Lunch Lady Brownies – old school cafeteria brownie recipe. Super simple to make and they taste great. Chewy, fudgy, and delicious! They might be the perfect brownie! Shortening, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, cocoa powder, baking powder, flour, and walnuts. The brownies are pretty rich, so cut them into small squares. These are great for a potluck, cookout, or bake sale! #cafeteria #school #lunchroom #brownies #chocolate
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Pin This RecipeSchool Cafeteria Brownie Recipe
These Lunch Lady Brownies are the BEST! This is another recipe from my government school cafeteria cookbook. The original recipe was for 100 servings. I cut the recipe down to 24 brownies. I wasn’t too sure about these when I was making them, but they turned out AMAZING! Chewy, fudgy, and delicious! They might be the perfect brownie!
How to Make Lunch Lady Brownies
These brownies are very easy to make. Start with beating together shortening, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add eggs and mix well. Add cocoa powder, flour, and baking soda. Stir in walnuts. Press dough into a 9×13-inch cake pan and bake.
- This recipe uses 3 ½ eggs. How do you measure half an egg? Crack an egg into a small bowl and whisk it. Eyeball or use a kitchen scale to measure half of the egg.
- The batter is very, very thick. You are going to press it into the pan as opposed to pouring it into the pan.
- Feel free to omit the walnuts if you don’t like nuts in your brownies.
- Do NOT overbake the brownies!!
- How long do brownies last? Cut brownies will keep 1 to 2 days in an airtight container. Uncut brownies will keep up to 4 days wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
- Can brownies be frozen? Yes! Bake the brownies and let them cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. I suggest freezing the brownies uncut. The brownies will keep up to 3 months. Thaw and cut into squares before serving.
Easy Dessert for a Crowd
The brownies are pretty rich, so I suggest cutting them relatively small. These are great for a potluck, cookout, or bake sale! The recipe is easy to double, triple or quadruple for a crowd. We like to serve the brownies slightly warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. OMG – SO good!! Give these a try the next time you have a chocolate craving. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
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Lunch Lady Brownies
Ingredients:
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 1¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3½ large eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup chopped walnuts , optional
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray a 9×13-inch cake pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper, if desired.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream together shortening, sugar, salt, and vanilla for 2 minutes.
- Add eggs and beat for 3 minutes on medium speed.
- Add cocoa powder, baking powder, and flour. Mix on low for 30 seconds.
- Add walnuts and mix for 1 minute. Batter will be VERY thick!
- Press batter into baking dish.
- Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, be careful not to overbake the brownies.
- Cool the brownies and cut into squares.
Notes:
- This recipe uses 3 ½ eggs. How do you measure half an egg? Crack an egg into a small bowl and whisk it. Eyeball or use a kitchen scale to measure half of the egg.
- The batter is very, very thick. You are going to press it into the pan as opposed to pouring it into the pan.
- Feel free to omit the walnuts if you don’t like nuts in your brownies.
- Do NOT overbake the brownies!!
- How long do brownies last? Cut brownies will keep 1 to 2 days in an airtight container. Uncut brownies will keep up to 4 days wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
- Can brownies be frozen? Yes! Bake the brownies and let them cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. I suggest freezing the brownies uncut. The brownies will keep up to 3 months. Thaw and cut into squares before serving.
Steph
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OMG! So easy and delicious! I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa and made a chocolate buttercream frosting. I am in dark chocolate heaven!
Why a half of egg . What you going to do with the other half. Tose it. 🤔
I did toss the other half of the egg.
I just made this recipe. It is the same as a recipe I made all the time as a kid but we called them Chocolate Squares. We baked ours spread out on a cookie sheet. With mine, we used 2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup shortening, 4 eggs, etc. So no uneven measurements. They were a childhood favorite of mine, and I knew this was the recipe the minute I saw it. Ours only called for 4 tbsp. of cocoa but I always doubled that to make them more fudgy. Never put nuts in them, but I did in this batch. Thanks for posting this.