If you’re willing to spend the time to make brownies, consider really splurging and making gooey, fudgy, soul-satiatingly messy brownies. All the better if said brownies can be made even more worthwhile and memorable by slipping in a little mocha flavor. And having everything come together with minimal cleanup? Priceless. Which is exactly how we feel about these mocha brownies.–Renee Schettler Rossi

Six one-bowl mocha brownies on wood

One-Bowl Mocha Brownies

4.85 / 13 votes
These one-bowl mocha brownies, made with instant coffee, dark chocolate, cocoa, flour, sugar, and butter, take their kick from caffeine, their ease from everything coming together in a single bowl, and their raves from their spectacularly fudgy texture.
David Leite
CourseDessert
CuisineAmerican
Servings12 brownies
Calories324 kcal
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time45 minutes

Ingredients 

  • 2 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
  • 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish
  • 2 cups (12 oz) semisweet or dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee or, for a more robust taste, espresso granules

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (176ºC). Butter an 8-by-8-inch glass baking dish.
  • In a large microwavable bowl, combine the chopped semisweet chocolate, butter, and 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes. (Alternately, you can melt the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over but not touching simmering water.) Whisk together the melted butter and chocolate.
  • Whisk in the sugar, vanilla, flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Let cool for a minute or so and then whisk in the eggs and instant coffee or espresso granules. Whisk until the batter is smooth, about 1 minute. Fold in the remaining 1 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. Scrape the batter into the baking dish.
  • Bake the brownies for 22 to 25 minutes. You can try to check the brownies for doneness by inserting a tester or toothpick in the center. Although since there are chunks of chocolate in the brownies, you can't really be certain with the toothpick method as the toothpick may come out covered with gooey chocolate, so check the brownies for doneness in several places.

    ☞ TESTER TIP: If you like your brownies less gooey, you may need to leave them in the oven a touch longer.

  • Let the brownies cool slightly in the pan on a wire rack before cutting and serving.
The $5 Dinner Mom One-Dish Dinners Cookbook

Adapted From

The $5 Dinner Mom One-Dish Dinners Cookbook

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Nutrition

Serving: 1 brownieCalories: 324 kcalCarbohydrates: 48 gProtein: 4 gFat: 16 gSaturated Fat: 10 gMonounsaturated Fat: 5 gTrans Fat: 1 gCholesterol: 31 mgSodium: 121 mgFiber: 3 gSugar: 39 g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe?Mention @leitesculinaria or tag #leitesculinaria!
Recipe © 2012 Erin Chase. Photo © 2012 Erin Chase. All rights reserved.

Recipe Testers’ Reviews

My family really likes brownies but I don’t make them very often. That’s about to change. This simple one-bowl recipe works and is simply delicious. The brownies are rich, dense, chocolatey, moist parcels of yumminess! Everyone who tasted them loved them and the recipe couldn’t be easier. No more melting butter or chocolate, beating eggs into a batter individually, and making a mess in the kitchen. The coffee and cocoa enriched the taste factor and the unmelted chocolate chips added a bit of crunch.

Next time, I’ll add nuts. I didn’t have a glass pan so the brownies did take an extra 5 minutes to bake.

This recipe is the answer for every person who thinks that baking brownies from a mix is easier than from scratch. It was very quick to make—no more than 15 minutes to get them into the oven—and there wasn’t much to clean up, either. Even more important, though, was the superb flavor that came through in the finished product.

We like dark chocolate, so I used a dark chocolate bar, dark chocolate morsels, and dark chocolate cocoa powder. This went nicely with the coffee flavor in the batter. Unfortunately, I had oven problems, which caused the brownies to come out a little overcooked on the edges (not in any way the recipe’s fault). Even the crisp edges were tasty, if a bit too crunchy. My husband and I fought over the center pieces, which had our favorite brownie texture—soft and chewy. I will definitely be making these again.

If you like rich, gooey, fudgy brownies with a chocolate level of 10, this is your brownie. No less than three different types of chocolate combine to create an intense chocolate experience, and slightly underbaking the batch ensures a delightful gooey mess. I baked my brownies in a 9-inch square pan for about 29 minutes and they could probably have cooked a bit more to avoid their slightly undercooked state.

These fudgy brownies are delicious! The directions were easy to follow and the brownies baked up nice and evenly. The flavor was definitely laced with coffee, which I loved, but should I make them again for my kids I may cut the amount of coffee granules in half. Why bake box brownies when something is this easy and delicious?

These are very rich, very chocolatey, and very good! They were so quick to throw together—definitely something to have in your arsenal when you need a quick dessert recipe.

