Sour Cream Belongs In Your Next Batch Of Brownies. Here's Why (And How Much To Add)

You may be an experienced baker and already know sour cream belongs in baked goods, but if not, rest assured sour cream is the ingredient that can upgrade your apple pie, it's Martha Stewart's magic addition for banana bread, and adds delicious tang to Jiffy cornbread; among other applications. According to Lynne Just, consumer test manager for Hamilton Beach Brands, sour cream is going to level up your next batch of brownies from everyday treat to a memorable dessert. 

"I use full fat sour cream as a substitute for eggs in my brownies when I want a rich, moist, fudgy brownie," Just tells us. "It tends to temper the sweetness while adding a very slight tang to the flavor." That tang, courtesy of the acidic content of sour cream, is one of the key reasons why bakers add it to their desserts. Sour cream also has a considerable fat content (8 ounces pack a whopping 45 grams of fat) which results in a satiny texture, but its chief appeal is its moisture content. Sour cream won't thin your batter the same way as milk, so you get a dense but delicious brownie.

If fat content is a concern, Just says you can use low-fat sour cream instead. "Add it in with all of the other ingredients and mix until just combined," she notes. However, when it comes to substitution, Just says that swapping the eggs for sour cream will deliver the best results. "Some recipes suggest using it in place of the oil, but I prefer using sour cream in place of the eggs as it keeps the brownies rich and fudgy," she explains.

Now that you've chosen to add sour cream to your brownie batter, the next question to address is: How much? Again, Just has you covered: "Two eggs are roughly 6 tablespoons," she shares. "I use the same amount of sour cream in my brownies." However, you may want to keep at least one egg on hand if you lean more toward brownies with a finer crumb, rather than dense. "If you want a cake-like brownie, consider adding at least 1 egg in addition to the sour cream," adds Just.

Sour cream will work with any flavor of brownie you wish to make, but let's get down to brass tacks: Are any mix-ins better for sour cream brownies than others? Thankfully, the answer is no — they should all be excellent additions. To that end, Just encourages you to let your imagination run riot when choosing them. "[You can] add chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit like cranberries or cherries, coconut flakes, M&M's, Reese's Pieces, [or] teeny-tiny peanut butter cups," she says. Any one of these is going to make that luxuriously rich, fudge-forward brownie even better.