25 Super Fun Baking Recipes

Have an afternoon at home? Bake! With breads, cakes, muffins, and more, these 25 easy baking recipes include something for everyone.

Baking Recipes

There’s no more joyful way to spend an afternoon than baking. I do most of the cooking in our house, but baking recipes are the ones that bring Jack and me together. He might stretch a batch of pizza dough while I prep the toppings, or we’ll work together to make a jumbo tray of cinnamon rolls to devour the next morning. If you have kids, easy baking recipes are a great way to get them into the kitchen. Let them stir together brownies and lick the spoon or decorate a batch of cookies with bright sprinkles and frosting. The process might be messy, but the results will be delicious nonetheless.

I hope these 25 easy baking recipes inspire you to set yourself a new cooking challenge, just for the fun of it, or to spend a few hours in the kitchen with someone you care about. With cookies, quick breads, bao buns, and more, you’re sure to find a recipe you’ll love.

Cookie and Bar Baking Recipes

Vegan Sugar Cookies

Vegan Sugar Cookies
These cookies are the perfect treat to bake and decorate with kids! I love their puffy, soft-baked texture, but if you prefer to make cut-out sugar cookies, this recipe is great too.

Baking Recipes

Best Brownies
These brownies will put all other brownie recipes to shame. They have a crave-worthy fudgy texture and a rich dark chocolate flavor. Best of all, they’re super easy to make!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies
These easy peanut butter cookies have a delightful crumbly texture and sweet, nutty flavor that we just can’t get enough of. P.S. They’re vegan, too!

Easy Baking Recipes - Perfect Oatmeal Cookies

Perfect Oatmeal Cookies
They’re soft, chewy, and warmly spiced – everything a good oatmeal raisin cookie should be.

Lemon Cookies

Lemon Cookies
One of my all-time favorite baking recipes! They have crisp edges, bakery-perfect chewy middles, and a lovely lemon flavor.

Easy Baking Recipes

Tahini Cookies
I decorate these soft, warmly-spiced cookies with bursty pomegranate seeds. If you don’t have any on hand, don’t worry! Dried cranberries or chocolate chips would be great here too.

Fun baking recipes - no bake cookies

No Bake Cookies
Ok, ok, this isn’t a baking recipe, strictly speaking. Still, these 7-ingredient no bakes are absolutely worth making. They have a chewy texture and an intense peanut butter chocolate flavor. What more could you want in a quick and easy treat?

Homemade granola bars

Pistachio Oat Squares
These 6-ingredient squares could pass for breakfast or dessert, which is good news, because you’ll want to eat them all day long. If you don’t have pistachios on hand, feel free to swap them for whatever nut you do.

Lemon Shortbread Cookies

Lemon Thyme Shortbread Cookies
A Love and Lemons classic. These 7-ingredient cookies are bright, buttery, and perfect alongside a hot cup of tea.

Easy Quick Bread and Cake Recipes

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Vegan Chocolate Cake
Who needs cake mix when a rich, moist chocolate cake is so easy to make from scratch? To take this cake over the top, slather it with my luscious chocolate frosting! Tasting it, you’d never guess that there’s a secret veggie ingredient (baked sweet potato!) hiding inside it.

Best Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake
It’s hard for Jack to pick favorites when it comes to baking recipes, but if he had to, this carrot cake would be his #1. It’s moist, delicate, and warmly spiced – perfect for a celebration or anytime you’re craving a sweet treat.

Banana Bread - Essential Baking Recipes

Banana Bread
This banana bread is on the healthy side, made with olive oil, almond flour, and whole wheat flour. Still, it’s totally irresistible. Whenever I have it on hand, I can never help going back for a second (or third, or fourth…) slice.

Quick bread baking recipes

Pumpkin Bread
It doesn’t have to be fall for you to fall for this easy pumpkin bread recipe. 🙂 It’s moist, warmly spiced, and filled with pumpkin flavor. I’d happily devour a slice any day of the year!

