DIY Brownie Mix

When I was a young girl, I loved baking brownies from box mixes that my mother would occasionally buy. The instructions on the back of the box were straightforward and simple. Mix the dry mix with a couple of eggs, vegetable oil, and some water. Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake. My efforts were rewarded with a pan of fudge brownies in under an hour, which made me feel like I had accomplished something really great. Not bad for being only nine years old.

Fast forward to today and I'm still baking brownies from a mix. But this time the boxed mix isn't a box at all. In fact, it's a sealed bag of homemade DIY brownie mix I pre-make using the same method as the commercial mixes. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, stir, and bake. It only takes a few minutes to pour all the dry ingredients into a ziplock bag. I seal the bag and label it with instructions to make and bake the brownies in the future, just like the boxed mixes. Brownies don't always need to come from a box to be convenient and good. Instead, kids and parents can feel great about baking from scratch without a lot of fuss. My kids love helping me pour ingredients into bags, and later preparing batter. This is a great activity the whole family can do together, and it also satisfies the sweet tooth.