As I was growing up, whenever my mom made brownies, it was always, always from a boxed mix. Cookies were from scratch, angel food cake was from scratch, bread was even from scratch…. but brownies? Boxed mix. And so I always assumed that brownies were somehow difficult or cumbersome to make on your own. And I guess they can be, but this recipe is every bit as easy as using a packaged option. It’s a one-bowl brownie that’s based on cocoa powder (no chocolate to melt!) and since it also happens to turn out a luscious fudgy, delicious brownie, it’s my absolute go-to recipe. No need for boxed mixes anymore!

These are really simple. And I mean really simple. All you have to do is melt some butter and stir your ingredients together, easy peasy. There’s brown and white sugar for maximum flavor, and some chocolate chips mixed into the batter and sprinkled on top, but it all comes together in a single bowl.

And that single bowl prep means that these are the kind of treat you can make at a moment’s notice. They take maybe five minutes to mix up and about twenty-five minutes in the oven, so that means you can be sinking your teeth into a soft and sweet, warm chocolatey brownie in just thirty minutes. That’s just as quick as a mix and I think we all know that you just can’t compete with homemade flavor.

So the next time you feel a hankering for a chocolate indulgence, there’s no need at all to run to the store. Since these brownies rely on things I usually have in my pantry anyway and they take just a few minutes to get in the oven, they’re my favorite on-a-whim, easy-to-make sweet treat. And I hope they become yours too!