Mary Berry’s chocolate brownies
Mary Berry’s chocolate brownies are super easy for kids as you just measure everything into one bowl and mix it together! But that doesn’t mean they’re not delicously crispy and gooey, like all good brownies should be!
These chocolate brownies from Mary Berry are everything a good brownie should be. They’re a little bit crispy on top, but perfectly fudgey and gooey on the inside. The little bite from the chocolate chip also adds some lovely texture.
Chocolate brownies are a great, easy bake for kids. They’re perfect for sharing with friends or taking to cake sales or coffee mornings. In this recipe, everything just gets mixed together in one bowl, which not only makes it really simple to follow, but saves on the washing up!
How can kids help to make these chocolate brownies?
This recipe comes from one of Mary Berry’s books and is super easy as you just have to measure everything into one bowl and mix it together, which is something I love when i’m baking with my kids.
Your kids can help to measure everything out and mix it all together. And with 4 eggs, there’s plenty of chances for your kids to practice their egg cracking – an essentiall skill for any young baker.
Once you’ve made the brownie batter, it’s a simple case of pouring or spooning it into your prepared baking tin and levelling the top, which is an easy job, even very young children can help with.
How long do they keep?
These chocolate brownies will keep in an air tight container for 3-5 days (not that they ever last that long in our house.)
If you want to keep the brownies for longer, you can freeze them, either whole or in idividual portions for a few months. Before you freeze them, wrap them well in cling film and and pop them in a freezer bag.
How can you tell when brownies are baked?
Knowing when they’re ready is, I think, the hardest part of baking a brownies. Unlike a cake, where you can insert a cocktail stick to check, or a cookie where you can look at the colour, there’s no definitive sign to look for. If you want a fudgy brownie, they’re ready when the centre still has a little bit of a wobble. Make sure it is just the very centre and not the whole brownie or it will likely be under baked.
Don’t worry too much if you get it wrong. If you bake a brownie too long, it will still be delicious, just a little less gooey in the middle.
Is it better to cut brownies when they are hot or cold?
I always leave brownies to cool down fully in the tin, before removing them and cutting them. If you cut them when they are still warm, the centre is likely to be too gooey so you won’t get nice clean slices.
Other delicious traybakes
If you liked these easy chocolate brownies you’ll love some of our other delicious traybakes:
Sticky toffee pudding traybake
Chocolate traybake
Mary Berry’s chocolate brownies
Raspberry and chocolate brownies
M&M cookie bars
Biscoff blondies
Biscoff brownies
Biscoff traybake
Rolo brownies
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these chocolate brownies:
Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Baking tin
Measuring cups
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Difficulty: Easy
Time: 30 minutes + 45 minutes
Serves: 24 pieces
Ingredients
275g (1 1/4 cups) softened butter or baking margarine
375g (1 7/8 cups) caster sugar
4 large eggs
75g (5/8 cups) cocoa powder
100g (3/4 cups) self raising flour
100g (2/3 cups) chocolate chips (or chocolate cut up)
How to make Mary Berry’s chocolate brownies
Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 160 Fan.
Prepare a 30 x 23 cm baking tin
Get your kids to grease the baking tin. I normally just tear off a corner of the butter packet or some grease proof paper and use that to spread butter in the tin. Once greased, line the base and sides with baking parchment or greaseproof paper. The easiest way of lining the tin is to cut a strip with width of your tin and lay it in, in one direction, they repeat it in the other direction.
Measure out the ingredients
Measure all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips, into a large mixing bowl or freestanding mixer. You can do this in any order, but if you stick to the order the igredients are listed, you’re less likely to miss anything out. We used a small bowl to weigh everything out in turn and then added them into the mixing bowl. Face the scales towards you so you can see how much is going in and either use a spoon or pour the ingredients in.
Measure the butter out and get your toddler to cut it into small chunks. If it’s slightly softened they should be able to do this with a butter or table (ie not sharp) knife. If it’s too hard, try zapping it in the microwave for a few seconds. If it’s not soft enough it won’t mix in to your batter well. If you’re using baking margarine, you can add that straight in.
