Homemade brownies can seem like a difficult task, no matter how much you crave them. So, easy recipes for brownies are what you need. Besides, this busy lifestyle of ours can hardly afford time-consuming recipes.

But, you should not ditch the possibility of relishing chocolaty fudgy brownies just because you are busy! You can always use easy recipes. To help you out, we present you with many such D.I.Y recipes.

Easy D.I.Y Brownie recipes

1. Brownie Without Chocolate or Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup of powdered sugar
• ¾ cup coconut oil or melted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt

Steps:

• Preheat the micro-oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a mixing bowl, take measured sugar and oil.
• Add eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk it up.
• After whisking, mix it well using an electric beater.
• In another mixing bowl, add ¾ cup of all-purpose flour.
• Next, add 1/3 cup of cocoa powder.
• This is to be followed by adding ½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt.
• Mix all these dry ingredients using a whisk.
• Now, transfer these dry ingredients into the bowl containing the wet ingredients (that you mixed earlier).
• But, you need to add it slowly and continue mixing. It prevents the formation of lumps.
• Continue mixing until you get a smooth brownie batter.
• Transfer the mixture to a micro-oven-proof pan. This pan needs to be greased with butter and lined with parchment paper.
• Bake it for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C.
• Cut the brownie into square pieces after it reaches room temperature.

2. Brownie Without Egg

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup refined flour
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup dark chocolate
• ¾ cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt

Step:

• Preheat the micro-oven to 180 degrees C.
• Sift the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder). Mix these in a bowl.
• Melt and mix butter and chocolate in a double boiler or micro-oven.
• Chop chocolate into pieces before melting.
• The double boiler consists of a bowl on top of boiling water. Its use involves adding ingredients to that bowl, not directly to the vessel receiving direct heat.
• If setting a double boiler seems exhausting, you can use a micro-oven to melt chocolate and butter.
• Add sugar, yogurt, and vanilla extract to the liquid chocolate mixture. Mix it well using a whisk.
• Continue mixing until the sugar dissolves completely.
• Slowly mix the dry mixture with the wet mixture.
• Place the brownie batter into a tray lined with butter paper.
• Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees C.

3. No-Oven brownie

The majority of recipes mention using a micro-oven. But, this recipe comes in handy if you don’t have a micro-oven. So, you don’t need to buy a micro-oven to make unbelievably delicious brownies.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup refined flour
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup dark chocolate
• ¾ cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt

Steps

• Switch on the gas add 1 kg salt to a cooker and let it heat.
• Place a small bowl or stand on the layer of salt.
• You must check whether your baking pan fits inside the cooker on top of the small bowl or stand.
• Cover the top of the cooker with its lid.
• This is an alternative to replacing the preheating step with the micro-oven method.
• Sift and mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder) in a mixing bowl.
• Now, let’s keep it aside.
• Make chocolate ganache by melting chocolate chunks and butter (either use a micro-oven or double boiler).
• Mix sugar, vanilla extract, and yogurt with ganache.
• Combine this wet mixture with previously mixed dry components.
• Insert the baking pan with brownie batter inside the cooker and cover it with a lid leaving a gap.
• The cooking time with or without an oven varies.
• So, check after 25 to 30 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the middle of the brownie.
• If it comes out clean, then the brownie is baked perfectly.

4. No-bake brownie

It uses no eggs since it is a no-bake recipe.

Ingredients: 

• 1 and 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp instant coffee
• 2 cups of evaporated milk (for making the brownie)
• 1 cup of dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk (for making the frosting)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup butter

Steps: 

• Sift and mix the dry ingredients like flour and cocoa powder.
• In a separate bowl, mix evaporated milk, coffee, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract on low flame.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly and combine properly.
• Cook the whole mixture for 10 minutes or continue cooking until it becomes solid enough to hold a shape.
• Place the mixture into a tray lined with wax or butter papers. Spread it evenly using a spatula.
• In a double boiler or micro-oven, mix dark chocolate with evaporated milk.
• Continue stirring until the dark chocolate gets completely melted.
• Spread this prepared chocolate frosting on the top of brownies.
• Then, sprinkle some peanuts, almonds, or any other nuts of your choice. If you don’t like nuts, you can leave this step.
• You can also drizzle some salted caramel sauce or add pieces of white chocolate on top of the chocolate frosting. The salted caramel flavor provides a nice contrast with the chocolate flavor of brownies. However, this is also an optional step.
• Place the tray inside the refrigerator and freeze the brownies.
• Keep it overnight and then, cut it into small square pieces.

