Do you ever feel like a boxed mix of any baked good is cheating? Or that it tastes like the box? I found a couple of ways to upgrade and improve boxed brownie mix with very little time and effort.
I am a huge fan of homemade, from scratch food. We do our best to provide that for our family and friends on a regular basis. That is, however, not always possible in the stage of life that I’m in. It’s not that I don’t have time, it’s that sometimes I choose to spend my precious time elsewhere. One day it can be spent on delicious, 100% from scratch, homemade brownies, but today is not that day.
Well, specifically the day that I made these brownies. Bennett and I have the privilege of being a part of a hugely impactful non-profit. We assisted in hosting an informational meeting/luncheon for up to 50 people and I was assigned dessert. I knew that there would not be time to make brownies from scratch so I needed to use the brownie box mix. There is nothing wrong with brownie mix from a box! But for this occasion, I wanted to put more effort into the mix than just following instructions. I also wanted brownies that didn’t taste like boxed brownies.
Check out our Beginner Home Cook Essentials Guide for a list of ingredients that we recommend always keeping on hand plus a conversion guide and suggested kitchen tools!
How to improve boxed brownie mix?
I have now done this with both a Betty Crocker brownie mix and an Aldi boxed mix and had identical results. For this post, I will reference my Aldi chewy fudge boxed brownie mix.
The instructions called for 3 tablespoons of water, ½ cup of vegetable oil, and 2 large eggs. In order to upgrade this boxed mix, all I did was replace a few ingredients and added one. I changed the water to coffee, the oil to butter, and increased the eggs by one. So I did 3 tablespoons of coffee, 1/2 cup of melted butter (which is one stick, but I had whipped butter that I melted a half cup of), and 3 large eggs. I then followed the box mix instructions for baking, although it did take about 10 minutes longer to cook. You can also add in a splash of vanilla extract if you would like, but I’ve made these with and without the extract and don’t personally notice a difference.
Brownies with just these three alterations taste incredible and can be served as such. It’s that simple to improve boxed brownie mix with just a few swaps and quantity changes. However, I chose to make them into raspberry cheesecake brownies with just a few more steps.
Raspberry Cheesecake Topping
To make the cheesecake brownies, prepare the boxed mix as instructed above. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan. Then, into my mixer, I threw one egg, one block of softened cream cheese (8 ounces), ¼ cup sugar, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
I blended the mixture on high for only a few minutes until it was fully incorporated. My cream cheese was not as soft as it probably could have been so I did have a few small unincorporated cream cheese pieces but it didn’t affect the texture, taste, or overall outcome. 
Once blended, I dropped the mixture by large tablespoons all over the brownie mix. I then added approximately one-half cup of homemade raspberry jelly in spoonfuls over the cream cheese mix. You absolutely can omit the jelly if you would just prefer a plain cheesecake brownie instead of a fruit-flavored cheesecake brownie. Alternatively, you can choose a different flavored jelly or jam to suit your preference.
I then took a chopstick, but the handle of a spoon would work just as well and did figure-eight swirls through the whole tray to incorporate the topping into the brownie. This served the dual purpose of supplying visual interest as well as preventing the cheesecake topping from easily separating from the brownie once cooked.
Once the topping has been incorporated through the swirls, bake in the oven following the box mix instructions for the temperature and pan size. With the cheesecake topping, this tray of brownies took an additional fifteen minutes or so to bake. I would put it in the oven for the recommended time on the box and then test it for doneness every five minutes. You want a toothpick inserted into the center to come out clean.
Wait until the brownies are completely cool to cut. I have always struggled with cutting brownies well for some reason. This time I took a bench scraper and pushed it straight down, and lifted up in order to create each cut and my brownies came out looking more professional.
Are improved boxed brownies worth the hassle?
Absolutely! If you have a little extra time, these brownies, especially if you add the cheesecake topping, are beautiful and delicious. They received rave reviews and stored well in an airtight container for a few days. I served them first one day after I made them and the second day after I made them and both days they tasted excellent. They stayed chewy and soft which was a win for me. I can’t tell you how long they would last stored because they were all eaten by day two.
If you try this recipe out or have done something similar before, let us know in the comments below!
Cheese Cake Brownie Topping
Ingredients
- 1 box brownie mix prepared as directed or replacing the oil with butter, the water with coffee, and increase the quantity of eggs by one
- 8 oz softened cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup jelly of your choice (*See Note Below)
Instructions
- Make the brownie batter as instructed on the box or with the adjustments suggested in the Homesmiths blog post
- Mix all ingredients together until well combined.
- Drop by spoonfuls over prepared tray of unbaked brownie mix.
- Add spoonfuls of jelly (**See Note Below) over the spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture.
- Swirl in figure eight patterns using a chopstick or other thin utensil.
- Bake following the box mix brownie instructions. Expect that these brownies will take about fifteen minutes more but test doneness every five minutes after the recommended time has passed until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to fully cool before cutting.
Notes
Save it for later!