Cake baking recipes

Yogurt Pound Cake
Many traditional pound cake recipes call for sour cream, so I thought, why not yogurt? It gives this simple loaf a wonderful moist texture and lightly tangy flavor. Serve it on its own, with yogurt and fruit, or with a dollop of coconut whipped cream for a more decadent dessert.

Creative Baking Recipes

Baked Doughnuts

Matcha Baked Doughnuts
St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, and these adorable baked doughnuts are the best way to celebrate! In addition to decorating them with matcha (3 ways!), I mix it into the batter, so they’re green through and through.

Cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon Rolls
If you’ve never made cinnamon rolls from scratch, try this recipe ASAP! It’s really fun and easy to make, and it only calls for a few simple ingredients. Plus, it yields soft, gooey rolls that are bursting with brown sugar and cinnamon. What are you waiting for?

Muffins and Scones

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins
You don’t need to have fresh blueberries on hand to make these light, fluffy muffins. Frozen berries straight from the freezer work just as well. No need to thaw!

Muffin baking recipes

Banana Muffins
These vegan banana muffins check all the baked good boxes. They’re moist, naturally sweet, and filled with spiced banana flavor. Of course, the fact that they’re studded with melty chocolate chips doesn’t hurt either.

Scone baking recipes

Blueberry Scones
A good scone can be hard to find, but frankly, these ones are perfect. They’re crisp on the outside, moist in the middle, and packed with jammy berries all the way through. Like my blueberry muffins, these scones work just as well with frozen berries.

Lemon muffins - easy baking recipes

Vegan Lemon Muffins
Chia seeds give these soft, fluffy little muffins a lovely crunch and a healthy dose of omega-3s. You can feel good about eating them for breakfast, but they can also pass for dessert, especially with a zesty cream cheese frosting on top.

Savory Baking Recipes

Bread baking recipes

Rosemary Focaccia Bread
Olive oil, rosemary, and roasted garlic give this focaccia a rich, savory flavor. This recipe is a surefire way to impress anyone you cook for, but it’s deceptively easy to make. I won’t tell if you won’t!

Yeasted baking recipes

Homemade Pizza Dough
What’s more fun than making homemade pizza?! This simple dough recipe is easy to make, and it transforms into a delicious crisp/chewy crust. Top it with my 5-ingredient pizza sauce or pesto and your favorite toppings to make a homemade pie that’s every bit as good as one you’d get out to eat.

No Knead Bread

No-Knead Bread
Baking recipes don’t get much easier than this one! The hands-on work is minimal here, but thanks to a long, slow rise, this bread comes out with a perfect golden crust and soft interior every time.

Bao buns

Homemade Bao Buns
These puffy little bao buns are one of our favorite cooking projects. Jack takes care of the dough while I prep a fun filling. Baked tempeh, herbs, and avocado are my go-to choices here, but if you don’t have them on hand, any protein or veggie will do. The best part is the warm, soft bun surrounding them!

Flatbread baking recipes

Falafel Flatbread
This chickpea flour flatbread is a great recipe for a gluten-free pizza night, but even if you’re not gluten-free, you’re going to want to try it. Spiced with cumin, coriander, and chili powder, the soft, hearty flatbread is delicious on its own, but if you want to take it to the next level, load it up with toppings. I love the fresh combination pictured, but hummus, pickled onions, tahini sauce, roasted red peppers, carrot ribbons, and/or olives would also be fantastic here.

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Baking Recipes: Easy Brownies

rate this recipe:
5 from 221 votes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, and salt.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, olive oil, water, and vanilla.
  • Sprinkle the dry mix over the wet mix and stir until just combined.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs attached (note: it's better to pull the brownies out early than to leave them in too long). Cool completely before slicing. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. These also freeze well!

49 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Indyanna
    09.01.2021

    Hey! I would love to try this recipe but do I have to use that oil? And if I don’t have to what oil CAN I use thanks!-Indyanna

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.01.2021

      Hi, you can use any neutral oil like vegetable or canola oil.

  2. avi
    08.17.2021

    5 stars
    i haven’t made one yet but these look very delicious!

