My daughter recently saw me cutting brownies and said I should do a post and share with everyone how I cut brownies. So today I’m sharing my best tips on How To Cut Brownies.
Sometimes you have a brownie craving and you don’t care what the brownies look like after they’re cut. You just want a brownie now. Then there’s other times, when you’re taking brownies to a party or sharing them with the neighbors, and you want them to look like perfect little squares. These tips are for those times you want perfect little squares.
My first tip is to use a pan with straight sides and square edges. I like baking in my Pyrex pans when I’m making a casserole, but when I want to make pretty brownies for the blog or a party, I use this USA 9 x 13 baking pan.
My second tip is to line the pan with parchment paper. It’s more difficult to cut brownies in the pan, so lining the pan with parchment paper allows you to easily lift the brownies out of the pan and cut them on a cutting board.
If you don’t have parchment paper, you can line the pan with tin foil.
Next, pull out a ruler. I make a little notch along the edge of the brownies on both sides every 2 inches. If you want perfect squares put the ruler in the middle and make your first notch at 6 inches.
Use a long serrated knife and match up the notches on both sides. Then use one long cut to cut each row. I like this bread knife, or I’ll also use my watermelon knife. Clean off the knife with hot water after every cut.
Since you’re using a 9 x 13 pan, you’ll have larger pieces on the end rows, and you can cut excess off the ends so the end row is 2 inches as well. You’ll end up with 6 rows, 2 inch wide,
Once you have your 2 inch wide rows, you’ll cut the rows into 2 inch squares. Even with my long knives, they aren’t long enough to cut six rows, so I cut the squares three rows at a time.
Again, if you want perfect squares, you’ll want to start in the middle and trim the excess off the ends.
It’s important to remember that your brownies need to be cooled completely before cutting. Sometimes, if it’s a particularly gooey brownie, I will put the brownies in the freezer for a little while so the brownies hold together better when cutting.
It does take a little bit longer to cut the brownies this way, but the end result is so much better than if I just try to wing it. I hope you’ll give it a try.
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Now that I’ve share my tips on How To Cut Brownies, here’s a brownie recipe roundup to get you inspired to start baking.
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies
More Brownie Recipes You Might Like:
Slutty Brownies, What’s Gaby Cooking
Nutella Brownies, Sally’s Baking Addiction
Cookies ‘n Cream Extreme Brownies, Crazy for Crust
Chocolate Mousse Brownies, The Domestic Rebel
Salted Caramel Brownies, Something Swanky
Mounds Brownies, Katrina’s Kitchen
Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies, Completely Delicious
Oreo Brownies, Recipe Girl
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Mary
Thanks for these great tips! Just wanted to ask if you cut with a sawing motion using your serrated knife or if you just press the knife down until it cuts through the brownie.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Mary – I just press the knife down until it cuts through the brownie and then push the brownie row a little bit apart with the knife.
Redhead
A pizza slicer works great.
Barbara Schieving
I’ve used a pizza wheel before too. It works well but I’m not very good at cutting straight lines with it.
Sue Sampson
If you don’t want to have to rinse the knife with hot water after every cut, use a plastic knife!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks for the suggestion Sue! I do like having the long knife to make one nice straight cut though.
Jill Spirko
Thank you for posting!! Our first brownie attempt for a bake sale was ruined when I cut them! We’re trying again tonight your way.
Barbara Schieving
Great! Glad you found my post. Good luck with the bake sale.
jo
hi I am wondering if this size of brownies is good to sell?
Barbara Schieving
Yes, I think it would be a good size to sell. Enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but not so big that you have to charge a lot.
Maira
Hey, can you please give out the recipe of this chocolate brownie that you have cut. This results in 24 2*2 inch pieces, exactly the kind of recipe that I am looking for. Please help me out. 🙂
Barbara Schieving
Hi Maria – they’re the King Arthur brownies https://www.barbarabakes.com/king-arthur-flour-fudge-brownies/ Enjoy!
Irish
Hello i would like to know if you have some brownie recipe enough to 30pcs yield. (30 pcs squares).
Thank you 🙂
Barbara Schieving
I’m sorry I don’t.
Dawn
@IRISH.
You can increase the yield from your current recipe. Desired yield 30 ÷ present Yield 9 = _____
So you increase everything to the new sum.
Mary Frances
Those brownies look very delicious! Would enjoy having a bite of these!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
After watching you cut them all I want to do is sink my teeth into a brownie!! Serious yum! 😀 xxx
My Inner Chick
You
Rock!!!
WOW, such a foodie!
Oh, and the brownies are to “Die For!.”
mka
my best knife to cut brownies is a throw away plastic knife. it works great
Debbi
Very helpful! Thank you!
Laurie
I was hoping you would have some recipes for healthy brownies.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Laurie – Cooking Light did a brownie recipe roundup that you may want to check out http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/brownie-recipes
Carol
Please thank your daughter for suggesting this post, Barbara. What great information. I too like cutting brownies and bars on a cutting board so I always use parchment paper or foil in the pan. What I WILL be doing the next time instead of eyeballing if the knife is straight when I cut is notching both sides of the brownies/bars BEFORE making the cut. I never thought of doing that…and inevitably one of my rows ends up skewgee.
I remember telling you one of your brownie posts that I was jealous of your perfectly cut squares-thanks so much for sharing all of your secrets on how to get it done! 🙂