Have you been searching for a recipe to make delicious gooey brownies from scratch? Ditch the box mix and do it yourself easily with this one bowl, easy to throw together brownie recipe. You’ll thank me later.
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There once was a time when I’d buy the brownie mix from the store. I’d whip up a batch of those brownies with no shame and serve them to friends and family.
But, here’s the thing. I’m a compulsive DIYer and a super frugal saver. So I started thinking…is there a way I can make brownies like this from scratch? One of my biggest homesteading goals is to reduce my dependency on the store, so if I could come up with a recipe that was just as delicious as the boxed brownies yet made in my own kitchen from scratch, then I felt like I’d be doing pretty good.
What does it mean to cook or bake from scratch?
Cooking from scratch means using basic food ingredients to create a product. This means completely avoiding boxed or packaged foods, and creating everything for a meal or dessert with basic ingredients that have not been premade in any way.
There is a spectrum here of what it means to be “from scratch”. On the conservative end, you’ll have people who grind their own wheat to make their flour. These are extremely dedicated people!
On the liberal end of the spectrum, you’ll have people who open up packaged noodles and store-bought pasta sauce, use them for a recipe, yet still say it’s from scratch. After all, it was created entirely with basic ingredients at home!
I’m on the moderately conservative side. I like to make what I can, but there are occasional times when I reach for the boxed instant rice too. Often, though, the meals we eat are created with my own two hands with just a handful of ingredients. The main ingredients I use are flour, oats, eggs, milk, a meat source, potatoes, and then all of our preserved (or fresh in summer) fruits and vegetables. If I can’t make it, we generally won’t eat it.
Neither end of the spectrum is necessarily right or wrong; it’s all a matter of personal preference. We tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to from scratch cooking, baking our own breads, making our own noodles, and using only our preserved garden vegetables, but that’s our family’s preference. You can be as liberal or as conservative as you’d like to be!
Why ditch the boxed brownie mix?
As a general rule of thumb, any time you can make it at home rather than buy a pre-mixed recipe is generally a good thing in my book. Many pre-boxed and pre-packaged foods can be full of preservatives and fake ingredients to extend shelf life, which aren’t good for your body. If you have the chance to make it at home, and you’re excited to do so, I suggest you do! More than likely, you’ll be happy with the result. And if you’re not…well, you can learn from it. I have learned a LOT about cooking over the years, and if I’d have given up on my first failed from-scratch recipe, I can guarantee you my family’s menu would look a lot different and a lot more processed. Failures are opportunities to learn and cooking and baking are skills that take time to develop. So don’t be discouraged!
Ingredients for these easy from scratch gooey brownies:
- Sugar
- Flour
- Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
- Baking Powder
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Coconut Oil
- Butter
- Powdered Sugar (optional)
What you’ll need to make the brownies:
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Rubber Spatula
- Wooden Spoon
- 9×13 pan
- Oven Mitts (aren’t these adorable?!)
- an appetite for a good brownie!
Process to making gooey brownies:
Begin by preheating your oven to 365 degrees. Prepare your 9×13 inch pan by greasing it with butter.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together your coconut oil, butter, sugar, eggs, baking powder, and vanilla. Add in your cocoa powder and flour, stirring with your wooden spoon only enough to combine. You don’t want to overmix these brownies!
Spread your brownie batter into your prepared pan evenly. Bake the brownies for 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. You don’t want to overbake these brownies or they’ll lose their gooey-ness!
Allow the brownies to mostly cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar. That’s all there is to it!
Some notes:
These brownies are great to experiment with add-ins! Try adding in walnuts, chocolate chips, sprinkles, or white chocolate chips to mix things up.
The brownies are also great as is with a powdered sugar sprinkle, but if you’d like, you can also add a chocolate frosting to these as well.
You’re going to want to save this for later….⬇
From Scratch Easy Gooey Chocolate Brownies (made in one bowl!)
An easy to make, gooey brownie recipe that will have you ditching the box mix to make your own from scratch all the time!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Prepare your 9x13 inch dish by greasing it with butter
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar, butter, oil, vanilla, eggs, and baking powder.
- Add in the flour and cocoa powder, mixing it just until combined. Don't overmix this batter!
- Spread your prepared brownie batter into your prepared pan.
- Bake brownies for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
- Allow brownies to mostly cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar
Notes
- Feel free to be creative and experiment with add-ons in this recipe! Adding in walnuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or sprinkles can be great additions to these brownies!
- We used 1 3/4 cups of sugar, but you can use 2 cups if you'd like a sweeter brownie.
- This recipe doesn't require frosting because they're good as is, but you can add a chocolate buttercream frosting to these for an extra rich flavor.
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