While I love almost all desserts, to me the BEST desserts fall into the “a la mode” category. They are warm and topped with ice cream, and that combo takes almost any dessert to a whole other level. I LOVE A La Mode.
For a while I’ve been trying to come up with a quick and easy way to make an individual serving of brownie a la mode at home, and the results aren’t always the best. Some have turned out like this…
We’ll call those Brownie A La Garbage Disposal. Bleh. I tried using mixes, thinking that would be a nice way to keep it easy, but I was never happy with the results. Today I decided to work on one based on my favorite brownie recipe and see what I could create, and I think we have a winner.
Yeah, this recipe is a keeper. Hot, gooey, dark chocolatey brownies in a few short minutes using the microwave and simple ingredients??? We’ll call them Brownies A La Anytime.
Here is what you need…
At the very last moment I decided that I wanted to add baking powder, so this guy didn’t make it into the photo, but he made it into the brownies. The ingredients are as follows. This will make one generous serving. It could be shared, if you are feeling generous, but I won’t judge you if you keep it all to yourself.
Brownies A La Anytime
4 Tablespoons Flour
3 Tablespoons Sugar
Pinch Of Salt
1/8 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder (I prefer Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder)
1 Tablespoon Melted Butter
1-2 Tablespoons Oil (such as vegetable, canola or coconut)
1 Tablespoon Water
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla
You can top with a few chocolate chips or nuts if you like.
Melt your butter in a microwave safe bowl or cup (took me about 12 seconds). Add the oil to your melted butter and mix well. If you want a moister brownie, go for the full two tablespoons. I prefer a really solid, dense brownie (which I top with ice cream adding a lot of moisture) so I use one tablespoon of oil. Add in your vanilla and water, stir well to combine. In a separate bowl or cup, combine all dry ingredients.
As I said, I used only one tablespoon of oil, so my mix is a bit on the drier/firm side. I pressed it into my ramekin. You could also use a mug, microwaving things in a mug seems to be the popular thing, but being a non-coffee drinker (hello, Diet Coke!), I have more ramekins than I do mugs.
I added a few chocolate chips to the top.
I started with 45 seconds in the microwave and ended up cooking mine for about one minute and ten seconds. That’s 70 seconds people – until hot, gooey, delicious, dark, sweet chocolate goodness. SEVENTY SECONDS! That’s like magic!
Instant. Gratification. Which is both a very good, and possibly very bad, thing. These may be too easy to whip up!
In my opinion, anything “a la mode” needs ice cream. End of story.
These are best enjoyed within a few minutes of heating them up. I have a few yummy variations coming up, but I have to pace myself, eating four of these in a day is probably not recommended. Though it would be damn delicious. ENJOY!
If you are looking for some other delish brownie recipes, maybe I recommend…
More Fudge Less Pudge Brownies
Candy Cane Cookie Crunch Brownies
Is it wrong to say I love you? Cuz after this, I do!!!
Just made these… They hit the spot!
that is pure genius!
So much gooey goodness! So easy aswell, will definitely try this out
Mmm such a great idea!! Sometimes brownies are needed for one…and now I have a recipe!
Oh man…this recipe just made my day. Which just started. Would it be weird to make this immediately after breakfast?
You’re right–these are good and bad. Good because I love knowing I don’t need to whip up a huge batch when I have a brownie craving attack, but bad knowing how quick and easy they are to indulge in a couple ramekins-ful!
You are a genius with the sweet treats!! This looks great!
Christi it looks so delish! Saw it on FG, too. Congrats – I want to reach into the screen and grab some!
I love this! Totally making it tonight! Thanks for sharing
amazing!!!! tried these tonight with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. awesome! also – i was out of cocoa powder, so as a sub i used dark hot chocolate mix and omitted the sugar. turned out great!!!
Hey…
That sounds perfect… Unfortunately I don’t have a microwave, does this also work in a normal oven?