5. Brownie in a Mug

This brownie-in-a-mug recipe is one of the easiest ways to make homemade brownies. You don’t even need to use separate pans and mixing bowls. Just combine the basic ingredients in a single mug and bake it and voila, enjoy.

This may fail to impress strict lovers of classical recipes. But, it can become your go-to brownie recipe on any day of your life.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons of milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 6 tbsp of cocoa powder
• 6 tbsp of flour
• Salt

Steps

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix brown sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a large-sized coffee mug.
• Continue mixing until the sugar dissolves.
• Then, add melted unsalted butter.
• Add flour, cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt to the same mug.
• Mix all these until there’s no lump.
• Place the brownie batter inside the oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 5 minutes.

List of 5-star Recipes

For making 5-star brownies, we recommend recipes by celebrity chefs. Following these will give you the best homemade brownies you have ever tasted.

After a lot of skimming and analyzing baking blogs, we came across brownie recipes from Martha Stewart and Alton Brown.

These recipes not only deliver amazing brownies but also have low difficulty levels. Also, these brownie recipes are unique in their ways.

6. Martha Steward’s recipe 

If you are craving fudge brownies, you can use Martha Stewart’s recipe. It is a fuss-free recipe. It uses coconut oil and both brown and white sugar, apart from the basic ingredients. You can select toppings of your choice.

7. Alton Brown’s recipe

We think Alton Brown’s brownie recipe is the clear winner. It is a wonderful recipe that delivers perfect texture and flavor.

Also, it is easy to make. It hardly requires multiple bowls for mixing ingredients. Also, you can make brownies following this recipe in less than 20 minutes.

Best Brownie Recipe

The best brownie should have the perfect combination of chocolaty taste and fudgy texture. It gifts you the rich flavor of dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate.

Besides, who can forget the joy of sinking your teeth into moist and chewy brownies? But, the best brownies should neither be too chewy nor too moist.

Also, when you take it out from the oven, the shiny top crust should become a feast for your eyes. But, the best brownies lack sugary sweetness. And it never hides the rich and intense flavor of brownies.

Enjoying brownies with a scoop of ice cream or a cup of coffee will delight your taste buds. But, baking the best brownies or at least your personal favorites needs taking care of multiple parameters at once.

After a lot of online research, we have collected a recipe that is best according to our opinion (or our taste buds) among other recipes. We came across the recipe for the best easy brownie on Tessa Arias’s blog.

8. Tessa’s Brownie Recipe 

It uses both semisweet chocolate chips and chopped chocolates. It’s not only easy but also provides impressive texture and fantastic flavor. Also, making these takes less than 1 hour. Check it out!

Easy Brownie Recipes for Lazy People

Easy D.I.Y recipes may also seem too much work. For too lazy people (or busy people), we recommend a boxed brownie mix and getting creative with it.

These recipes using boxed mixes will not make you a brownie master. Also, boxed mixtures can never match the taste of homemade brownies. But, it saves time.

You can even utilize this time in making fusion recipes of brownies like cheesecake brownies, and vanilla ice cream brownies.

