East Northport mom launches homemade brownie business, featuring 11 flavors and a lot of love

Michelle Costales is an East Northport mom of two young boys who works long days in Manhattan, as a bookkeeper. During the pandemic, she suffered a fire in her home that left her family living in a backyard trailer for months. These experiences, Michelle said, put things in perspective. She realized that it was “now or never,” and decided to open up Brownie Brain, a home bakery that offers brownies in eleven flavors, including options for gluten-sensitive eaters.

“I’ve been baking since I was a kid, with my grandmother. I was the only one she would allow in her kitchen, and I learned a lot about cooking and baking from her,” she explained. It was about twelve years ago, Michelle said, after she baked a birthday cake for her sister, that she realized how much she loved baking and wanted to keep doing it. After that, she started baking cakes for friends and family for their parties. But, she said, “everything always came back to brownies.”

“Brownie brain,” Michelle said, is when “you just can’t get brownies out of your head, it’s the only thing on your mind.”

Michelle was able to start her company under New York’s Cottage Food Law, which allows for the production and sale of low-risk foods made at home. As of now, Brownie Brain is a side business for Michelle, who commutes to Manhattan for work and bakes in the evenings and on weekends. “I work all day, come home and eat dinner with my family, and make brownies,” she explained. She’d love to make this her full-time gig down the road.

Since her launch last week, the orders have been rolling in. When asked about her favorite flavor, of the eleven she offers, Michelle said it’s the cookies ‘n’ cream because she loves Oreos. Other flavor options include peanut butter chip, mocha, rocky road and s’mores. Each flavor has a regular or gluten-sensitive option and costs $25 to $35 per dozen. As of now, Michelle is offering delivery within the Town of Huntington on Thursday through Sundays. She needs about three days notice on an order, which can be placed at her Brownie Brain website.

If you ask Michelle’s six-year-old son, he’ll tell you that his mommy makes the best brownies in the world. At the end of the (long) day, Michelle just wants people to enjoy her brownies, which she bakes with a whole lot of love.