Few things often go wrong with you when you have scrumptious brownies in front of you. Soft, moist brownies are some of the best experiences to have over any other food for you, and making one is often fairly easy too.

Brownies are the getaway to getting into baking as most of the process is quite easy to follow. However, instead of fudgy, moist brownies, you are left with hard, brittle brownies once in a while.

So the question that pops up is, how to soften hard brownies? Here’s a list of directions to help you fix your hard batch of brownies so that it is no longer left alone.

How to Soften Hard Brownies

Here are the different methods you can employ to soften the hard brownies.

Soften Hard Brownies

1. Sliced Bread and Science

We know this sounds uncanny but trust us and the process. Cut a couple of slices of the white bread to match the shape of the brownies, which we assume would be pre-cut already. Place the sliced bread atop the brownies and keep them sealed in an airtight container. Leave them overnight and let it work its science.

Hard Brownies

Understandably the science behind this is that the bread provides moisture that the brownies can absorb, and the sealed container makes it impossible for the moisture to be evaporated.

The close contact between the brownies and the bread also makes the transfer quite easy. Therefore, the result is soft, moist brownies, just as you always imagined.

2. Heat up in the Oven

The oldest trick in the book but certainly the most foolproof one. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and let it heat for about 5 to 7 minutes. After that, cut the brownies into small pieces and prepare a cookie tray with parchment paper.

Oil it and set the brownies atop the paper. After the oven is preheated, heat the brownies for about 1 or 2 minutes. This immediately softens up the brownies, making them soft and moist.

Hard Brownies Heat up in the Oven

However, the downside to this is because you are just heating up the brownies and making no change to their moisture content, they would eventually dry up again and turn brittle after a while. Thus, use this method only if you intend to consume them as soon as they are heated.

3. Use the Microwave for Convenience

As in the oven process, it is an excellent way to soften brownies with a bit of heat; however, a micro-oven is definitely a more convenient solution if you have one available. Cover each brown piece in a damp towel to add humidity to the microwave.

Set in the microwave and heat for about five seconds on low. Test for a further 5 seconds to see what soft brownies are – if needed, repeat.

Soften Hard Brownies Use the Microwave

After heating, you will need to eat it, or it will get difficult and cracky fast. There’s a little trick – I like to apply a dollop of vanilla ice cream to the top while serving after softening rough brownies in the microwave.

4. Using Wax Paper

This is another one of the kitchen tricks where we find the unpredictable objects getting the job done; for this method to work, you would need a roll of wax paper, a plastic sealable container, preferably a 9 by 13 inch.

Line your container with wax paper and cut your brownies into similar uniform shapes. Place them into the sealable plastic container with enough space between each of them, so the pieces of brownies are not touching each other.

Soften Hard Brownies Using Wax Paper

Lastly, cover the brownies with a waxing paper sheet on top of them and seal the container. Leave it for a few hours, and the wax paper helps the brownies turn soft and moist again.

5. Refrigerating Is the Wrong Move

While it may seem like a good move to keep your brownies cool and preserve them for longer, often refrigerating the bad move for your brownies, you would think keeping them in the fridge would keep them cool, soft, and last longer, but the result would disappoint you.

The brownies would come out brittle and hard and often lose the moisture it had when you got it out the first time.

Soften Hard Brownies

This happens because at a low temperature, usually, the sugar in the brownies will crystallize. It hardens them up and turns the brownies brittle and crunchy. Refrigerators in their low temperature also have low humidity.

That means unless you keep your brownies in an airtight container, you can expect all the moisture from inside to vaporize, making your brownies practically a dry biscuit.

6. Underbaking Vs Overbaking

One way you should prevent the brownies from being dry and hard is to make sure they are underbaked rather than over baked when coming out of the oven, ready to be served. Under baked brownies are always safer than baked too long.

Take a few minutes to check the brownies in the oven before you start the timer. To monitor the center of the slice, use a cake tester or a toothpick.

Soften Hard Brownies Overbaking

If the tester can pull with already fitted crumbs, your brownie is probably still underbaked. However, that is not the end of the world, as the heat stays and circulates inside the oven long after you turn it off. Thus in the meantime, it gets to the sweet spot, and when you get the brownies out, they are perfectly moist.

7. Preserving by Wrapping

When you don’t consume your brownies the same day you make them, you risk the brownies being hard and brittle. As soon as the heat leaves and the brownies cool down, it is exposed to the elements, and the sugar crystallizes, which essentially tears down the moisture content in the brownies.

The way to solve this is to cut the brownies into individual pieces and wrap them individually as well, either with plastic wrapping paper or aluminum. As a result, you can preserve these brownies for a very long time.

Preserving by Wrapping

They can stay fresh for 4 to 5 hours at room temperature, while you can freeze these brownies and have them periodically over time.

8. Cutting the Brownies After They Cool Down

Wait until it completely cools before cutting after you are done baking brownies. Cutting into a still-warm brownie too quickly will harden them up almost instantly.

Cutting the Brownies

Always wait until they’re cool, even though the wonderful scent of baking brownies could eventually break through your reserve. And draw out your friends and family to the kitchen.

Few More Tricks

While we have tried out all the previous steps in helping to soften our hard brownies, we know sometimes we all come across a batch of brownies that does not soften up whatever we may do. When that happens, there are some tips and tricks that can help you work past that:

Top a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream, about a scoop’s worth– or just as much would fit with any other favorite ice cream flavor! You can also try serving brownies with whipped cream atop to get that crunchy and soft texture on the mouth when you take the bite.

Brownies

Use condensed milk for a more sweetened taste. If you are a sweet tooth person, place little holes in the brownie while still in the tray and pour 1⁄2 cup of condensed milk sweetened on top.

Conclusion

In the end, as much as you may long for soft, fudgy brownies, there are a lot of ways you can eventually enjoy your hard, crunchy brownies, and honestly, they are not quite bad. We hope these methods on how to soften hard brownies helped you. Let us know what your favorite trick was.