9. Brownie with Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 Boxed brownie mix
• 1 and 1/2 cups of crushed cookies of your choice (You can use different cookies)
• 1/4 cup of light/dark brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Steps:

• Preheat the micro-oven to 350 degrees F.
• Now, before you start protesting that this should have been easy D.I.Y recipes, remember nothing can get easier than mixing or making something according to package instructions.
• So, start by preparing your brownie mix according to the package instructions. Keep it aside.
• Break cookies into small pieces and powder these using a food processor. Prepare a coarse powder, not a fine one.
• Mix this with butter and brown sugar.
• Grease a baking pan with softened butter and press the cookie mixture with butter and sugar at the bottom of the pan.
• Pour the boxed brownie mix over the cookie layer.
• Bake this for 25 minutes.
•  Add a layer of cookie powder on top of the baked brownie.
• If you are using different cookies, you can place alternate layers of the different cookie mixtures and the brownie batter.

10. Cheesecake Brownie

Ingredients:

• 1 box mix of brownies
• 1 and 1/2 cups of graham crackers or crushed biscuits of your choice
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 boxed cheesecake mix

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Prepare the ready-made brownie batter according to package guidelines and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
• While it is getting baked, grease a baking pan with butter.
• Crush some biscuits and mix these with butter.
• Take this mixture and press it to the bottom of the pan.
• Prepare the cheesecake mixture according to the package instructions.
• Transfer the mixture on top of the biscuit layer and freeze it as per the package guidelines.
• After baking the brownie, cool it down to room temperature.
• Crumble it with your hands and prepare a fine mixture.
• Spread the brownie mixture evenly on top of the Frozen Cheesecake. 
• You can also add strawberry pieces or chocolate chunks on top of the brownie mixture.

11. Brownie Apple pie

Ingredients:

• 1 box mix of brownies
• 2 apples of your choice (though, we recommend red ripened types)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons cinnamon powder

Steps:

• Preheat the micro-oven to 350 degrees F.
• Prepare brownies according to package guidelines.
• Spread the parchment paper before pouring the mixture into the baking pan.
• Cut apples into small pieces and mix these with cinnamon and brown sugar.
• Spread this apple mixture evenly on top of the brownie batter.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

12. Brownie Mousse

Ingredients:

• Box mix of brownies
• A cup of milk chocolate or white chocolate chunks
• A cup of white and milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup cream
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp of coffee powder
• 1 tablespoon soft butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• Half cup cold cream

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Prepare the boxed brownie as per package instructions, bake it, and let it cool at room temperature.
• Blend the brownie in a food processor or crumble it using your hands. Keep it aside.
• Mix 1/4 cup cream, salt, coffee powder, butter, and chocolate chunks in a bowl.
• Melt the mixture in a double boiler. Remove from the double boiler immediately as soon as the chocolate melts.
• Continue blending with a spatula until it forms a uniform ganache. Let it come to room temperature.
• Mix the cold cream with vanilla extract and icing sugar in a separate bowl.
• Whip these ingredients until you get soft peaks.
• Blend the cold cream mixture with chocolate ganache. This gives you the mousse.
• Remember to add the ganache in parts to the cold cream mixture.
• Now, blend the brownie mixture with the prepared mousse.
• Note that the brownie mixture should be half of the mousse quantity.
• You can also make a separate layer of the brownie mix and add mousse on top of it.
• Chill it overnight, sprinkle some milk and white chocolate chips on the mousse.
• Serve it and enjoy.

13. Brownie Pops

Ingredients:

• 1 Box mix of brownies
• 2 cups of chocolate
• 4 tablespoons butter
• Coconut flakes
• Crushed chocolate gems
• Candy sprinkles

Steps:

• Make brownies according to package instructions.
• After making brownies, cool it down to room temperature and crumble it using your hands.
• Make small balls out of it. You can also shape it like an ice cream bar.
• Insert a lollipop stick into brownie balls. Keep these in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
• Melt chopped chocolate and butter in a double boiler or micro-oven. Either white or milk chocolate can be used.
• Dip those brownie pops into the chocolate mixture.
• Crush some chocolate gems and coarsely grind coconut in a food processor.
• Sprinkle some of these pops with coconut flakes, some with crushed gems, and some with candy sprinkles.
• Refrigerate these for approximately 2 hours and these will be ready to serve.

Other Brownie Recipes 

14. Simple Fudgy Brownie

Watch this video to learn to make brownies simply.