I primarily used semisweet chocolate and a little milk chocolate that I needed to use up. Some brownie recipes are meant to be a little gooey when checked with a toothpick. It took closer to 40 minutes to cook these to that point and the edges are then overcooked (although these crunchy edge bits might be nice sprinkled on some ice cream). These taste really good, and the majority of the brownies were cooked perfectly. Next time I make these, I’ll cook them for around 30 minutes, the stage where a little chocolate still comes off on the toothpick. Because of the large amount of chocolate in the recipe, it’s quite possible that you’re hitting some of the chocolate chips that you stir in at the end and that the brownies are indeed fully cooked even when the toothpick check doesn’t yield a clean removal.

These are worth making again (and again) to get the timing just right.

A big hit among my tasters, these delicious mocha brownies were moist and fudgy like flourless chocolate cake. We loved the hint of coffee, which seemed to enhance the chocolate flavor.

The brownies are almost as easy to make as the out-of-a-box kind, so making a few varieties would be a cinch! I used a 9-by-9-inch metal pan and the brownies baked perfectly in 20 minutes. If you want a louder java punch, something for a more mature taste, try espresso granules and bittersweet chocolate chips.

These are a wonderful treat—simple to assemble and delicious! I love the use of two types of chocolate, cocoa, and coffee. They’re more complex than your everyday brownie. I used 1 tablespoon instant espresso in place of the coffee, and I allowed the butter and chocolate mixture to cool slightly before proceeding with the other ingredients, lest the eggs cook.

Delicious! This recipe fit the bill perfectly for a birthday treat, as the honoree specifically wanted chunks or chips in his birthday brownies. Loved the one-bowl approach, loved the end result! Fortunately for all, there was vanilla ice cream to go alongside these brownies. The rich, chocolatey mocha calls out for a rich dairy accompaniment, though whipped cream would certainly do the trick as well (or both?!). All of this isn’t to say that these brownies couldn’t stand alone; they very well could do so, but who can resist the toppings?

Oddly, I was concerned that while the center was getting baked enough, the edges might get severely overbaked, but this wasn’t the case. Using high-end chocolate means my batch cost more than a box of brownie mix and it as worth every penny!

One word can describe these brownies: dangerous. They’re dangerously easy to make and downright dangerous to have around the house.

Heating the chopped semisweet chocolate, butter, and cup of chocolate chips in the microwave was brilliant. (Is that too strong a word?) It was quick and easy, and the mixture was smooth as silk after whisking. I used instant espresso coffee powder for the instant coffee granules. After baking for 22 minutes, a wooden skewer stuck into the center of the pan came out clean. I took the brownies out of the oven, and left them to cool slightly. After 10 minutes, we sampled them. They were very, very soft. Too soft to cut and eat like a brownie. I put the brownies back in the oven for 10 more minutes. After resting, the perimeter of the brownies had a nice crust and the center area was still quite soft. All of it, delicious.

The next time I make these, I’d like to try to get more of the brownie to have that outer crispness. I was surprised that most of the second cup of chocolate chips melted into the batter. I was expecting to find whole chocolate chips in the brownies, as I have with other recipes. However, even if these didn’t turn out exactly as I’d imagined they would, they’re still a winner. Dangerously so.

These are quite sweet and buttery, so a small square goes a long way to satisfy a sweet tooth. At first I wasn’t sure about this recipe, but the flavor won me over. I also like that it’s a one-bowl recipe. I baked mine for 35 minutes and the middle was still quite jiggly. I couldn’t cut it into brownies while it was still warm, but once completely cooled, though, it was easy to cut. I used dark chocolate, which I love, in place of chocolate chips.

These brownies are easy, dense like fudge, and chocolatey the way a chocoholic would like (disclaimer: I’m NOT a chocoholic—don’t really care one way or the other). The recipe works for sure. This is what my tasters said: “Anyone who likes any kind of chocolate will love these.” “Yum, just like my daddy’s fudge.” “Grainy but GOOD.” “Can I have the recipe?” “Really good, but what about some frosting?” (Yep, this was from a guy!) “These are really good and would be even better with some vanilla ice cream. Let’s taste them again right now with some ice cream!” So, yep, this is a keeper.

My husband really loved these brownies; he’s a mocha nut, so they were right up his alley. However, I’m not a huge mocha fan. Having said that they were great though. Moist, held together well, baked beautifully. I just didn’t get the wow factor off these ones. I could be totally off base though, since I’m not the biggest mocha fan. Yet I can never turn down an opportunity to make brownies.

The One-Bowl Mocha Brownies may be my new best brownie recipe! So chewy and chocolatey, just what I want in a brownie. I thought requiring the glass baking dish was different, but the brownies stayed flat on top and didn’t rise up the sides and fall in the center like some recipes, maybe as a result of the dish? They were slightly drier on the outside and gooey on the inside. The baking time was more like 22 to 25 minutes in my oven.

We loved the mocha flavor with the instant coffee granules, but this ingredient could easily be left out for plain brownies. Folding in the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips resulted in a creamy chocolate texture. My family is waiting on the next pan to come out of the oven!

