Shadowing Practice: How To Make The Perfect Brownies - Learn English Speaking with Video
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81 sentences
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Brownies are the easiest dessert to make and the hardest to make perfect.
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I need you to listen carefully because these are going to be the best brownies you've ever seen.
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And if you don't believe me, at the end of the video, I'm going to bring one to my grandma.
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Grandma's no better than anybody if a brownie is good.
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And trust me, my grandma doesn't hand out compliments.
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If this brownie is the best brownie she's ever had, she will tell us.
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But if it's the worst, she'll tell us that too.
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I'm going to start off the way I start most baked goods, and that is by making some brown butter.
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We make brown butter because it achieves this nutty depth that regular butter can't even touch.
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When it foams up, that means you're getting close, and when you can eventually see golden brown spots forming at the top of those bubbles,
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that means it's time to immediately take it off the heat,
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and then my trick is to spray the bottom of my pan with some water to immediately stop that cooking process.
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As you can see, we're now left with the most perfect brown butter.
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Next, while the butter's still nice and warm, we'll add in our chocolate and stir to melt.
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This will help to further cool down that brown butter
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so it's not too hot when we add it to the eggs in just a few moments.
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In every blind brownie taste test, brownies with better chocolate wins.
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So if there's any place in this recipe you're going to spend a little more money, spend it on better chocolate.
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Set this aside.
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Then, into a mixing bowl, we'll crack a few eggs, plus one extra yolk for richness, as well as some granulated sugar,
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light brown sugar, and a little splash of vanilla extract.
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This is my bottle of homemade vanilla extract that I'm very proud of.
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His name is Charles.
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He's six years old.
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Fit the bowl into your stem mixer along with the whisk attachment, then turn it up to high and let it mix for 10 minutes.
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This is how we get that shiny, crackly crust on top.
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It comes from the sugar fully dissolving into the eggs, which rises during the bake and sets on top like glass.
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And as you can see, I'm also gently warming the sides of the bowl with my torch as it mixes.
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This will help that sugar to dissolve faster.
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Once your eggs look silky and velvety like this, get rid of your mixer and pour in that chocolate brown butter mixture.
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This, by the way, is definitely a spoon -licking kind of moment and then gently fold everything together.
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Remember, we just spent 10 minutes trying to get air bubbles whipped into those eggs.
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Don't push it all out now.
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Be sure especially to scrape from the bottom up.
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The chocolate likes to try to hide in the corners, so you wanna make sure you really mix it all in.
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We wanna be gentle and mix it just enough that it's not streaky anymore.
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My mixture has cooled a bit more than I'd want it to, so I'm gonna hit it once more with my torch.
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You wanna keep the mixture loose and warm right up until you're ready to pour it into that baking dish.
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Sift in the flour and cocoa powder to make sure there are no clumps.
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Anytime I'm sifting something, I love using a whisk.
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It goes through very quickly.
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And know that from this moment forward, every stir will cost you.
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Mixing develops gluten, and too much gluten means you'll make a cake instead of brownies.
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So fold until just combined.
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I'm totally fine seeing a few little clumps of flour left.
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If this batter is any indication, my grandma's going to give these a perfect score.
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But we'll see.
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Pour this into a parchment -lined baking dish.
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Then give it a few taps to make sure it's all evened out.
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Give it one light sprinkle of salt.
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And then into the oven at 325 Fahrenheit until the edges are set and the center is wobbly.
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Take a look at that.
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Technically, we should let it rest for 30 minutes,
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but half the time I grab a bowl with a scoop of ice cream and then put some of the hot, gooey brownie right over it,
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and it's genuinely better than any dessert I've ever had, even at the best restaurants all around the world.
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But if and when you're patient enough to let it fully cool, it'll look like this.
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You can see that wavy, glass -like crust on the top, those raised corner pieces, my favorite part,
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and all the little chunks of salt that have partway dissolved into the brownie.
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But the real test is when we cut into it.
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The key to cutting brownies is to place a sharp knife in hot water,
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then wiping the blade dry and going straight down with a clean and confident cut.
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Then rinse and repeat.
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Everybody always argues about which piece is the best.
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This point we may not agree on, but I think that the corner slices give you the best balance in every bite.
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But I think there's one thing we can all agree on, and that's that if your favorite piece is this middle one here,
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you're out of your mind.
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I've been waiting all day for this.
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It has everything you'd ever want in a brownie.
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Crispy top, fudgy center, the perfect bittersweet balance.
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But hey, if you don't believe me, I'll let you hear what my grandma thinks.
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Just wait right there.
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Okay, you're present.
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Oh, good Lord, it's huge.
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It's good.
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It melts in your mouth, but it's a 9 -3.
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A 9 -3?
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Any reason why?
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I think it's good, honey.
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I'll try to make you a better one next time.
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Don't give me a hard time, honey.
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I'm too full.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How To Make The Perfect Brownies”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: brownie, brown, butter, chocolate, eggs. This video has 81 sentences and 994 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:05. The speaker talks fast, about 243 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| butter noun | /ˈbʌtɚ/ | A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk). |
| egg noun | /ɛɡ/ | An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or shell… |
| bake verb | /beɪk/ | To cook (something) in an oven (for someone). |
| mixture noun | /ˈmɪkst͡ʃɚ/ | The act of mixing. |
| grandma noun | /ˈɡɹænmɑː/ | Grandmother. |
| pour verb | /poɹ/ | To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it. |
| honey noun | /ˈhʌni/ | A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans. |
| dish noun | /dɪʃ/ | A vessel such as a plate for holding or serving food, often flat with a depressed region in the middle. |
| bubble noun | /ˈbʌbəl/ | A spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid. |
| fold verb | /ˈfəʊld/ | To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself. |
| gently adverb | /ˈd͡ʒɛntli/ | Without strong force or quickness: softly, lightly. |
| extract noun | /ˈɛkstɹækt/ | Something that is extracted or drawn out. |
| flour noun | /ˈflaʊ.ə/ | Powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, or other foodstuffs such as soybeans and potatoes, and used to bake bread, cakes, and… |
| melt verb | /mɛlt/ | To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat. |
| stir verb | /stɝ/ | To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| cool down verb | /kuːl ˈdaʊn/ | To become cooler; to be reduced in temperature. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| hand out verb | To distribute; to give out, either by hand or as if so (figuratively). | |
| start off verb | To begin. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Anytime I'm sifting something, I love using a whisk.
- I've been waiting all day for this.
- It has everything you'd ever want in a brownie.
- I think it's good, honey.
- Don't give me a hard time, honey.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if it's the worst, she'll tell · if you don't believe me, I'll let |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've ever seen · has cooled · I've ever had |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the easiest · the best · the worst |
| Comparatives -er than / more … than — comparing two things | better than |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 38 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dish /dɪʃ/, sharp /ʃɑɹp/, indication /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/, splash /splæʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, indication /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like butter, egg, bake.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.