Bake up a batch of these copycat Cosmic Brownies and you may never buy the real thing again. These homemade cosmic brownies are a rich and dense brownie with a fudge-like consistency with chocolate ganache and the iconic chocolate candies on top.

Easy Cosmic Brownies From Scratch

My best friend in elementary school had the pantry of all my childhood dreams. It was stocked with all of the junk food my little child heart could want. From ding-dongs to twinkies to gushers to cosmic brownies, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I typically always picked a cosmic brownie when I was hanging out over there, because I was a sucker for the frosting and pretty sprinkles on top. Now, these brownies will forever hold a place in my heart, because despite them tasting manufactured and nothing like a homemade fudge brownie, I still love all of the components:

a rich and dense texture
a fudge frosting
and colored candies for pizzaz

With this homemade cosmic brownie recipe, we’re taking all of the iconic brownie components but making them 100 times better. These are moist brownies that truly are like fudge (no dry texture like the store bought versions) with the richest ganache. Honestly, once you make this copycat cosmic brownie recipe, I don’t know if you’ll ever want to buy them again.

Reasons Why I Adore These Fudgy Cosmic Brownies:

Brownie Texture: If you’ve never had a cosmic brownie, the texture of the brownie itself is very different from a traditional chocolate brownie. It truly has a dense and fudge consistency (think like fudge candy or a flourless chocolate cake). And as much as I love a good classic brownie, sometimes you want this rich and dense texture that cosmic brownies have.
Ganache: If there’s one thing I could put on nearly every dessert, it’s a chocolate ganache. It’s made with two ingredients: heavy cream and chocolate chips and it’s nearly too good for words.
No Artificial Ingredients: This cosmic brownie recipe is made without corn syrup or other artificial ingredients. I know people have differing opinions on corn syrup, and for me, I just never have corn syrup on hand so I wanted to make sure I used pantry staple ingredients as much as possible.
Easy: Okay, is it easier to just buy a box of store bought cosmic brownies? Yes, probably. But making these from scratch is pretty easy too. It’s a one bowl brownie recipe. It gets baked in a 9×13 pan, covered with ganache, and topped with rainbow sprinkles, if desired.

Some of my other favorite brownie recipes and chocolate dessert bars are these Chocolate Strawberry Brownies, this Chocolate Fudge Cake, these S’mores Chocolate Cookie Bars, and these Oreo Chocolate Cookie Bars.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter: Personally, I’m an unsalted butter baking girlie. I like being able to control how much salt is in the recipe.
Semi-Sweet Chocolate
Granulated Sugar
Brown Sugar
All Purpose Flour
Cocoa Powder
Cornstarch: This is a key ingredient to giving that classic cosmic brownie texture. It adds an extra chewiness to the brownie.
Eggs
Vanilla Extract
Salt
Heavy Whipping Cream
Rainbow Chocolate Candies: These can be hit or miss in grocery stores. I’ve had success finding them online (Amazon or Walmart), or in candy stores.

How To Make Copycat Cosmic Brownies From Scratch:

Chocolate: Melt butter and chocolate together in a microwave safe bowl.
Sugar: Add in granulated sugar and brown sugar, and whisk until well combined. Then, add in vanilla extract.
Eggs: Add in the eggs, and whisk really well.
Dry Ingredients: Finally, add in flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk until combined.
Bake: Pour the batter into a greased or parchment lined 9×13 pan (I used a quarter sheet pan but you can use a regular baking dish), and spread the batter in an even layer. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top is set and a cake tester comes out clean with a few fudgy crumbs.
Ganache Frosting: While the brownies are cooling, make the ganache by pouring hot heavy cream over semi-sweet chocolate. Cover and let sit about 5-7 minutes, or until the cream has warmed the chocolate. Whisk until completely smooth. Pour the ganache on top of the brownies and spread in an even layer (it will feel like a lot of ganache, and it is; but it gives a nice thick layer on top like the little Debbie cosmic brownies).
Sprinkles: Top with chocolate sprinkle candies.
Chill: Brownies need to chill in the fridge about 60 minutes before slicing and serving.

Storage Tips:

Due to the heavy cream in the ganache, the brownies should be refrigerated (which also makes them even fudgier and richer, if you can imagine that 😆). They can last in the fridge for about a week.

Cosmic Brownie Substitutions:

Chocolate: I used semi-sweet chocolate in both the brownie batter and the ganache. I think semi-sweet chocolate makes these more kid-friendly, as semi-sweet chocolate isn’t as rich as a bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate. However, if you want, you can use bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate in the batter (I do not recommend using it for the ganache; use a dark chocolate or milk chocolate for the ganache if you don’t want to use semi-sweet).

Cocoa Powder: I use unsweetened natural cocoa powder, but you can use dutch-processed, if that’s all you have. For this recipe, either will work fine.

Chocolate Ganache: Again, it’s a ganache frosting that keeps this homemade cosmic brownie recipe really true to form. If you don’t have the ingredients or don’t love ganache, you can top with a chocolate frosting instead.

Baking Pan: You can make these in a 9×9 pan, if you want them even thicker. If you do, you will need to add on about 10 minutes extra baking time.

Final Tips and Tricks:

Texture: Cosmic brownies are denser than traditional brownies. These are going to be really, really rich and fudgy. And it’s going to make them amazing.
Ganache: I’m a big believer that ganache must be chocolate + heavy cream. Ganache without heavy cream just doesn’t have the correct texture. I always have heavy cream on hand in my fridge, but if this is an unusual ingredient for you, you can use the leftover for homemade whipped cream, to pour on top of cinnamon rolls to make them extra gooey, or in most of my scone recipes.
Sprinkles: If you can’t find the colored chocolate candies, you can use mini m&ms or regular sprinkles on top.