This Old Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies Recipe is a tried and true, favorite dessert! No one can resist the rich, fudgy brownies and crackly, cooked icing!
Surely you are aware of my love for brownies by now, but just in case you are new to Back for Seconds, allow me to share with you a very important piece of information: I LOVE brownies! I love making them, I love eating them, I love coming up with recipes for new variations of them!
A few of our favorites, just to get you started, are theseSalted Caramel Turtle Brownies (for all of my fellow salty and sweet lovers!),No BakeReese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies, and theseFudgy White Chocolate Brownies.
None of these last more than a hot minute in our house!
Let’s talk about theseOld Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies for a second. Are you familiar with lunch lady brownies?
This type of brownie was made popular in school cafeterias years ago. If you were lucky, a lunch lady has served you one of these brownies at some point in your school career.
If not, let me break them down for you.
They start off with a rich, fudgy, chewy homemade brownie. These are 100% amazing all on their own, but every once in awhile, a brownie with frosting is necessary!
This is no ordinary frosting. This is a cooked icing that almost tastes like fudge! When warm, it is gooey and delightful, and darn hard to resist atop a fresh from the oven brownie!
When the brownie icing cools, it forms a shell that crackles on the top and remains irresistibly fudgy underneath.
Either way, I promise, you can’t go wrong!
More Brownie Recipes to Try:
- Homemade Butterfinger Fudge Brownies
- Marshmallow Fudge Crunch Brownies
- Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies
- How to Make Brownies in the Crock Pot
- Homemade Samoas Brownies
Pro Tips and Questions you may have about making thisOld Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies Recipe:
- Make sure to use unsweetened cocoa powder when making homemade brownies. You can even use dark chocolate cocoa powder for a deeper, richer chocolate brownie, or a mix of the regular and dark!
- Should I use a stand mixer when making homemade brownies? It’s actually better just to use a bowl and a spoon. Using a mixer can cause you to overtax the batter, which will result in a tough brownie.
- Can theseOld Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies be made in advance? Yes! Make them the day before serving, to save some time. The cooked brownie frosting will have a nice crackle by then!
- Can these brownies be frozen? The brownies themselves freeze beautifully, however, I would freeze them prior to frosting them. Add the icing after the brownies are thawed.
Products used to make this Old Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies Recipe:
If you make these Lunch Lady Brownies with Cooked Icing, I would love for you to leave a star rating and comment here on the blog! It’s helps me to know what you are making and loving and it’s helpful to other readers as well!
If you take pictures, I’d love to see them!! Tag your recipe pictures with #backforsecondsrecipes on Instagram and tag me @BackforSeconds!
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Old Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies Recipe
Stephanie Brubaker
This Old Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies Recipe is a tried and true, favorite dessert! No one can resist the rich, fudgy brownies and crackly, cooked icing!
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Ingredients
BROWNIES
- 1 cup unsalted butter (melted)
- 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
ICING
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Brownies
Preheat oven to 350
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and cocoa powder.
Add the sugar, salt, and vanilla, and stir to combine.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time.
Stir in the flour, then spread the batter into a greased 13"9" pan.
Bake on the center rack for 20 minutes to until toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out mostly clean with fudge crumbs. Allow to cool 10-15 minutes before adding the icing.
Icing
Add the butter, milk, and cocoa to a medium saucepan over medium low heat, whisking until melted and smooth.
Whisk in powdered sugar and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and evenly pour over brownies. Allow the icing to set up before serving.
Store covered at room temperature.
Keyword brownies with cooked icing, frosted fudge brownies, lunch lady brownies, old fashioned brownie recipe
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Originally published on Oct 23, 2019
FAQs
Using airtight wrappings (including using plastic wrap right against the brownies) is key to keeping your brownies fresh, whether you're keeping them at room temperature for short-term storage, or planning to freeze them so you can have a fresh brownie ready whenever you need it.
Why won't my brownies bake in the middle? ›
Lower the oven temperature: One possible reason for the uneven cooking is that your oven temperature is too high. Lowering the temperature can help ensure that the middle of the brownies cooks properly without burning the edges [1]. Reduce the baking time: Another factor to consider is the baking time.
