An easy, made-from-scratch Cosmic Brownie recipe! These chewy, chocolate-frosted and colorfully sprinkled treats are much better than store-bought and made without all of the preservatives. These fun family treats are a breeze to make!
So, more brownies today. You’re not tired of them yet, are you?
I never really had Cosmic Brownies as a kid (we were a Fudge Round kinda family) and didn’t actually taste one until I was much older. They weren’t bad, but I knew that if we could eliminate some of the processed taste, they could be so much better.
Copycat Cosmic Brownies
I found the candy coated chips for the topping in my local grocery store (they were actually the inspiration for these copycat Cosmic Brownies); you should be able to find them in the cake decorating aisle where the other sprinkles are stored, but you can also buy them on Amazon (affiliate).
I found those chips and starting developing these Cosmic Brownies right around the same time that I made approximately 653 batches of brownies developing my favorite homemade brownie recipe.
This recipe is a little different, though.
I didn’t want to use either my best ever brownies or my easier from-scratch recipe, because while those brownies are amazingly ridiculously good as stand-alone, I thought they might be too much for this cosmic brownie recipe. Too rich and chocolaty for the chewy store-bought brownie I was trying to mimic.
Also, the other recipes had a nice crinkly top that just flaked up too much when I tried to pour/spread frosting over it.
This recipe mimics those easy from-scratch brownies and my brownie cookies, just toned down a few notches to better align with the taste of their packaged counterparts.
The smooth chocolate frosting is a fudgier chocolate ganache, made of a combination of both semisweet and milk chocolate chips (to keep it from being overly sweet or rich) and takes only a few minutes to melt together.
Enjoy!
More Recipes To Try:
Cosmic Brownies
Ingredients
- 12 Tablespoons butter cut into Tablespoon-sized pieces (170g)
- ¾ cup natural cocoa powder (75g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- ½ cup brown sugar (100g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5ml)
- 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk lightly beaten
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose four (145g)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
Frosting
- 1 cup semisweet chips (175g)
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips (88g)
- ⅓ cup heavy cream (79ml)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5ml)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup candy coated chips
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Prepare a 13x9 pan by lightly greasing and flouring, or line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.
- Place butter in a large, microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until completely melted.
- Stir in cocoa powder.
- Add sugars, and stir well.
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.
- Stir in vanilla extract. Set aside.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch (cornflour for UK), and salt.
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until completely combined.
- Evenly spread into prepared pan and bake on 350F (177C) and bake for 16-18 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Combine chocolate chips and heavy cream in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir well until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and salt. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before proceeding.
- Evenly pour frosting over brownies, using a spatula to spread evenly.
- Immediately sprinkle candy chips over top. Allow frosting to harden (about 1 hour) before cutting and eating (this can be sped up if you place the brownies in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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Redonna beal
These are great. Rich chocolate. No more bought ones for us. Easy to make.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this, Redonna! Thank you for trying my recipe 😀
Karoliina
These are the most amazing brownies I’ve ever tasted!! I will be making them weekly. The frosting/ganache on top is delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as shown.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Karoliina! 🙂
Paige Larson
Is there another option for the candy coating topping? The link you have for Amazon isn’t there anymore. It was out of stock earlier because I had it on my watch list and I cannot find them anywhere in my area. I cannot wait to try this recipe!!
Sam
O no! I’m so sorry! If you search for candy chips on Amazon you should be able to find them. 🙂
Corrin
Hi Sam! I really love this recipe! 😉 But whenever I do it, (I’ve done it three times now!) I have to leave the brownies in the oven for twenty three minutes instead of just eight teen. Is it because my oven is just old, or am I doing something else wrong?
Sam
Hi Corrin! Your oven may not be quite at the temperature it says it is. Mine does this to me ALL the time, very frustrating! Do you have a thermometer in your oven to see if it is accurate? Other than that I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. As long as they are still delicious, that is what really matters, right? 🙂
Corrin
Yeah, as long as it tastes good that’s what really matters to me! 🙂 But my oven has a little light that turns off when the oven is at the temperature that you set it for. It may be lying, who knows! 😉
Samantha
all it is, is that everybody’s oven is different 😁
Diane
These were so good!
I used regular sprinkels for the top.