Don't Skip This Step Before Slicing Brownies

When it comes to baking brownies, there're a couple of common brownie mistakes you could be making. Perhaps you were just a kid, and you accidentally burned them. Or maybe the brownies came out too dry, you forgot to add a certain ingredient, or you decided to add some ingredients like walnuts or macadamia nuts ... and ended up adding too many. 

Another common brownie mistake is slicing them too soon, resulting in messy brownies that fall apart and lack a defined shape. When that sweet, chocolatey aroma wafts through the air, it's understandable to want to slap those gooey brownies on a plate as soon as possible, especially if you have kids waiting for them.

But if you and the kids don't mind waiting an hour — or longer — and you want to avoid the mushy brownie mess, there's an extra step that you shouldn't skip. And it doesn't involve adding anything to the batter or doing anything special to the brownies at all.

If you want your brownies to have nice, smooth, flat edges, avoid slicing them immediately after removing them from the oven. Or 10 minutes later. Not even 20 minutes later. Instead, you should keep them in the fridge to chill for about an hour, according to The Windup Space.

Letting your brownies cool and harden is especially important if you plan to add frosting to them, as BakingHow explains. This is because adding frosting to warm brownies will usually result in the frosting melting onto the brownies, instead of sitting on top of them.

You can even tightly wrap the brownies, to prevent them from drying out, before refrigerating them overnight. Letting them sit and cool like this will also make them more flavorful the next day. Freezing them overnight in a freezer-safe bag is another option, as long as they're completely cooled.