When you’re cracking the eggs, do them into a small bowl before adding them to your mixing bowl, just in case any shell goes in. If/when it does simply fish it out with a larger piece of shell or a tea spoon.
Mix everything together
Using the k-paddle of your mixer, hand held mixers or even wooden spoons, mix everything together until it is well combined into a nice smooth chocolatey batter.
Add the chocolate chips
Finally, get your kids to pour the chocolate chips into your brownie batter and mix them in with wooden spoons or a spatula.
Bake the chocolate brownies
Spoon the mixture into your prepared baking tin, using a spatula or an offset palette knife spread the mixture gently into the corners and level the top.
Bake the brownies in the oven for 40-45 minutes. They’re are cooked when the top has a nice crust and a skewer put in the middle comes out without any raw batter on it. The centre of the brownies should still have a little bit of a wobble on it. If it starts to look a bit brown on top before the end of cooking, cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes.
Leave the chocolate brownies to cool in the tin then cut them into 24 squares (or fewer if you want bigger pieces).
Mary Berry's chocolate brownies
Ingredients
- 275 g (1 1/4 cups) softened butter
- 375 g (1 7/8 cups) caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 75 g (5/8 cups) cocoa powder
- 100 g (3/4 cups) self raising flour
- 100 g (2/3 cups) plain chocolate chips
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 160 Fan / 350F and grease and line a 30 x 23 cm baking tin with baking paper
Measure out the ingredients
- Measure all the ingredients into a bowl. We used a small bowl to weigh everything out in turn and then added them into the mixing bowl.
Mix everything together
- Either using a mixer with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with wooden spoons mix everything together until it looks evenly blended.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, using a spatula spread the mixture gently into the corners and level the top.
Bake the chocolate brownies
- Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. It’s cooked when the top of the brownies have a nice crust or you can stick a skewer in the middle and it should come out clean. If it starts to look a bit brown on top, cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes.
- Once they’re cooked, leave the brownies to cool in the tin then cut into 24 squares (or fewer if you want bigger pieces.)
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This recipe was first published in 2017, and republished with new pictures in 2023.
My son learned to bake these this summer and adores them. They are delicious and perfect for kids. 5 stars!
I’m so glad he likes them. They’re one of my son’s favourites too!
This recipe never disappoints, everyone loves them! Todays effort is cherry and white chocolate 🙂
I’m so glad you liked them. Cherry and white chocolate sounds like great additions!
Use a deep tray! I used the right dimensions but use a shallow tray and lost a third of the mix to the oven
Mary Berry is the best Baker ever. I have about 25 of her books. Every recipe I have tried has turned out amazingly well. My family think I am their very own Mary Berry. I want to thank Mary for everything she has taught me. Totally delicious food for everyone. An absolute joy. Thank you Mary.
best recipe to use
my 12 year old daughter made these all by herself!, with her 5 year old sister whilst i was supervising and it was incredibly simply and smells fantastic!
incredibly simple and must recommend and great to do with children!
Brilliant, I’m so glad they enjoyed it. Well done to your daughters – i hope they enjoy eating it too!
Just made these with my daughter, Tamzin,(she is 17!) We only had 3 eggs so used some yoghurt. We added nuts too. Scrumptious brownies; they did not disappoint. They are crunchy on the outside mmm yummy, had mine with vanilla ice-cream. Mary Berry’s recipes always work.
They never disappoint! It’s been a while since I had ice-cream with chocolate brownies – maybe I should make another batch!
Yum! I do love brownies – in all their forms. And these ones sound especially good. Love the cute pics of your little one too. I did quite a bit of baking with my two over the summer. I let them loose on my (vast collection of) recipe books and then together we try to make what they’ve picked (or sometimes a simplified version)! Great fun 😀 Eb x
Glad to hear to have keen little chefs too! These brownies are a favourite of mine as they’re so quick and easy although you’re right, i’ll take a brownies in any form!
I love to see children in the kitchen baking it one fo the best ways of ensuring they grow up with a love of cooking and food. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
Those are my thoughts exactly! They help me make dinner all the time, but once in a while it’s nice to bake a treat like these together.