Homemade brownies are so FAR superior to ones from a box and almost as easy. Box ingredients include fillers and unpronounceable items. Brownies don’t need corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil and artificial flavors. No, thank you.
This is the recipe I use as our go-to brownie recipe. I decrease the butter to 1/2 cup, instead of 3/4, and I decrease the sugar to just over 1 cup, instead of 1 2/3. It is still quite delicious and even a bit more moist. I also like making these in muffin cups, instead of a pan, so we can freeze them easily.
As an environmentalist, I love that there is less waste when making homemade too, since you can buy in bulk. And, even though I do use the Toll House recipe as a basis, I like that I don’t have to actually support the Nestle company. Homemade also means you have control over the ingredients, so you can do things like decrease the sugar, use organic ingredients, etc. Doubling or halving the recipe becomes much simpler with homemade. You can also mix and store dry ingredients together ahead of time.
Twice a year, on Mother’s Day and my birthday, my kids and husband bake a peppermint brownie recipe from a children’s graphic novel called Bake Sale. These are definitely a special treat, and if you can check out the book from your library, I recommend copying out the recipe!
If you’re not going to eat or share all the brownies in time, I find that brownies actually freeze quite nicely if I cut them into squares (or bake them as cupcakes) and store them in a Pyrex container. Frozen brownies are an excellent thing to have on hand!
If you haven’t made brownies without a box in awhile, I highly recommend giving it a try!