Make these one bowl brownies when you’re craving dessert but don’t want to do dishes!
Addie’s classroom was having a party at school one day, and the teacher put out a sign-up sheet. Being the baking snob I am, I did not want to bring anything store-bought and didn’t want to sign up for snacks like pretzels or crackers. I decided to bake brownies with orange frosting for the fall, and I had no idea what recipe I wanted to use.
For previous school potluck parties, I made the salted fudge brownies, and those were a huge hit. This time, I wanted to try a different recipe. I knew that I wouldn’t have much time to make this dessert since I had skating the night before the party. I found this recipe and it looked very simple, and best of all, the prep time was about 5 minutes (excluding the frosting, which was maybe another 3 minutes). As an added bonus, the brownies are a one-bowl recipe!
I was able to mix and bake the brownies before I left for skating, and the frosting was all ready to go and ready for me after I returned home. That evening, I just sliced the brownies and packed them up so they were ready for the next day. Of course, I kept a few to taste test and share with my husband.
While these brownies didn’t taste quite as fudgy and amazing as the salted fudge brownies, they were a good substitute since I did not have a lot of time. The teachers and kids devoured these, and I had no extra brownies to bring home.
One bowl brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder I used Hershey's Dark
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour could substitute with white whole wheat
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 30 degrees F.
- Generously grease an 8"x8" square baking pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fold in the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt and incorporate with as few strokes as possible.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the brownies to cool completely before frosting or serving.
- I opted to add an orange colored buttercream on top of mine. In the bowl of my stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, I creamed 1 stick (1/2 cup) of room temperature, unsalted butter. Then I added about 1.5-2 cups of powdered sugar and 2-3 teaspoons of milk. To get the orange hue, I added 5 drops of yellow food coloring and 3 drops of red food coloring. Then I garnished with fall-themed sprinkles.
Notes