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Mocha Brownies are what happens when your afternoon coffee and a fudgy brownie become one dessert, strong brewed coffee in the batter, crunchy coffee candies folded through, and a whipped mocha frosting on top, and the pan I brought to book club last week came home with nothing but crumbs. If loaded brownies are your weakness, our butterfinger brownies belong on your bake list too.
It starts with a box mix and ends tasting like a coffeehouse bakery case, 15 minutes of actual work.
Mocha Brownies Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 23 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 38 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 255kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Deep fudgy chocolate with a real brewed coffee backbone
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, box mix simple like our lemon brownies
Quick Answer
Replace the water in a fudge brownie mix with 1/4 cup of strong room temperature coffee, stir with the eggs and oil about 50 times, and fold in chopped chocolate covered coffee candies. Bake in a greased 13×9 pan at 350 degrees for 21 to 23 minutes, cool completely, then frost with whipped butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, coffee, and vanilla.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Coffee replaces the water. Brewed coffee amplifies chocolate the way salt amplifies caramel, the brownies do not taste like coffee so much as MORE like chocolate, with a mocha edge.
- Room temperature coffee only. Hot coffee would scramble the eggs and melt streaks into the batter, chilled coffee keeps the mix smooth and the crumb fudgy.
- The 50 stir rule. Brownie mixes are engineered for minimal mixing, counting your stirs keeps the batter dense and fudgy instead of cakey.
- Candy folded in at the end. Adding the chopped coffee candies last keeps their chocolate shells intact so you get crunchy pockets instead of melted streaks.
- An almost clean toothpick. Pulling the pan when a little batter still clings is the difference between fudgy squares and dry ones, carryover heat finishes the center.
- Whipped, not spread, frosting. Three minutes with the hand mixer aerates the mocha frosting so it pipes into light swirls that will not overwhelm the rich base.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It is a coffee shop dessert from a box mix, nobody will believe the base came from the baking aisle.
- The mocha frosting alone is worth the recipe, it would be right at home on our mudslide cookies too.
- One 13×9 pan makes 12 generous frosted squares, perfect for potlucks, bake sales, and coffee break bribes.
Key Ingredients
The coffee flavor gets layered in three times here, in the batter, the mix ins, and the frosting.
- Strong Coffee: It replaces the water in the brownie mix AND flavors the frosting. Brew it double strength and make sure it is room temperature or chilled, hot coffee would start cooking the eggs.
- Fudge Brownie Mix: The box does the heavy lifting for texture, so all the effort goes into the mocha flavor. Any fudge style mix for a 13×9 pan works.
- Chocolate Covered Coffee Candies: The original used M and M Coffee Nut, which has been discontinued, chocolate covered espresso beans or caramel candies with chopped roasted peanuts give you the same crunch and coffee hit.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: One tablespoon deepens the frosting from coffee buttercream into true mocha territory.
- Unsalted Butter: The frosting base, whip it fully smooth before the sugar goes in for the fluffiest swirls.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
The coffee nut candies were the 2016 special, here is how to build the same magic today.
- Chocolate covered espresso beans: The closest one to one swap for the discontinued Coffee Nut candies, chop 2/3 cup and fold them in.
- Caramel candies plus peanuts: Chopped caramel filled chocolate candies with a handful of roasted peanuts recreates the original sweet, nutty crunch.
- Espresso powder boost: Add 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the dry mix for an even deeper mocha flavor with no candy at all.
- Walnut classic: Fold in 2/3 cup of toasted walnuts for a traditional nut brownie with the mocha frosting doing the coffee work.
- Skip the frosting: Dust with powdered sugar and serve them warm with a scoop of our no churn cookie dough ice cream instead.
How to Make Mocha Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the brownie mix, eggs, oil, and room temperature coffee in a large bowl and stir about 50 times, scraping the sides and bottom so everything mixes in. Fold in the chopped coffee candies.
- Pour the batter into a greased 13×9 inch pan and bake for 21 to 23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean, a little clinging batter is perfect.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and let the brownies cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, mix the powdered sugar and cocoa powder together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter with a hand mixer until smooth, then slowly add the sugar and cocoa mixture a little at a time, scraping the sides as needed.
