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 these Salted Caramel Turtle Brownies (for all of my fellow salty and sweet lovers!), No Bake Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies, and these Fudgy White Chocolate Brownies.
None of these last more than a hot minute in our house!
Let’s talk about these Old 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 this Old 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 these Old 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!
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Old Fashioned Lunch Lady Brownies Recipe
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.
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Originally published on Oct 23, 2019
Sheilakaye says
Finally a recipe for Real cafeteria brownies. This is what I remember as a kid. Thank you so much.
Raija says
The brownies are delicious!