.
My Trick To Making Bourbon Pecan Brownies…
This isn’t a necessary step by any means, but it’s an easy way to intensify the chocolate flavor even more!
This recipe calls for cocoa powder, and while you can use regular unsweetened cocoa powder you can also use Dark or Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder. BUT I don’t love the look of brownies that are made with all dark cocoa powder. It gives them an almost black appearance, which isn’t visually appealing to me.
So what I like to do is use half regular cocoa powder and half dark cocoa powder. This gives the brownies extra chocolate flavor while also keeping them a pretty dark brown color!
How To Cut Brownies Perfectly…
There are a few tricks to ensure that you end up with pretty brownies! You’ve gone to all the trouble of baking them, and with a little patience they will look pretty too!
- Make sure they are cooled COMPLETELY! I even like to allow brownies to sit in the pan overnight after they are baked before cutting.
- Use parchment paper in your pan so you can remove the brownies before cutting.
- Use a sharp knife or a bench scraper with a flat sharp edge to cut them.
- Run the blade under warm water and wipe it dry before cutting. Wipe it clean in between cuts and repeat.
- Some say using a plastic knife works well too, but I’ve never tried this method.
I partnered with Imperial Sugar on the recipe for these brownies. Check out the full recipe and print it out HERE!
Looking For More Brownies Recipes? Try These:
- M&Ms Brownies
- Frosted Brownies – aka My Kid’s Favorite Brownies!
- Oreo Brownies
these are AMAZING!!!! I made a second batch of batter before the first was even done because I knew these were going to be outrageous!!!! followed the recipe exactly as written . my new to go to recipe thank you!!!
So glad you liked them!!
Made these brownies for Father’s Day, my boyfriend loved them. I will definitely make these again.
So glad you liked them!!!
They were perfect for Father’s Day treat. Thank you!!
“Make sure they are cooled COMPLETELY! I even like to allow brownies to sit in the pan overnight after they are baked before cutting.”
This may be the funniest thing I’ve ever read?? Who has that kind of will power around a warm pan of bourbon pecan brownies? I know you eat with your eyes first but in this case, I think I’d cover the mangled brownies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. That would cool them off fast and hide the delicious mess.
Can’t wait to try them, thanks for the recipe and laugh.
hahaha! I mean I have to say it, right? lol
There’s definitely something wrong with them even though I followed the recipe. The batter tastes and smells disgusting and burnt. I am not a novice in the kitchen. There’s so much sugar it takes forever to melt and turns into something thick like tar after. It’s next to impossible to keep from bubbling. I’m fairly certain the butter sugar mix is just burnt even though I stirred and watched it the whole time. I let it cool for a bit but it was still really hot and just burned the other ingredients. The butter mixture after it melted I turned the stove off and 2 minutes later suddenly bubbled up and over all over the stove. Like I said I absolutely know what I am doing in the kitchen and nothing like this has ever happened and I literally make browned butter choc chip cookies with a similar process.
It sounds like you cooked the sugar mixture way too long. It should just dissolve and then immediately remove it from the heat, not just turn the burner off, as the burner will stay hot. (The mixture shouldn’t be dark in color at all, as you should remove it from cooking before it caramelizes) I can’t imagine why the butter mixture would all of the sudden bubble up after 2 minutes of cooling. Sorry you had a bad experience.
The sugar would not dissolve the butter kept browning as the sugar just sat there. I knew it was taking to long but the high amount of sugar takes sooo long to dissolve. I don’t know what to do differently 2 1/4 of sugar takes a while to dissolve. How long is it supposed to take? I don’t see a way to dissolve the sugar without burning the butter in the meantime?
The sugar doesn’t need to be completely dissolved, just beginning to dissolve, as written in the recipe 🙂 Possibly the heat was up a little too high?
I like how you said they aren’t for the “faint of heart”. I don’t know about you but I’d like to see a brownie swoon. I’d like to have a brownie swoon and these might do it. They look fantastic.
hahaha! hope you make them!