Mamie’s Brownies: The Family Recipe Everyone Asks Me to Bring

There are exactly two foods I am always asked to bring whenever there is a gathering, cookout, potluck, or pretty much any occasion involving food.

Mamie’s Brownies.

And Susan’s Famous Baked Beans.

Yes, people actually call them Susan’s Famous Baked Beans. No, I did not give them that name. And we’ll save that story for another day because it involves an entire pound of bacon and alllllll the bacon grease.

Today, we’re talking brownies.

I originally shared Mamie’s Brownies here in 2014. I recently found that old post while digging through nearly twenty years of writing, and I knew immediately that this one deserved to come back.

Because these brownies are still being made.

They’re still being requested.

And the recipe is still taped inside my kitchen cabinet door.

The story behind Mamie’s Brownies

Mamie was my maternal grandmother.

I was the first grandchild, niece, and great-grandchild, so I suppose you could say I arrived to a rather enthusiastic audience.

I didn’t grow up standing beside Mamie making these brownies. The recipe came to me after Russell and I were married, when I decided I was no longer interested in making brownies from a box.

Once I started making Mamie’s, there really wasn’t any reason to go back.

Somewhere along the way, my original handwritten copy of the recipe met an unfortunate demise involving oil, sugar, and the kitchen sink.

So Sarah rewrote the recipe for me.

She was ten.

And that little piece of paper is taped inside my kitchen cabinet door here at the new house, as it was at our house of 27 years.

Today Sarah is grown, married, and a mother herself. And I’m Honey.

Which means that when I open that cabinet now, I’m looking at my daughter’s ten-year-old handwriting on her great-grandmother’s brownie recipe.

There’s something pretty wonderful about that.

Sometimes we don’t realize we’re preserving family history.

We’re just making brownies.

And about these brownies…

I said this in 2014 and I stand by it:

You cannot mess them up.

Believe me. I have tried.

I’ve added the ingredients in the wrong order. I haven’t beaten the eggs first. I don’t think I have ever sifted the dry ingredients together despite the recipe very clearly telling me to.

And every batch?

Purrrrrrfection.

Lately—and apparently “lately” now means at least the past twelve years—I usually double the recipe.

Let’s face it. One can never have enough brownies.

I always say I’m going to freeze some.

Insert hysterical laughter here.

Today I made a double batch in a 9×13 pan, and I can report that absolutely nothing about this recipe needs improving.

Mamie’s Brownies

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup butter, melted
• ⅔ cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Mamie’s original recipe says margarine.

I use butter.

Or, as 2014 Susan apparently felt compelled to explain:

“No margarine for this girl. Only buttah.”

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease the bottom of an 8×8-inch baking pan.
3. Combine the melted butter, cocoa, sugar, and beaten eggs.
4. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Stir in the vanilla and chopped nuts, if using.
6. Mix by hand until combined.
7. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
8. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the brownies are set and a tester comes out with moist crumbs rather than wet batter.
9. Cool before cutting. Or exercise considerably less restraint. I won’t judge.

For a double batch

Double all ingredients and bake in a 9×13-inch pan.

Begin checking around the 30-minute mark and add additional baking time as needed. My double batch may take a little longer because the brownies are thicker. Sometimes I up the oven temperature to 375 degrees, and I cover the pan very loosely with aluminum foil about 26 minutes in so the top and edges don’t overcook.

A recipe worth keeping

I think that may be what I love most about old recipes.

They travel.

From one woman’s kitchen to another.

Mamie gave the recipe to me. I made it for my family. Sarah copied it in her ten-year-old handwriting. That piece of paper stayed taped inside my cabinet while she grew up, got married, and became a mother.

And now there’s another little girl in the family.

Someday Nora will know Mamie’s Brownies too.

But for now, I’m going to keep making them whenever someone says, “Susan, will you bring the brownies?”

Because obviously.

And no, I’m still not freezing any.

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Originally published July 26, 2014. Read the original post here. Updated October 2026 with new photos, the story behind the recipe, and absolutely no improvement whatsoever to the brownies.