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Editor’s Note: I originally published this post on August 10, 2015. Five years, a couple cookbooks and hundreds of recipe tests later, I can say the same tricks hold true. I’ve tried all kinds of from-scratch brownie recipes and box mix baking hacks (instant coffee, pudding mix, all…meh). If you prefer fudgy over cakey sweets—without spending a ton of money on ingredients (I’m not about to melt $8 bars of chocolate here)—these simple findings hold true. Without further ado…
Growing up, friends would freak out over my mom’s chocolate chip brownies. They’d practically beg me to ask her to make them, and years later, when we started experimenting in the kitchen, I started getting calls asking to spill our family’s secret.
So here goes:
We used a Martha White brownie mix, doctored with a few heaping handfuls of semisweet chocolate chips.
Yes, that’s it.
A few friends refused to believe it. Some bought the mix, made it at home, and swore we were hiding some big secret from them.
We weren’t. It really was a box mix. It all came down to four things, as my mom showed me:
- The right box mix. Quality cocoa powder is key. Martha White’s mix isn’t sold anymore, but out of all the box mixes I’ve tried, nothing compares to Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix. It’s my new Martha.
- Under-mixing. Never take an electric mixer or whisk to the batter. Just fold in the oil and eggs with a rubber until the lumps of brownie mix are broken up.
- Under cook. Bake to the minimum time suggested, and pull them out right away. If the batter jiggles in the center when you go to pull it out, it could use a few more minutes, but otherwise, turn off the oven and let that baby cool!
- Cook at a lower temperature. Cooking the brownies at 325 degrees F, for a few minutes longer than the minimum (if the package calls for the standard 350), can result in denser, fudgier brownies.
- For chewier brownies with a richer flavor, use melted butter instead of vegetable oil. It’s a technique I tested at PureWow in April 2022, and wow! The results surprised me.
- For the gooiest, moistest brownies, use milk instead of water in the box mix. The extra fat goes a long way in making the brownies taste like fudge.
- Let it cool. Give the brownies at least 30 minutes to set, so they’re not molten goo when you try to cut into them (not that there’s anything wrong with that, per se!)
- Add a mix-in. The right ones can completely change the brownie’s flavor.
The Best Mix-Ins to Improve the Flavor of Box Mix Brownies:
- Bite-size pieces of store-bought cheesecake
- Salted caramel sauce swirled on top
- Crushed banana chips
- Chocolate-covered pretzels
- Nutter Butters
- Rolos
- A layer of Ghirardelli caramel-filled squares
- Chopped Milky Way Midnight (or Milky Way Marshmallow) bars
- Nutella swirl
- Mini M&Ms
- Dark chocolate peanut butter cups
- Peanut butter (just dollop a bit on top and swirl with a knife)
- 1 cup peanut butter mixed with 1/4 cup powdered sugar (for a more Reese’s-like texture)
- 1 cup cream cheese mixed with 1/4 cup powdered sugar, for a cheesecake-like topping
- Marshmallow Fluff
- Cookie dough
- Chocolate chunks or chips
- Golden Oreos (or any flavor, really)
- Andes Mints
- Chopped Kit-Kats
- Pecans
- Pistachios
- Cashews
- Rainbow cookies
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