I always am hesitant to make a chocolate recipe that calls for bars of unsweetened chocolate(and many brownie recipes do). While not exorbitantly expensive, unsweetened chocolate is more pricey than cocoa powder and so I prefer not to bake with it. So, here is a unsweetened chocolate-free brownie recipe. Not only does this recipe use cocoa powder, is is also very, very easy and it yields dense, chocolatey, moist brownies(bonus: it was from a low-fat cookbook. These aren’t exactly health food, but they’re not quite as sinful as most other brownies).
I don’t know exactly how these compare price-wise to brownies from a box, but I can tell you that they taste better. 
One day when I get really organized, I’ll do an Amy Dacyzyn style price breakdown, but for now, you’ll just have to be motivated by the picture of delicious chocolate-ness.
Frugal Brownies
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 teaspoon hot water(I hate coffee, so I just throw in a teaspoon of water)
Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a saucepan. While the butter is melting, mix the dry ingredients(except the sugar! That will get mixed with the melted butter later) together.
When the butter is melted, take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the sugar. The mixture will be a sandy texture.
Stir in the eggs and vanilla(the original recipe says about 40 strokes…I don’t usually count!).
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir(the recipe says to use a wooden spoon, which I dutifully do. A metal spoon probably won’t ruin your brownies, though!) for 40 strokes(again, I don’t really count). Does this not look delicious?? At this point, I am always sorely tempted to take out a spoon and start eating.
Pour/scrape the batter into a greased 8×8 inch baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. When a toothpick is inserted, it should still be a little wet and gooey. This one:
is actually a little on the dry side. Err on the side of wet. Cool on a wire rack and cut into squares.
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They look good! I think ill try them.
Butter’s melted, dry ingredients are mixed, baking pan is greased… but at what temperature am I baking these at? I should point out that this is my very first time baking anything from scratch, so if there is a standard temperature (350 degrees keeps popping into my head) for baking, I don’t know what it is. I’ll do some Googling to try and find out and hope they turn out as yummy as yours look
Ohhh, I’m so sorry! Yes, it’s 350 degrees. I will go back and edit.
I went ahead with 350 (glad I did then!) and this morning (they were too warm last night to try) they are perfect fudge brownies! One other thing I noticed – the step to mix the dry ingredients together came before the step to mix the sugar in with the melted butter. I had already mixed the sugar in with the dry ingredients, but the brownies still came out perfect
I made your buttermilk pancakes (from your baking blog) this morning for breakfast (yielded 10 using 1/3 C batter each), and they were also a hit!
Look at me! I’m turning into a baker!
I’m so glad, Anna! That’s stinkin’ awesome!!! And yeah, I should clarify that about the sugar, huh? Thanks for pointing that out.
I was looking for a recipe without the need for baking chocolate also. I always have cocoa powder on hand (buy it in bulk from Bulk Barn) but the only real chocolate I buy is for eating. I have the butter in the fridge… am definitely trying these, thanks for posting!
Didn’t quite get them done enough but this is an awesome recipe.
Hey Kristen!
I’ve started following your frugal girl blog… I am encouraged by your efforts in my own attempts to be frugal swiss college girl.
I made these brownies today and I loved them… the thing about living in switzerland is that we don’t have cocoa powder, but fortunately the hot chocolate powder mix over here isn’t nearly as sweet, so i just used that and it worked fantastically! Also I made it in a bundt pan because it’s the only pan I have, but I realized that it makes for fantastic all edge brownies! Yay!
An inexpensive box of brownie mix is about $1 with a coupon. I make mine by using a box + a generous slug of chocolate syrup – some of the water. Comes out very, very tasty to judge by how fast they disappear. I haven’t found a recipe that tastes as good. Yet. I’m going to try yours and see. I’d much rather make them from scratch, the boxes have too much unpronouncable junk in them for me to be really happy.
It doesn’t matter if you use cheap chocolate syrup or fancy Hershey’s stuff for this recipe. I keep the fancy stuff on hand because it *does* matter when you’re making hot chocolate (=hot milk + good chocolate syrup).
PS – One can remove a spoonful or two of batter from the batch without affecting the taste of the baked product. (Ahem.)
Hi Kristen! I made these brownies last night, w/ the espresso powder, and it came out wonderfully! I think I actually like these brownies more than the traditional recipe using unsweetened chocolate! It’s wonderful to make from scratch yet even more gratifying when it’s cheap as dirt and simple
Have a great day.
They look delish!! Do you have any recipes with marshmellow fluff? I got a bunch cheap and now it is just staring at me from the pantry shelf.
Thank you for THIS recipe, too! I’m gonna make ‘em today for a friend’s children….and better taste-test the batter first, like you did, don’t you think?!
Really like you sense of humor, too!
Oh yum; I missed this recipe last year. Have copied down the recipe and will adapt for a sugar free version for DD – thank you so much.
She loves brownies, but like you, I tend not to make them much when they call for ‘real’ chocolate as they work out expensive. I make them at Christmas and birthdays as a treat
Eggs are quite expensive over here now, but I guess 2 isn’t too bad!
Miriam, no hot chocolate mix in Switzerland? You must live in a different Switzerland to the one I know! I always bring a BIG pack – or two – or three back with me from Switzerland. One of my favorites is Caotina Noir – Swiss Chocolate Drink Mix. I love it. That is what I am going to use for my Frugal Girl Brownies.
Just tried your frugal brownie recipe and it is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Hi,
My brownies are now in the oven, I found the recipe nice and easy to follow, but my batter came out very very dry (as in solid) I suspect that my eggs were a bit too small, so added about half an eggs worth of mixed eggs.
I guess I’ll find out whether I was right in about 20 Minutes.
I forgot to reply and confirm. My brownies were delicious! Thanks for the recipe.