Classic Brownies that are rich and chewy with a crackly crust are an easy pantry recipe (no chocolate chips even needed!) made from melted butter and cocoa powder in just 30 minutes!
If you’ve tried my recipes for Peanut Butter Brownies, S’Mores Brownies, and Cookie Dough Brownies and loved them, but want something a little more classic to serve at your next get together, try this classic, delicious Brownie recipe.
BROWNIES
They’re fudgy, chewy, gooey, chocolatey, cakey, moist, and pretty much any other word you can think of to describe the best Brownie ever.
The next time you have a craving for rich, delicious Brownies with a crackly top and gooey center, you should definitely try this recipe. The great thing about homemade Brownies versus the kind you pick up from the grocery store is that you can control exactly what goes in them and can customize them to fit the occasion. They also have a conveniently short cook time, which makes them easy to bake on a busy night.
Once you’ve mixed together everything for your batch of Brownies and they’ve developed that perfect crackly top, you should still test the middle to make sure that they’re cooked through. All you need to do this is an ordinary toothpick. Insert the toothpick into the center of the pan of Brownies and pull it back out again. If the toothpick is clean, then the inside of the Brownies is solid, and if the toothpick has batter stuck to it then you need to put it back into the oven for a few more minutes. Another handy trick to make your Brownies have a smooth top is to pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
HOW TO MAKE BROWNIES
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan.
- Mix melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
- Whisk in cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Spread batter into the baking pan evenly.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
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VARIATIONS ON BROWNIES
- Toppings and Add Ins: Try adding in some semi-sweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or even peanut butter chocolate chips. You can also try some sliced nuts, like cashews or pecans. Try drizzling some chunks of fudge, melted chocolate, caramel sauce, brown sugar, confectioner’s sugar, or even espresso powder over the top of the Brownies to give them a whole new flavor palate.
- Serve with: Try serving up the Brownies with a scoop of Homemade Ice Cream or a dollop of Homemade Whipped Cream.
How Long are Brownies good?
- Serve: Brownies are good at room temperature for up to 2 days before they get stale. You can increase the shelf life by keeping them in plastic wrap or an airtight container.
- Store: Brownies will stay fresher in the fridge. Keep them wrapped up and they will last up to 3 days. They will also stay more moist and you can serve them chilled, straight out of the fridge.
- Freeze: Always let your Brownies cool down to room temperature before you store them. The Brownies will be good in the freezer for up to 3 months, and you can put layers of parchment paper in between them to keep the Brownies from fusing together.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray an 8x8 inch baking pan with baking spray.
- Whisk together melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Whisk in the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Spread batter evenly into greased baking pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Nutrition
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Simple and good! Basic ingredients that most people have in the house. These remind me of my Grandmother’s brownies. Thank you!
Best compliment ever. Thank you so much for the five star review.
These brownies were so easy to make! They are absolutely delicious! Thank you! ?
You’re welcome Judi and thank you for the five star review!
I have made these brownies several times & they are so delicious. I especially like that I always have the ingredients on hand when I have to make a dessert at the last minute.
I love this recipe! My whole family devoured the whole pan in a day so I have had to double it. I add pecans to mine and in summer a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I love this recipe! Super simple super quick! The fact that most recipes call for chocolate chips in brownies is bothersome when you’re all out! This recipe can be whipped up in less than 10 minutes and they keep very well if there in an airtight container!
Hello,
My brownies are in the oven, but I have a question. Should a dark Dutch chocolate be used, or a regular Dutch chocolate? Also, which type of flour; regular flour, or all purpose?
Regards,
Rebecca
Your choice of Dutch chocolate :).
Regular flour
Let us know how your brownies turned out Rebecca!
tasted SOOO good! im the pickiest teenager ever, not a fan of brownies.. but THESE.. these are my new favorite recipe. decided to make some late night snacks a 1am and came across some brownies, of course i clicked! great taste, soft and chewy on the inside, and nice and crispy on the outside. they fell apart, only because i couldnt wait for them to cool.. i wanted to try.. but, so very good. thank you!
