The most inconvenient brownie in a mug

May 5, 2025 2:47 PM

I love box brownies. They're so easy to make and they taste just as good as any gourmet brownie I've ever had at a bakery. But the problem with a whole box of brownie mix is that you end up with a whole tray of brownies, and unless I'm feeding a crowd, there is no way I need that many brownies at once. I end up eating way too many brownies in a few days, and I deeply regret it. So I set out to find a way for me to make a single serve brownie.

There are so many recipes for brownie in a mug already, but the problem with most of them is that you don't end up with a brownie. You end up with chocolate cake. And I want a fudgy consistency. I have made so so SO many attempts at this, and I've finally settled on a method that has way too many ingredients and is probably more work than box brownies. But I'm finally happy with it, and I have earned this brownie.

Equipment you will need

• A knife (if you need to cut a piece of butter)
• A tablespoon
• A 1/2 tablespoon
• A 1/4 teaspoon (totally optional, I just like to use this to measure out a pinch)
• A fork (for stirring)
• A microwave
• A really big mug

Well, that's the equipment I use at least. You can definitely use other utensils, but I found it easiest with these.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• scant tbsp of egg
• scant tbsp of milk
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tbsp powdered coffee creamer

I know you're looking at this and thinking, "why are you making me measure out a partial egg?!" Trust me, that's an important ingredient.

Directions

1. Add 1 tbsp of chocolate chips and 1 tbsp of butter to the mug and microwave it for 30 seconds so it melts.
2. Add a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp of white sugar, and 1 tbsp of brown sugar to the mug.
3. If you have a whole egg, crack it into a small bowl and use a fork to scramble it. Then use your tablespoon to scoop out as much of it as you can and add it to the mug. Just use one scoop, even though it won't fill up the whole spoon.
4. Add a scant tablespoon of milk to the mug.
5. Use the fork to mix it all up!
6. Add 1 tbsp of flour to the mixture, followed by a 1/2 tbsp of cocoa powder and a 1/2 tbsp of powdered creamer.
7. Mix it just until it's all incorporated. Try your best to get rid of all the lumps of flour and cocoa powder, but it doesn't have to be perfect. You don't want to overmix because that can make it more cake-y.
8. Microwave for 1 minute, 36 seconds on power level 7, and then let it cool for a while. How long is a while? I don't know, but I use this time to wash my dishes and put everything away, and I make sure my kitchen is clean before I enjoy my brownie.

Extra tips!

Note the order of the directions - I always add the ingredients in this EXACT order. You want to mix all the wet things first, and add all the powder-y ingredients at the end. I also use my tablespoon to measure out all the non-powder-y ingredients and I use my 1/2 tablespoon to measure out the powders.

That's an oddly specific cook time and power level - You almost certainly will need to adjust it to account for your mug and your microwave, but I've found that full power is way too much for this. If you want to be safe, err on the side of using less power and time, and just keep checking it and adjusting. It will probably take a few attempts to find the right time and power level.

Substitutions - You might have noticed that I have almond milk in the photo. I've also made this with whole milk. You can use whatever type of milk you want in this recipe. I've also tried making this with vegan butter, and it definitely changed the flavor, but it wasn't terrible. And if you only have one type of sugar, just use two tablespoons of that. Honestly, I just made this using ingredients that I pretty much always have, but if you change up the recipe and you like it better, let me know!

What about that partial egg? - Look, if you don't want to use a partial egg, you'll end up wih chocolate cake. Which is fine, if that's what you're going for. I just save the rest of my egg and include it in my breakfast the next day or I just make another brownie the next night.