Cosmic Brownies (Copycat Recipe)

Fudgy, chewy, and full of chocolate goodness, this Cosmic Brownie copycat recipe is absolutely delicious. This frosted brownie recipe makes a thick and gooey brownie, then tops it with a creamy chocolate ganache frosting and plenty of rainbow crunch sprinkles and chocolate flavor.

 

Share these delicious brownies with your family and friends or pack them in your lunchbox for the BEST brownie treat. This popular frosted brownie copycat recipe is so good all on its own and packs a little nostalgia for anyone who grew up eating Cosmic Brownies in their lunchbox.

Why We Love This Cosmic Brownie Copycat Recipe

• These Cosmic Brownies are thick and fudgy with moist crumbs make the perfect base. Then top the brownies with a chocolate ganache frosting that is literally out of this world and makes the best brownies.
• The fun colorful round sprinkles on these brownies pop on the dark chocolate, and give the brownies their signature look.
• This is the best brownie recipe for a lunchbox treat, school party, bake sale, or any party to share! These fudgy homemade brownies will go fast if you share!
• Fast and easy to make, and have the same gooeyness we love from the original Cosmic Brownie.

What Is a Cosmic Brownie?

A cosmic brownie is a thick fudgy frosted brownie topped with rainbow chocolate sprinkles.

These chocolate brownies were introduced to the world by The Little Debbie Company in 1999 and were originally created because of the cosmic bowling trend that happened!

Cosmic brownies were a big hit and often were found in school lunchboxes and pantries across the US as a treat, similar to other Little Debbie treats like this Chocolate Cake Roll recipe, which is a larger copycat of swiss rolls!

Do Cosmic Brownies Have A Line?

Some cosmic brownies also had a line across the top indented in the frosting. The brownies were packaged in a rectangular shape and if you had a line many people would split the brownie in half before eating. (Sometimes sharing, sometimes eating both halves!)

It totally depended on if you purchased a regular size box or a large size box according to the memories of some users on Tiktok. Line or no line, Cosmic Brownies are fudgy and delicious.

Ingredients For Cosmic Brownies

For this delicious copycat recipe, you will need ingredients both for the brownie batter and for the chocolate ganache frosting. Don’t forget the ingredients for the frosting!

Brownie Batter Ingredients

•  butter melted
• white granulated sugar
• cocoa powder
• vanilla extract
• eggs lightly beaten
• light corn syrup
• milk
• all purpose flour
• salt

Frosting Ingredients

• heavy cream
• chocolate chips – we used milk chocolate
• semi-sweet chocolate
•  rainbow crunch sprinkles

How To Make Cosmic Brownies

Make The Brownie Batter

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8×8 baking pan by lining with parchment paper. You can also spray the pan well with spray cooking oil.
2. In a large bowl mix together melted butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla, eggs, corn syrup and milk until smooth.
3. Add cocoa, flour and salt to the wet ingredients. Mix these dry ingredients in gently until fully combined into the wet ingredients to make a batter.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean using the toothpick test.

Make The Brownie Frosting

1. Warm the heavy cream in the microwave or a small saucepan until it just begins to bubble
2. Remove the cream from heat and stir in the chocolate and chocolate chips until you have smooth melted chocolate. Let the frosting stand for 2-3 minutes to thicken. Pour the frosting over the fudgy brownies.

3. Top with sprinkles then allow to cool for 3 hours before slicing so the frosting sets. Enjoy my favorite brownie recipe!

Variations and Substitution Ideas

Heavy cream and whipping cream can be used interchangeably in this recipe. They are similar enough for the frosting that they will both produce a delicious frosting.

Add Walnuts– The original Cosmic Brownies never had nuts but the Fudge Brownies do! Swap the cosmic sprinkles for walnuts and you have a great copycat of Little Debbie’s Fudge Brownies.

Add Chocolate Chips– Also not traditional to Cosmic Brownies, but folding in a half cup of semi sweet chocolate chips into the brownie batter after mixing before baking will make your brownies extra chocolatey. You can also try other flavors such as white chocolate, dark chocolate or butterscotch chips.

Change Up The Sprinkles– The rainbow chocolate crunch round sprinkles give Cosmic Brownies their iconic look, but if you have a favorite sprinkle color don’t hesitate to make Cosmic Brownies with your favorite color sprinkle. Brigh colorful sprinkles tend to work best on these brownies. The color on the colored sugar style sprinkles doesn’t pop quite as much though because they are a little translucent.

What are Rainbow Crunch Sprinkles on Cosmic Brownies?

Rainbow crunch sprinkles are small pieces of chocolate that are tiny and round, then coated in a bright candy coating. These sprinkles are often also called online Rainbow Candy Coated Chocolate chips.

While these candies are similar to classic candy coated chocolate like M&Ms in flavor, they are much smaller than most other chocolate candies. Their small size makes them function better as a sprinkle than as a candy. These sprinkles give Cosmic Brownies their classic look.

Rainbow crunch sprinkles can be found online. They are sometimes found in the baking aisle. I’ve also seen this kind of sprinkle occasionally stocked near ice cream toppings in the grocery store.

Why Should I Let These Brownies Cool For So Long?

These brownies are a thick and fudgy brownie topped with a rich chocolate ganache frosting. To make the frosting you need to heat and melt the chocolate. If you cut the brownies before the chocolate ganache has fully set it will be pretty liquidy and messy. It is worth being patient for this recipe and letting the ganache fully cool

You can speed up the process a little by putting the pan of brownies in the fridge once the pan is cool to the touch. Still expect the ganache frosting will take a while to fully set.

How Do I Store Cosmic Brownies

These frosted brownies will store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for four to five days.

Can You Freeze These Brownies?

Yes, cosmic brownies are great when frozen. Wrap the bars once completely cool in plastic wrap or freezer paper, then store in a zip-top freezer bag for up to two months. When you are ready to eat let them defrost on the counter at room temperature. then enjoy.