  3. samy
    07.07.2021

    i am defiantly try to make chocolate cakes and cookies

  4. Lya
    06.18.2021

    ty for the recipes they look so good 🤤

  5. Charlie from The%20egyptians.com
    04.10.2021

    Yummy the brownies look amazing

  6. Robert
    02.16.2021

    5 stars
    T.H.I.S is awesome. I love the moistness of the end result. However if you leave it out for more than a day the brownies get hard even if you saran wrap it.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      02.16.2021

      I’m glad you loved them! They freeze well, that might be better if you want to keep them longer.

  7. Olivia
    02.15.2021

    5 stars
    I made the Brownies! They are soooooo good!!!🤩😜😆 If you want something really rich, chocolatey, and gooey. You should make these brownies!!!

  8. Ruby Gale
    12.13.2020

    Lol. I’m a huge lemon lover too!!

  9. Ruby Gale
    12.13.2020

    I’m pretty sure you can add nuts. Nuts and chocolate chips both go great in brownies!!

  10. Joanna
    09.04.2020

    5 stars
    My family really enjoyed the brownies I made so it looks like I will be making many more!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.12.2020

      I’m so glad you enjoyed them!

  11. Alyssa Fischer
    08.20.2020

    Thanks so much for the idea!

  12. Kathy
    08.14.2020

    tripled this recipe and baked in a sheet pan. Turned out excellent. Took to work. Many requests for recipe. Slightly warmed up and served with vanilla ice cream.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.30.2020

      Hi Kathy, I’m so glad you loved them!

  13. Shiby
    06.18.2020

    5 stars
    Your recipes are all yum.Thanks for sharing

  14. Lila
    05.04.2020

    What are the nutrition facts of the brownies?

  15. Molly
    03.17.2020

    My kids are basically going to be working their way through this list during our “home school” weeks ahead. Thanks for putting it together!

    • Lea
      12.15.2020

      I only have a 9×9 pan, i am new in baking so im a little scared trying this. I want to achieve the looks of this brownie. Looks so perfect, but how can i achieve it in a 9×9 pan? How much ingredient do i need to add? Thank you so much.

      • Jeanine Donofrio
        12.15.2020

        Hi Lea, for this brownie recipe you need an 8×8 pan, otherwise they’ll be too thin and can over bake.

      • soryn
        01.25.2021

        hey! if you have a round cake pan ive found that they work okay too.

  16. Sabrina from newkitchenlife.com
    03.16.2020

    looks like I’ll be making a lot more stuff at home so these recipes will come in handy, thank you!

    • Amanda
      05.17.2020

      Omg same!
      I made them for the first time last week and came back for the recipe again. They went down in about 3 hours😂 Looks like I will be making these a lot more

      • Em
        06.26.2020

        Do you know if it’s super sweet? I’m a little hesitant because of granulated sugar, powder sugar and chocolate chips?

        • Jeanine Donofrio
          06.26.2020

          Hi Em, yes, the brownies are pretty sweet. I’ve had success reducing the granulated sugar by 1/2 cup, but any less than that could affect the texture.

          • Em
            11.18.2020

            Thank you for letting me know!

        • A Sour Lemon
          11.17.2020

          5 stars
          I made them without the powder sugar as we were stuck in home and didn’t feel like going to the grocery shop later and waiting a week before making them, so we went right ahead with them. Tasted amazing even without the extra sugar.

          • Em
            11.18.2020

            Oh yay! That sounds like good news to me!! It looks so yummy but I was hesitant to reduce… I will try it this week!! Thank you!!

          • A Sour Lemon
            11.18.2020

            Sure no problem!

          • A Sour Lemon
            11.18.2020

            Actually, this was my first time making brownies, and my dad doesn’t like sweets with too much sugar, so we were a little hesitant at first, but it was completely fine, yeah.

        • Charlie
          04.10.2021

          I am a bit concerned of what powder sugar is

          • River Daynes
            04.17.2021

            Hi Charlie, powdered sugar (AKA confectioners sugar) is just regular white sugar smashed to a powder with a super tiny amount of corn starch added in. It’s used a lot in baking, especially for icings! My mom used to top my French toast with cinnamon and powdered sugar… so good. 😌

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.