You know that we usually pan box mixes; from scratch is healthier and sometimes even quicker. And yet... while some days we feel in the mood for complicated desserts with lots of steps and ingredients, there are other days where nothing has gone right, company drops by, the house is a mess and all we have in the house is a box cake mix, a package of sugar free jello and 3 eggs.
Well, these three ingredients mean that 60 seconds later you can have a tasty snack.
Ok, Ok, so it only takes 60 seconds to make these brownies, but it does take a full 20 minutes in the oven. Even still, there's something to be said for a brownie that takes literal seconds to make and only gets 1 bowl dirty!
When we don't feel like a complicated snack and our supply of frozen cookie dough is depleted, this pantry staple snack hits the spot. It can be adapted to create almost any combination of flavors under the sun, as it's taste depends on the type of cake mix and jello used. Pair up classics like chocolate and orange or go daring and make something off the wall! Here's how...
The One Minute Brownie
8x8 pan
Ingredients:
1 box cake mix (pick a flavor, any flavor)
1 box sugar-free Jello
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 325°F. Apply non stick spray to a 8"x8" pan (or whatever you have on hand). Mix all ingredients together well, spoon into pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (some cake mixes may take a few extra minutes).
That's it! For our Dr. Seuss looking creation above, we used a white cake mix and added orange jello to it. Once mixed completely (it will be thick) we spooned out a large "glob" (we'd guess about 1 cup) and mixed it with a few tablespoons of dark cocoa. We made small ball shapes from the new chocolate dough and placed them on top. Upon removing from the oven we were greeted with this leopard spotted chocolate and orange brownie!
It's great for a last minute dessert or late night snack! Plus, most items are usually on hand, especially if you watch for sales on jello and box cake mixes, even if you don't usually keep them on hand. It's a fantastic recipe to get the kids in the kitchen with, especially with all the wild colors and flavors you can make!
It's not gourmet, but it sure is tasty!
Related:
• Quick Dessert: Grapes Roasted with Walnut Oil
• Quick Dessert Recipe: Roasted Pears with Lemon Stilton, Walnuts and Honey
• Quick and Easy Dessert: Shortbread Jam Tart
• No-Bake Desserts: Two Recipes from Domino
• The Cheesemonger: The Dessert Course
(Image: Sarah Rae Trover)
© 2010 Apartment Therapy
Huh, I never have a box of cake mix or sugar free jello in my pantry, so this wouldn't be much easier for me than an easy brownie recipe. The different colors in those bars do look attractive, though.
view brittanykate's profile
That looks good & easy!
view heather @ dollarstorecrafts.com's profile
Yuk! I'd never resort to buying a box cake mix with all it's harmful additives. Wouldn't it be just as fast tossing flour, sugar, etc. in a bowl and baking it?
view lona's profile
There is no comparing a homemade brownie to a box mix brownie. Once I learned how easy it was to make from scratch I never went back to a box. These are just not ingredients I ever find in my house. I also think "glob" wasn't a good word choice, I'm laughing because it grossed me out so much.
view alexis's profile
Or, the next time you want to make real brownies from scratch, just measure out a second batch of dry ingredients while they and your measuring tools are out, put it in some tupperware, and you've got 1 minute brownies the next time you get a craving.
view louiedog's profile
Follow-up question...would this work with a boxed cookie mix as well? From the recipe any pastry mix should work so technically I could add any flavor jello to cookie mix and get similiar results. Going to try at home tonight and see what happens!
view Wintursoul's profile
nasty sugar-free jello with aspartame?
no thanks.
view abigailbelle's profile
I don't get it. How is this faster than using a box of brownie mix? And jello is VILE! This sounds soooo gross!
view suzyblue's profile
I can't imagine these being anything but disappointingly icky. It's not like real cookies or brownies take very much time. I can make chocolate-chip cookie dough in 5 minutes. With the 12-15 minute baking time for a total time from start to finish of 17-20 mins, that's actually FASTER than this box-mix mayhem.
view angorian's profile
I can't even imagine the circumstances under which I would have all those ingredients in the house. I do always have sugar, flour, eggs, and cocoa though. I have never actually bought a box of jello, much less of the sugar free variety. This sounds disgusting for so many reasons! Seriously, even if you don't want to bake from scratch a boxed brownie mix must be better than this.
view sar3j's profile
why is mixing these things together any faster than mixing any other set of ingredients together?
i don't really use eggs, but it would take me a minute just to break 3 of them and get the eggshells out.
view oofs's profile
Why not just keep a brownie mix box around then if you want it for emergencies? It'd be even easier that way.
It's completely misleading to title this "one minute brownie". Maybe mixing up a batter from scratch takes more than minute (but at most only a few minutes), but if you compare overall times, there's hardly a difference.
Also, if you make this with say yellow cake mix and then lime jello...is that even remotely a brownie anymore? This is really "one minute prep time cake from a box spruced up Sandra Lee style by mixing jello powder in". Maybe doesn't have the same ring to it, but more accurate.
view wunami's profile
me-ow! i had no idea people felt so strongly about this type of thing. duly noted.
view southerngrace's profile
@ southerngrace: seriously! i thought this looked kind of tasty... and as a diabetic, i usually look for things that include things that are sugar free... (though this recipe isn't lacking in the carb dept)
but this post unleashed all sorts of fussy! hah!
view sizetoosmall's profile
southerngrace... ha ha... totally agree. And this is from someone who refuses to have boxed cake mix around. I never realized how passionate some folks are. Me? Just don't like it, I think for the same reasons.... artificial this and that... but WOW... didn't realize there was an anti-cake mix army out there.
view annaland's profile
One can always tell when it's a mix, for anything. Always. And as my grandmother always said, "Preservatives will make you fat."
view johnsodana's profile
Don't forget the anti-jello people. Ew, geletin. I don't eat animal bones, thank you.
view kaliara's profile
I'm not against using mixes. There are plenty of reasons to use a mix. In fact, I said to just keep a boxed brownie mix around instead.
To have a recipe claim a short prep time and it is almost just "use a mix"...that just doesn't seem right. A one minute blueberry muffins recipe should not be "use cake mix as directed and toss in blueberries". Someone probably makes one minute blueberry muffins that way, but it would seem strange for them to publish a recipe describing it.
view wunami's profile
Okay, I must be crazy, but what the heck does the Jello do? Couldn't you just use a cake mix and use 1 egg for brownie like consistency? Or is it just to add flavor?
I actually love boxed brownie mix, but that's because I grew up in the South, where everyone seems to love those horrible cakey-brownies with nuts on top. Ugh. Gave me a life-long aversion to home-made brownies. If it's not a fudge like consistency, I don't want to eat it!
view Kaete's profile
Are you sure the recipe calls for gelatin - reads more like it would use pudding.
Grew up in an all-natural house, went through an all processed out-of-the box phase. Then I learned to cook tasty food that happens to be healthy.
view feathers's profile