Freshly baked brownies are one of the tastiest and delicious sweet snacks around. However, it can be tricky to get their squidgy and goey texture exactly right.

Fortunately for home bakers, one food blogger tested out three separate brownie recipes with secret ingredients. They concluded that one ingredient stood apart from the others as it made "a brownie that was thick, rich and decadent". Sara Haas, from All Recipes, said: "I couldn’t believe this was the first time I had ever made brownies this way—they were perfect."

She tried both black beans and sour cream in an attempt to make the perfect brownies. However, she ultimately decided that sweetened condensed milk was the ultimate secret ingredient.

Sara explained that the recipe was easy to follow, beginning with melting butter and sugar before adding a full can of sweetened condensed milk and some chocolate chips. She then added eggs and dry ingredients before baking for around 40 minutes.

The results, she said, were perfect. Sara explained: "Here’s what I like about these brownies. Everything, mostly. While there’s a bit of work involved with cooking the butter and sugar, it’s nothing complicated or cumbersome.

"I loved the short ingredient list and that I got to use one of my favorite ingredients to make one of my favorite desserts. They’re delicious and perfect and definitely worth trying."

The texture of the sweetened condensed milk makes the brownies go extra gooey. Combine this with the slightly bitter dark chocolate and you get perfectly balanced brownies.

Sara also recommends adding some flaky sea salt to the finished brownies. The optional garnish helps to bring the flavour out of the chocolate and makes them look extra appealing.

If you choose to add salt, make sure to sprinkle it on when the brownies are still a little moist. This will make them stick after baking is done.

Here is the full list of ingredients needed for the brownies:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

• 1 1⁄3 cups dark chocolate chips, divided

• cooking spray

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2/3 cup all purpose flour

• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• flaky sea salt, for garnish