Sounds like you may be overcooking them a bit? It's easy to do with brownies. If you wait until they test done with the 'ole toothpick method they're overcooked.

I remove them when the edges are showing a thin crust & the center is set but still soft...usually about 30 minutes exactly. They'll continue cooking for a couple minutes outside the oven but still in the hot pan & finish setting.

One of the brownie recipes I make & we like is made with 3 eggs for an 8" square pan (more cakey as opposed to gooey). It will form a 'crust' that does tend to shatter when cut. You can avoid that by cutting them while still slightly warm.

Yum, brownies! Why, oh why, do I always want what I can't have? My oven's broken!

/tricia

I have the same problem with bar-type cookies. I have heard of some people who freeze them for a bit prior to cutting altho I haven't tried that.

I'll be watching this thread to see how I can make my bars beautiful! LOL

Linda

Use a plastic knife (fast food type cheapo) to cut the brownies.

It works amazingly well. I have no idea why.

ML

If I cut brownies when warm (or right out of the oven as I usually do cuz I just can't WAIT!), they crumble or just don't cut right. And it's not because they're over done, I like 'em ooey-gooey-fudgy-chewy.

But if I'm planning to serve them to guests and need them to look good I chill them in the fridge before cutting them. I don't actually freeze them, because I think they'd be too hard (like rock hard) to cut if frozen. But a few hours in the fridge makes them cut much more neatly.

I freeze them for several hours and use a pastry cutter to make sharp, even, downward cuts. It works better than a knife for me.

Ditto on the plastic knife. It works like a charm!

I agree on the plastic knife, I have no idea why it works but I like chewy, fudgy brownies and the plastic knife doesn't gum up like my stainless knives.

Thanks, I'll try the plastic knife first. Plastic will be good since I'm using a non-stick pan.

I line the baking pan with foil so that when the squares or brownies are cold, I can pull them out of the pan and peel away the foil, making it easier to slice. I always cut all the edges off first, before cutting the brownies in to bars, and then each bar into squares. I find that they slice best when really cold.

Ann

I use a square biscuit cutter lined with plastic wrap. It makes perfect non-crumbly squares.

At the risk of sounding ignorant....What is a square biscuit cutter?

I like your method, Ann. I am going to try that.

Linda

Linda, you can buy a set of round or square biscuit cutters.

They look like this.

DUH! (smacking myself upside the head) LOL

I have some round ones, must have had a brain fart when square was mentioned!

Thanks, Ann!

Linda

This thread is suddenly relevant to me despite its age.

I volunteered to make heart-shaped brownies for my son's kindergarten class tomorrow. I followed the recipe exactly, but when I tried to make the first heart with my cookie cutter the edges crumbled terribly. I now have the entire pan in the refrigerator to cool and attempt again later. What is the secret here? And, to make matters worse, despite spraying the pan with Pam, the brownie would not release when I inverted the pan. Ugh.

I would think there is a difference between a cake-like brownie and a fudgy brownie recipe when it comes to cutting them? Did you try to cut fresh baked brownies or day-old? Fresh brownies would probably crumble more than day-old. What kind of cutter? Plastic or metal? When cutting them, push the cutter straight down and straight up without twisting it, and see if you get better results.

An if-all-else-fails "fix" - cut them into squares and make a heart-shaped template out of parchment paper and dust the brownies with powdered sugar or pipe on a heart with frosting.

For easier removal from the pan, line the pan with a "sling" of parchment paper or use Reynolds Wrap Non-Stick Foil in your pan. You will be able to lift your brownies out of the pan by the parchment paper or foil, and cut them without any sticking problem.

-Grainlady

I let them cool then turn the pan over onto a big cutting board. I cut all the edges off the cookie/brownie slab, and then cut them into individual pieces or cut them with a cookie cutter. I don't like edges at all.

If I use parchment paper and a smallish pan, I can lift them out, but if it's a big pan/sheet, then flipping them on to a cutting board works best. Otherwise they tend to break in the middle. If I'm going to cut them with a cookie cutter, I make them thinner, in a big pan or cookie sheet.

I cut brownies and congo squares into heart shapes a few years ago when we were snowed in over Valentines Day and delivered them to the neighbors. I may have to do it again, it just started snowing and it's supposed to be a big storm. This year, the kids can help me.

I can understand how the brownies that form that nice little 'shell' on top would be difficult to cut. If the top crumbles, frost them with a layer of chocolate frosting.

In reading the above posts, maybe the secret is to cool in the pan, turn upside down and then cut while they're upside down, which I would think might preserve the top, for a nice shape.

Just a thought.

I use foil. I make sure to have extra for "handles". I pull it out of the pan and put the whole thing, foil and all, onto a cooling rack. Once it's cooled, then I cut it with a very long knife so as it push it once all the way across for each cut (four or six times). But I think I'm getting a plastic knife and turning it upside down to finally have it all like I want.

Good information and good seeing some old (not old in age!) CF regulars whom we miss.

Wow.....I lined the pan with non-stick foil, pulled the brownies out of the pan with the foil when they were cool, and then cut them with a plastic knife.

These were the neatest looking brownies I've ever made. These, btw, are a cake-like brownie, made with a 40+ year old Ghirardelli chocolate brownie recipe that USED to be on the can of Ghirardelli ground chocolate. (They have since changed to a fudgier brownie recipe.)

Thank you so much for a great advice!

Donna