LOL…love this comment. So glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve been doing this recipe for years now. The brownies turn out so well and are delectable. I would totally recommend this recipe to anyone!
Thanks Cindy!
I love this recipe! So easy and they’re delicious! I just made some and didn’t have any vanilla extract and substituted 2 tbsp of olive oil and it still worked great.
This has been my go-to brownie recipe several times over. It’s so quick, super easy, with staple ingredients in my pantry. Whenever I’m craving a chocolate treat at home I return to this recipe! Totally would recommend keeping this in your recipe book (aka, saved on Pinterest) 😉
Thanks Sofia for your kind words and for saving on Pinterest!
These brownies had a lovely, sweet taste but didn’t have the crackly crust and chewy texture as described. Did I do something wrong?
The secret to perfect, crinkly top brownies is to under-mix the batter once the eggs go in!
Thank you for asking, I will place this on my list of things to correct in the instructions!
Every time I reach for a comfort food item to make in my pinned recipes, I see Sabrina’s smiling face. This brownie recipe is so easy and delicious, why would anyone buy a box browned. Thanks Sabrina.
Awww, you’re welcome!
These brownies are so delicious! And easy too! I added walnuts!
Love this recipe!
I rarely bake anymore; honestly, we don’t need sweets, so I usually don’t have anything on hand to make them. I was really craving something, so I went looking. I did have everything I needed for this recipe and it didn’t make a huge amount. Made it tonight and they were really good. Hubby put Cool Whip on them, which also was good. Thank you for the recipe.
I loved the brownies. I made them exactly as the recipe and they came out perfect.
Delicious
This is the best chewy brownie recipe I’ve ever made!cit for an 8×8” pan bytbifhi need to make more I’ll don’t bar ths recipe.
Just made these brownies ! Such a great recipe! Defiantly one I will use from now on. I’ve tried several and this wins hands down!
Very nice thank you would recommend
I have come back to this recipe time and time again for about three years now. It is THE best homemade brownie recipe. It’ll be a family recipe at this point! Thank you for sharing! ?
It’s EXACTLY what I was looking for. This is identical to the America’s test kitchen “Bake Sale Brownies” but subbing cacao powder for the baking chocolate and decreasing the flour to 1/2 cup. And I KNOW their recipe is good. So, thanks!
Hi so I’ve tried this recipe three times. And everytime I follow everything to a t. But yet my brownies end up tar like completely melted and nasty I check on it at the 20 minute mark and it’s fine but then it turns in a split second to complete tar
Simple and delicious recipe. I used self-rising flour and omitted the salt and baking powder. Worked great! Topped with chocolate chips. We were planning to have family over for dinner and after I got home from shopping the day before, forgot that I hadn’t grabbed anything for dessert. I had everything already in my house to whip up these delicious brownies. We had them fresh out of the oven after dinner with some vanilla ice cream. They were a hit.
I tried this recipe twice, it was never fully cooked even after I baked for 30 minutes.
I forgot the baking powder and salt (to busy eating the batter). Still yummy! I wanted a simple brownie recipe and I finally found one. These are my first batch of brownies I have made from scratch,
These look delicious and I’d really like to try this recipe! But there are some inconsistencies between the cups and the metric measurements which are a little confusing to me (the affected ingredients are the baking powder, vanilla and the key ingredient: the cocoa powder). I usually use the metric system as I am from Europe. Shall I stick to the cups for this one? I just wanted to make sure to use the correct amounts of everything. Thank you in advance!
Hello, I see what you mean, feel free to convert yourself or use the cups/ounces/tsp measurements.
I was craving something sweet and quick so I picked this recipe to try. I was really surprised how good they were. Chocolaty and gooey. This is definitely a keeper and is now at the top of my “I need some chocolate” list.