Are brownies supposed to be gooey when you take them out of the oven? ›
If the brownies still look wet or aren't pulling away, they aren't done. Even fudgy brownies will pull from the edges once they've finished baking. You'll see that the edges look dry while the middle still looks soft or slightly wet. Chewy and cakey brownies will have dry edges with firmer-looking centers.
How do you make brownies moist after baking? ›
Substitute Core Ingredients
One change is to use milk or heavy cream instead of water. This change will make brownies more moist and gooey since milk is more fatty and flavorful than water. A second change is to use butter instead of oil.
What keeps brownies moist? ›
Storing Brownies in the Refrigerator
Unlike cookies or cakes that tend to dry out more quickly in the fridge than at room temperature, the fridge helps brownies to stay moist longer.
Should you rotate brownies in the oven? ›
Certain spots might be over-baked and hard, while others have barely set and are still liquidy. To combat these issues, rotate your brownie pan to ensure that every area of the batter gets equal heat — even in an oven with hot and cold spots.
How do you fix raw brownies in the middle? ›
If the middle of your brownies are not cooking while the edges are burning, try lowering the oven temperature and/or extending the baking time. You may also want to cover the pan with aluminum foil to prevent the edges from burning.
Why do my brownies fall apart when I cut them? ›
Wait until your brownies have completely cooled to room temperature. As brownies cool, they will solidify and set up, so slicing into them too early can result in brownie squares that fall apart or become a mess very quickly. Note: I don't recommend slicing baked brownies until just before you plan to serve them!
What is the best temperature to bake brownies? ›
Most recipes call for baking brownies at 350°. If a fudgy inside and crackly top is your goal, stick with that temperature. Brownies baked at 325° will take longer to bake and will become chewier in texture.
Is it better to overcook or undercook brownies? ›
Want to make sure that your brownies are still fudgy but not raw? The truth is, fudgy brownies are slightly undercooked. The key is to make sure the center of the brownies is set and that the toothpick doesn't look too gooey when you remove it from the brownies.
Opening the oven while baking lets the heat out, allows cold air to enter the oven, increases cooking time, affects the rise (in cases where you want a rise like baking bread) and reduces overall quality and taste.
Should you use milk or water in brownies? ›
Most brownie mixes call for water. While water does the job, you can add some extra flavor and moisture by mixing some of that water with something richer, like milk. If you want to swap it out completely, be prepared for a more chewy and fudge-like brownie from the extra fat.
Should brownies be baked on top or bottom heat? ›
Bake to perfection
First things first, bake your brownies on a rack positioned in the middle of your oven. If the pan is too close to the bottom, then the bottom could burn before the top gets a chance to bake. If it is too close to the top, then the top will bake too fast and leave raw brownie batter on the bottom.
How do you upgrade boxed brownies? ›
Add a teaspoon of instant coffee or espresso powder. Throw in a handful of nuts—pecans, walnuts, macadamia, whatever you have on hand. Scoop in a palmful of dried or frozen fruit. Add an extra splash of the top-shelf vanilla extract, or a dab of vanilla paste, or a dash of vanilla powder, to the batter.
How do you store brownies to keep them soft? ›
To stop brownies from getting hard on the edges, the first thing to do is be sure they have a proper bake. Storing them in tightly wrapped plastic can also help avoid crunchy edges. You can also store them in a plastic storage container with a slice of bread to increase the moisture and soften the brownies.
How do you keep brownies from getting hard around the edges? ›
How do you keep brownies from getting hard on the edges? The best way to soften the hard edges is to cover the brownies with foil while they are still warm. The moisture created by a tight cover will keep the edges soft.
How do you firm up gooey brownies? ›
Put the brownies back in the 300 degree oven and bake until a cooking thermometer reads 195 degrees, or about 30 more minutes. Finally, you'll cool the brownies for 30 minutes in the pan, then for 10 minutes on a cooling rack before slicing with a pizza cutter (my favorite tip) and serving.
Do brownies firm up as they cool? ›
Wait until your brownies have completely cooled to room temperature. As brownies cool, they will solidify and set up, so slicing into them too early can result in brownie squares that fall apart or become a mess very quickly.