- Add the vanilla and the tablespoon of coffee, then whip for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Frost the whole pan or pipe swirls onto individual squares, garnish with extra chopped candies, and serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Brew the coffee first thing so it has time to cool, or use leftover coffee straight from the refrigerator.
- Count your stirs. Around 50 turns of a spoon mixes everything without activating the flour, which keeps the squares fudgy.
- Grease the pan well or line with parchment, these are moist brownies and a parchment sling makes clean removal effortless.
- Cool completely before frosting, even slightly warm brownies will melt the whipped frosting into a glaze.
- Chop the candies roughly, halves and quarters give better texture pockets than fine pieces.
- For clean squares, chill the frosted pan 20 minutes and wipe the knife between cuts.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These were made for coffee hour, serve a square next to a homemade flat white and let the mocha theme run the whole table.
For a chocolate dessert board, cut them small and plate with our easy chocolate fudge and a stack of mudslide cookies.
They are also an ice cream sundae power move, a warm unfrosted square under a scoop of cookie dough ice cream is dangerous knowledge.
Store frosted brownies covered in the refrigerator up to 5 days and bring to room temperature before serving, the frosting softens back to whipped perfection.
Mocha Brownies FAQs
Mocha Brownies get their flavor from real brewed coffee in two places, a quarter cup replaces the water in the brownie batter and another tablespoon goes into the whipped frosting alongside cocoa powder. Coffee plus chocolate is the definition of mocha, and using it in both layers doubles the effect.
The Coffee Nut flavor was a limited run and is discontinued, but Mocha Brownies work beautifully with 2/3 cup of chopped chocolate covered espresso beans, caramel filled chocolate candies mixed with roasted peanuts, or classic peanut M and Ms plus a teaspoon of espresso powder in the batter.
The whole pan of Mocha Brownies contains about a third of a cup of brewed coffee plus the candy, so a single square carries only a fraction of a cup of coffee. Sensitive kids or late evenings might warrant the espresso free walnut variation, but for most, one square is mild.
Yes, any 13×9 fudge brownie recipe converts to Mocha Brownies, just swap a quarter cup of the liquid for strong brewed coffee and fold in the coffee candies at the end. The box mix version simply guarantees that fudgy texture with zero guesswork.
Because of the whipped butter frosting, store Mocha Brownies covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Let them sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before serving, unfrosted squares can stay in an airtight container on the counter for 3 days.
Unfrosted Mocha Brownies freeze perfectly for up to 3 months, wrap the cooled squares individually and thaw at room temperature. The whipped mocha frosting is best made fresh, whip it up in 5 minutes while the squares thaw and they taste just baked.
Need the drink to dunk them in? Our homemade flat white is the barista move.
Mocha Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 box brownie mix I used fudge brownies
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 Cup strong coffee make sure this is room temp or chilled
- 1/2 Cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 Cup M&M’s® Coffee Nut chopped, plus more for garnish (optional)
Mocha frosting
- 1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/3 Cup unsalted butter room temp
- 1 Tablespoon strong coffee room temp or chilled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place brownie mix, eggs, oil and coffee in a large bowl. Stir 50 times with a large spoon, scraping the sides and bottom so everything gets mix in together. Add in the chopped M&M’s® Coffee Nut and fold in.
- Pour mix into a greased 13×9 inch pan. Bake for 21-23 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean. A little batter sticking is okay.
- Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Mocha frosting
- Mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl, set aside.
- Add butter to a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Slowly start adding in the sugar mixture a little at a time until fully incorporated, scraping the sides as needed. Add in the vanilla and the coffee, whip until light and fluffy about 3 minutes.
- You can either frost the entire brownies now or pipe the individual pieces as shown here, garnish with more M&M’s® Coffee Nut, serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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Your brownies look awesome, but I have not seen these M&M’s in my store yet. Can’t wait to try them.
Bev
Look delicious – But I have not seen Coffee Nut M and M’s in a store.
This looks absolutely fantabulous! Saving this recipe 🙂
I love the Coffee Nut flavor, so I can only imagine how amazing these taste! I will definitely have to try them! (client)