One of my favorite baking recipes of all time is the one for Julia Child's Best Ever Brownies. They are amazing, but—and this is a big but—over the course of the recipe you use five different bowls. Yes, FIVE! Needless to say, I hardly ever make them; with that many dishes to wash afterwards, they rarely make the real-life cut. But these one bowl baking recipes do. Because if it tastes delicious and there's only a single bowl to clean, it wins big.
So get baking busy cooks. It doesn't have to be hard and these mouthwatering recipes are proof.
Related: Helpful tips for baking with kids, and 6 recipes to get you started.
This One-Pan Chocolate Cake (above & top) at my own blog, This Week for Dinner, ups the ante on all other one bowl baking recipes because—get this—you mix the batter in the baking pan. Then, use that one bowl to make the most Perfect Chocolate Frosting to slather on top. Delicious and especially great for a casual get together. While on my blog, you should also check out this Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. (I told you that I'm a sucker for one bowl baking!) When I originally found this recipe, I thought I'd found heaven. Now that I've made it many, many times over, I know that I have. Gooey chocolate chip cookie deliciousness cooked right in the pan in which you also mix the dough. It's just too good. Brownies are always a great way to bake with only one bowl, well, unless Julia Child is involved, I suppose. These Fudgy One Bowl Brownies at Baked by Rachel are rich and decadent, as a brownie should be. And the baking is easy, as baking should be.Related: Busy parent kitchen hack: Easy, semi-homemade sandwich cookie recipe.
I love a good pound cake nearly as much as I love brownies and making one doesn't have to be hard—at least not with this recipe for One Bowl Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake at our editor Stacie's blog, One Hungry Mama. I think it's worth buying fresh ricotta for this recipe since it's the secret to the cake's dense, but super moist crumb. Otherwise, wait until you have some leftover. And, by the way, Stacie's tried this recipe using gluten-free flour and says that it works. Bonus! Who would think that you could make Banana Bourbon Cake with Bourbon Whipped Cream in one bowl? It sounds too good to be true, but isn't. In fact, it's a recipe from an expert in one bowl baking, Yvonne Ruperti, who literally wrote the book on the topic. Yvonne was generous enough to share the recipe over on Cool Mom Picks, where you can also read about One Bowl Baking: Simple, From Scratch Recipes for Delicious Desserts and why we think every busy cook should own a copy.