I love these brownies and if I had one complaint it would be that it didn’t make enough! The instant coffee really brings out the flavor of the chocolate, and the chocolate chips folded in just before baking keep the brownies incredibly moist. I was able to make 16 two-inch brownies and was forced to make a second batch due to their high demand. Everyone went crazy for them!

The bonus is that this recipe is so easy that it gives no one an excuse to bake from a box again! The recipe specifies a glass baking dish, but I baked the brownies in an 8-by-8-inch metal pan lined with parchment and they turned out great. You could also substitute instant espresso powder for the instant coffee, which adds a great depth of flavor.

Inexplicably, or so the teenagers insisted, we were low on semisweet chocolate chips in my house. I fudged the recipe slightly, using Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips to melt with the butter and I used a 1/2 cup semisweet chips and 1/2 cup bittersweet chips to mix into the batter. This resulted in a brownie that was plenty sweet enough for me with an excellent texture—halfway between cakey and gooey, which is just the way I like it.

As advertised, the brownies are easily made in one bowl, which is also the way I like it. It took 40 minutes for a skewer to come out clean, and I should probably have taken them out 5 minutes earlier, as the edges were a little crisp. The coffee doesn’t add too much flavor, and I might try it without next time. I cut the brownies into 16 squares, not 12, but that’s a judgment call.

What’s not to love about a recipe that requires only one bowl to produce absolute decadence? This was quite rich and definitely fudgy and we enjoyed every morsel of it. I baked this for 30 minutes before the toothpick came out clean, though it can be hard to tell since it’s on the fudgy side (versus cakey). I should probably try to cut back a little bit on the chocolate chips (by a half cup) next time so it isn’t as rich, but I probably won’t. 🙂

If you like chewy and moist, not-too-sweet brownies with just a hint of mocha brownies, you’re going to go crazy over these One-Bowl Mocha Brownies.

The recipe calls for chocolate chips and I used half Guittard milk chocolate chips and half Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips, along with unsweetened cocoa powder (ScharffenBerger) and Medaglia d’Oro instant espresso coffee. Maybe the combination of different chocolates gave these brownies just the right amount of sweetness. I paraded around the Chairman’s Room of the Staples Center before the Lakers vs. Chicago Bulls game, asking VIPs to taste my homemade creation, including the Lakers’ owner, Jeannie Buss, and retired assistant coach for the Lakers Kurt Rambis. Final Score: Team Mocha Brownies won by a landslide, and so did the Lakers! Hmmm, do I see a trend?

One suggestion I have is to butter the glass baking dish, then line it with parchment paper (making sure to have a couple of inches hanging over the edge), and butter the parchment paper. It’ll be easy to lift out the brownie once it’s cooled, then you can remove the parchment paper, and cut the baked good into perfect little squares.

Eydie's Mocha Brownie

Looking for a no-fuss brownie recipe? Here it is. Took literally 10 minutes to put it together, apart from oven time, and the end result was nice, moist, chewy brownies filled with chocolate flavor, rich yet not overly sweet, with a hint of coffee.

As usual, I made 2 batches, one with normal flour and another with all-purpose gluten-free flour. Both tasted the same. For it to be truly called mocha, we all agreed it needed a tad more coffee.

This one-bowl treat was easy to make: all the ingredients were in my house and the cleanup was nonexistent. The timing is perfect and it’s a simple brownie to add to my arsenal of brownie recipes. They’re not the best brownies I ever ate, but certainly good ones that are simple to prepare. Sometimes people just want simple recipes.

The mocha flavor is a nice change, but mine actually had a bit too much coffee flavoring. I only had espresso powder, not instant coffee, and used 2 teaspoons, which I’ll reduce next time. I’d actually never used the microwave to melt the chocolate and butter, but it worked like a charm. Loved the chips in the batter. I always find some texture to be a welcome addition to brownies.

This one-bowl treat was easy to make: all the ingredients were in my house and the cleanup was nonexistent. The timing is perfect and it’s a simple brownie to add to my arsenal of brownie recipes. They’re not the best brownies I ever ate, but certainly good ones that are simple to prepare. Sometimes people just want simple recipes.

The mocha flavor is a nice change, but mine actually had a bit too much coffee flavoring. I only had espresso powder, not instant coffee, and used 2 teaspoons, which I’ll reduce next time. I’d actually never used the microwave to melt the chocolate and butter, but it worked like a charm. Loved the chips in the batter. I always find some texture to be a welcome addition to brownies.

I made these for work, and they were a big hit. These brownies are intensely chocolate, chewy, and moist, and the recipe is very simple. I’ll definitely be making these again.




About David Leite

I count myself lucky to have received three James Beard Awards for my writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and more.


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Recipe Rating




8 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    These beauties are in the oven now and they could not have been easier to make! I did half semi-sweet chips and half dark to balance the sweet and richness. Went with the espresso granules because…duh! So excited! Thank you for this great recipe!

    1. You’re welcome, Laura. We’re so pleased that these turned out so well for you. Thank you for taking the time to comment.