XX
Lari
Cent4urThoughts.blogspot.com
I tried this delicious looking treat and followed the instructions exactly, but sadly, they turned out completely disgusting! Unfortunately for me, it didn’t really taste like a brownie at all. I mean, it looked just like the brownie you have pictured, it just didn’t taste the way you described it. So I guess I won’t be trying that recipie again
You are a genius! Although microwave brownies may be dangerous in my hands… too easy!! Cant wait to make (and eat!) xx
Saw this at dinner time. Ended up making this instead of dinner! Good thing I didn’t have to cook for anyone tonight!! Added peanut butter chips and chopped pecans. Delicious!! Dangerously good and easy!
Tami, your version sounds delish! Dinner is SO overrated.
I made this the other day and I loved it so much I made many more batches of the dry ingredients so I only have to pull out a baggie and cook! I used 2 Tbsp of oil because I wanted mine super moist. Also, next time I am going to use less cocoa powder since these are super rich. (Needless to say, I did not use any extra chocolate chips!) I made mine all in the same mug to create less dishes and topped it with mint chocolate chip ice cream! It was fantastic! And it was a hit at the office too!
That looks amazing! Mmmm……
But if I wanted to make 3 servings, let’s say, do I triple the ingredients? Thanks for sharing this recipe, your recipes are always so creative!
Made it in a mug and left it for about 20 min, when I came back it was rock solid…. it was still delicious!
1st WOW can’t wait to try these & the chocolate chip a la mode. 2nd I’m not a dark chocolate person so I wanted to know why do you prefer the dark chocolate?
Precious, I just prefer the taste of dark chocolate. I’m not a milk chocolate person, so just a matter of personal taste.
Just made these in my waffle iron… TO.DIE.FOR!!!
Katie, in the waffle iron??? Oh I HAVE to try that. Can we then justify them as a breakfast food? I say yes…
So tonight I was randomly surfing facebook and a former co-worker that I haven’t had even a brief conversation with in over 5 years had posted about her wish for an on-hand baker to satisfy her spur-of-the-moment brownie cravings. I linked her to this post, and 10 minutes later she called me up and said I was “the bomb!” and then jokingly cursed me for showing her to your baking blog because of all the weight she’ll gain trying out your yummy recipes! I haven’t been told I’m “the bomb”, well, ever. Made my night! Thanks for sharing awesome recipes that make us all look good!
Alison, thanks for sharing that great story!
Found this on Pinterest, made it right away, and love it! I topped mine with a few vanilla chips and a few mint chocolate chips. Thank you!
Made these tonight for my boyfriend & I. Tried one with coconut oil and the other with vegetable oil… the first came out looking ugly & a little dry, but after adding a little heavy whipping cream to it, it was pretty good, but sort of lacking in sweet-ness. The second came out looking just like yours (I was very excited!), but it was dry inside and tasted a little floury… maybe a difference in microwaves caused this? Also, I used unsweetened cocoa. Overall, I was glad I tried it out. The recipe was quick and fun to make, maybe I’ll try some variations in the prep some other time! Thanks
Hey I tried this recipe of yours tonight and they turned out great except they dried up in the microwave. BUT ended up tasting like a great batch of chocolate cookies! Heh. Also I wanted them super moist but 2 tablespoons of oil didnt help. They were too crumbly. Any tips on how to get them to be a little more perfect the next time I make the brownies?
just made 2 of these… they were awesome! had to cook them 5 seconds longer, but it was great! drizzled a little caramel on top before i cooked them.
Wonderful! The cake is a tad bit bland to me. I should’ve added some coffee powder or something. Anyhow, it was great! I had this, topped with m&ms, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup! Hey, I’m on my period!
I owe you some serious kudos for this!! I’m in the middle of revision time and just made this. 60 secs @ 800Watt. Chucked some evaporated milk over it which I had in the cupboard. Just sublime. Thank you!
Daisy
One more thing to do to make the prep minutes/seconds even shorter. MIX in the baking dish! I mixed my dry ingredients in a bowl, melted my butter in the baking dish added the other liquid ingredients and then added the bowl of dry ingredients! Less clean up too!
Screw self control, I’m going to eat all of this.
When I was making the brownie, I dissolved the sugar in the wet ingredients to make sure there would be no graininess…I’m not saying there were, but many single serve recipies I have tried came out sandy. This is by far the best single serve brownie recipe I have ever done. Thank you!!
Naeva, yay! So glad you liked it. And yeah, I’m with you on that self control thing…