15. Brownies with 20, 10, and 2 ingredients

These recipes are innovative. Also, it gives you different recipes changing the number of ingredients.

If you are looking for easy D.I.Y recipes, try the one with 2 ingredients. Surely, nothing can get easier than that!!

You can always innovate your recipes. Apart from essential ingredients, you can add other ingredients to bring up new flavors in brownies. Don’t hesitate to play with flavors.

Can you even think of a combination of candy cane and brownies? Take your inspiration from Cafe Delites. Read its recipe for candy cane fudge brownies.

Besides, who knew there’s something called red wine brownies? Check out the recipe here. You can also try almond butter brownies. So, as you can see being creative delivers amazing brownies.

You may cause a mishap or a baking disaster but you may also end up creating something new. So, delight your taste buds by unleashing your inner creative baker.

Tips to remember:

These few tips are important irrespective of the difficulty level of the brownie you are making. With these tips, you will always be ready to make your absolute favorite brownie recipe.

• To make the best brownies, you need to know the functions of basic brownie ingredients. You can study it here. Also, this knowledge can help you design new easy brownie recipes.
• You can use any type of cocoa powder for making brownies. However, most blogs and bakers advocate the use of Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
• Use espresso powder to uplift the flavor of chocolate brownies. Espresso powder makes chocolate taste richer and more intense.
• Before transferring the brownie batter, don’t forget to grease the baking pan with softened butter and line it with parchment paper.
• Always properly mix the ingredients. You should continue mixing until you get a mixture without any lumps.
• The dry ingredients should not be added to the wet ingredients in one go. You should add dry ingredients slowly.
• When using cups for measuring components, use same-sized cups. For example, suppose a recipe says “Add 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of oil”, never use cups of different sizes for measuring.
• Use the same-sized cups for the whole recipe. Otherwise, the proportion of ingredients will not be in sync and your brownie may end up as a disaster.
• If your kitchen lacks many cups of the same size, use the same cup for measuring different ingredients and keep that measured ingredient in separate bowls or cups.
• When you are using chocolate chunks in the brownie batter, don’t go for too big or too small. Cut chocolate preferably into medium-sized pieces.

• Always tap the baking tray or pan containing the brownie batter before placing it inside the oven. It helps in removing trapped air.
• Also, it makes the surface of the brownie mixture uniform.
• Always wait for 30 minutes after taking the brownies out of the oven and let it cool completely.
• If you slice them into pieces just after taking them out from the oven, you are more prone to getting messy pieces. Also, completely cooled brownies are tastier. So, to lock in more flavors, it’s better to control yourself before jumping into a baking pan of just cooked brownies.
• It is wise to use unsweetened cocoa powder and unsalted butter. It helps in controlling the amount of sugar and butter in the final product.
• Also, the rich chocolaty flavor of brownies goes with the flavor profile of unsweetened cocoa powder.
• You can always add milk, white, or dark chocolate chips on top of your brownie batter.
• Ice cream on top of fresh-out-of-the-oven brownies tastes good. So, you can serve brownie pieces with a scoop of ice cream of your choice.
• You can add chopped strawberries or blueberries to brownie batter. These can be also used as a topping.

• Lastly, it’s okay to mess up. It would help if you had confidence and a lack of a fearful attitude to master delicious recipes

Closing Thoughts

We hope we have got you covered with these tips for recipes. Oh wait, we also need to talk about baking pan size for brownies. Most recipes mention using an 8 x 8-inch baking pan for brownies. You can use a baking pan of any size for making brownies.

Also, you can choose aluminum, ceramic, nonstick, metal, or glass pan. However, baking time and temperature vary based on the size and type of baking pans. So, optimize the temperature and baking time based on the size and material of the baking pan you have selected.

These brownie recipes can be easily integrated into your busy lifestyle. Also, it never compromises the taste.

Most importantly, these teach you how to make brownies from scratch. You can also experiment using easily available ingredients and discover new recipes. Do remember to share with us your interesting discoveries.

Last Updated on March 18, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology