Small Batch Brownies in a Loaf Pan

These small batch brownies are baked in a loaf pan, yielding just 8 super chocolatey, fudgy brownies. It’s a one bowl, no mixer recipe that takes just half an hour to make! This is a great way to make brownies for two to four people.

If you haven’t already noticed, I focus on creating simple yet sophisticated smaller batch dessert recipes. Not only do small batch recipes use less ingredients, they take a lot less time! And they produce just enough to tide 2-4 people over on dessert for a couple of nights without overdoing it.

The faster I can make a dessert, the faster I can eat it. That’s just a fact. So when I decided to take my favorite super dense, intensely fudgy brownie recipe (which currently exists as a peanut butter swirl brownie recipe) and cut it in half one day, I was in that frame of mind.

Sometimes, you just have to have brownies now but you don’t want a full 9×13 pan of them. Sometimes, you want a super fudgy homemade brownie within 30 minutes. This recipe is for all of those times.

You can make brownies…in a loaf pan?

Yes, we’re baking these brownies right in a standard loaf pan: 9×5 inch loaf pan (1.25 lbs) or an 8.5×4.5 inch loaf pan (1 lb) will both work! This is the perfect size to halve an 8×8 inch brownie recipe (or quarter a 9×13 recipe) because it’s about half the surface area of an 8×8 inch square pan! Most people have at least one loaf pan lying around so that makes small batch brownies accessible to everyone, which is a very happy thing.

Note: if you use the 8×4 inch pan, the brownies will just be thicker, and you’ll need to add a couple minutes to the bake time to make sure they bake through. See full recipe card below for details!

Recipe Ingredients

What I discovered in the course of this testing is that really good brownies come down to just a few simple, high quality ingredients. Not fancy ingredients, just good quality.

• Dark Chocolate. 60-70% cocoa solids are best here. Yes, you can use semisweet chocolate chips instead, but I’d prefer that you use a chocolate bar as it melts better and is higher quality. I like Trader Joe’s or Ghirardelli brands.
• Unsalted butter. This is very important for the flavor and fudgy texture.
• White and brown sugar. Just enough, not too much, for flavor and fudginess.
• One large egg. This provides structure and adds to the fudgy texture.
• Vanilla extract, salt, and espresso powder. For flavor! The espresso powder is optional but really brings out the deep chocolate flavor of these brownies.
• Cocoa powder. You can use natural (like Hershey’s and most store brands) or Dutch process cocoa powder here. Either will work because there is no leavener in this recipe. As you’ll recall from my double chocolate banana bread, natural and Dutch process cocoa powders have very different chemical makeups and react differently to different leaveners!
• All-purpose flour. Just enough to provide structure without drying out the brownies.
• Chocolate chips or more chopped chocolate, and coarse sea salt. For adding more cocoa butter (aka fat) to the brownies to encourage sugar rising to the top during baking, creating a crinkle top. You can also sprinkle more chips over top if desired! For the salt, I recommend tasting the brownies first as there is already a decent amount of salt in the batter, and you don’t want to go overboard – but some people really like the sweet/salty contrast!

How to make small batch brownies, step by step

You’re going to like this. Honestly, this is one of the easiest recipes I’ve created, and that’s saying something. This will take you the same amount of time as a box mix, and the results are so.much.better.

1. Melt chopped dark chocolate (or chocolate chips, if you must…but a chocolate bar is better) and butter in a medium bowl, either in the microwave or over a double boiler.
2. Whisk in cocoa powder (to “bloom” it aka bring out the chocolate flavor with heat), along with the white and brown sugars. Whisk vigorously to try to dissolve the sugar as much as possible – this helps form the crinkle top on the brownies.
3. Whisk in one egg, vanilla extract, salt, espresso powder (optional).
4. Stir in all-purpose flour until a brownie batter is formed, then fold in chocolate chips.
5. Scrape your luscious brownie batter into a greased or parchment-lined loaf pan, sprinkle more chocolate chips or chopped chocolate on top if desired, and BAKE for 18-20 minutes (9×5 pan) or 24-26 minutes (8.5×4.5 pan). Bite nails, anxiously awaiting brownies.
6. Cool if you can manage it, and devour.

Tips and Storage Notes

I have to be honest and tell you that these small batch brownies rarely last more than two nights in our house, and that’s with a lot of restraint being exercised. The recipe makes 8 perfectly sized brownies, so you can decide how many people that feeds! They’re fairly rich so I find that 1.5 or 2 in a sitting is definitely enough for me…but I don’t judge.

Sometimes Monday, or possibly any day that ends in Y, requires multiple brownies.

The real winner of this recipe is the flavor and the texture. I discuss this at length in the peanut butter swirl brownie post, which this recipe is based on, but the use of melted chocolate AND cocoa powder along with butter makes for great chocolate flavor and a fudgy texture.

Storage

Fridge Recommended: IF you want super duper fudgy small batch brownies, I highly recommend cooling and storing the brownies in the fridge. This prevents them from drying out and retains an unreal fudge-like texture. I have kept these at room temperature many times, however, and while they aren’t quite as fudgy, they are still excellent, intensely chocolatey brownies and do not suffer one bit. They’ll last up to a week in the fridge and about 3 days at room temperature. 3+ months in the freezer!

More Brownie Recipes:

• Peanut Butter Brownies
• Salted Brownie Cookies
• Dark Cocoa Brownies aka Midnight Brownies
• One Bowl Fudgy Brownies
• Almond Butter Skillet Brownie

Like this small batch brownie recipe?  Please rate it and leave a comment, and sign up for my email list to receive my recipes straight to your inbox every time I post! You can also tag me on Instagram @katiebirdbakes.