Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Sometimes a pan of chocolate brownies can lead to deep decision making—Who wants the corners with crunchy edges or who’s asking for the middle pieces with soft pillowy insides?  These chocolate brownie cookies make those kinds of choices irrelevant.  Round in shape, they offer the best of all of the brownie pan.

Flavored with both bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder and studded with chocolate chips, the cookies have depth of flavor without any of the brownie pan dilemma.  The main decision you have to make is how many to eat once they finish cooling.

My sister made me do it

This recipe caught my attention because it was perfect for my sister. Taina loves-loves-loves chocolate, and her birthday is right around the corner. Born on the day before Valentine’s Day, she is a happy woman when satin-covered boxes of chocolates arrive. Even though these sweets are not heart-shaped, they have three kinds of chocolate and are very easy to make. I knew they would be the perfect match for Taina, just what Cupid (or at least Ghiradelli and Hershey) ordered.

Making the batter

The batter starts with melting bittersweet chocolate along with vegetable oil and butter in the microwave. When it has become a smooth, silky consistency, a bit of milk gets whisked in.

Meanwhile, eggs and sugar become a thick, pale-colored base after several minutes of mixing so that they can welcome the melted chocolate into the batter.  Then flour, cocoa powder, and other dry ingredients go in. Last is the addition of chocolate chips.

Next, scoop heaping tablespoons of the cookie dough onto parchment-lined pans.  Now they’re ready to bake in a relatively low oven.

Oven transformation

The cookies come out shiny, crackled, and ready to cool for a while. Waiting the whole 30 minutes of cooling time is probably the most difficult part of this recipe.

Can a cookie be both light and dense in flavor?  Biting into one of these brownie cookies reveals a crisp outside and fudgy inside.  They are delectable on their own, but could be made more fancy alongside a scoop of ice cream with a drizzle of fudge sauce.  Valentine’s dessert, anyone?

I adapted this recipe from one by Matthew Fairman published in a recent issue of Cook’s Country. Fairman called for Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which has a deeper brown color. Dutch-processed cocoa is treated to be less acidic than regular cocoa powder and doesn’t react to baking soda. Since I had only Hershey’s cocoa in my pantry, I increased the amount of baking soda in the batter. Another change I made was to use semisweet chocolate chips in the place of chopped bittersweet chocolate pieces that he called for.

I’m traveling to see my sister soon and plan to make these for her.

Sure, she’s sweet now, but I think she will be happy to be my Valentine when a plate of these chocolate brownie cookies helps her to welcome another year.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Dawn Dobie

The flavor and texture of deep chocolate brownies in cookie form.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 16 minutes mins

Resting time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 1 minute min

Servings 29 cookies

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (3/4 ounce) cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped (I used Ghiradelli 60% Bittersweet Chocolate)
• 3 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil --such as grapeseed or canola
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons whole or 2% milk
• 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• Adjust oven racks so that one is positioned in the upper middle region and the other is in the lower middle area. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Line 2 or 3 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small bowl. Stir with a fork or whisk to mix.
• Combine the 6 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate with 3 tablespoons of oil and the butter in a medium glass bowl. Microwave at 50% power for 3 minutes, stirring after each one minute interval. After the last minute, you will still see a few lumps of chocolate, but stir for about 60 seconds, and they will melt. Whisk the milk into the chocolate mixture until it is completely incorporated. Allow to sit while you beat the eggs and sugar.
• Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs and slowly add the sugar. Beat for about 4 minutes, until the mixture is very thick and pale yellow.
• Add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture, whisking to combine.
• When there are no more streaks in the chocolate mixture, fold in the flour mixture using a rubber spatula. Continue to fold, scrape the sides, and turn over in the bowl until no dry ingredients are visible. Fold in the chocolate chips, distributing evenly.
• Scoop heaping tablespoons of batter (a 1-tablespoon scoop that has been greased with Pam works well) and place 12 on each cookie sheet. (My batch made 29, so I had to use a third cookie sheet.) The mounds of dough should be spaced about 2 inches apart. Moisten fingertips and pat to make roundish balls; they don’t need to be perfect.
• Place two cookie sheets on the two shelves in the oven, bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pans and switch their oven shelves. Bake an additional 8 minutes (Total baking time is 16 minutes). The cookies will look like they’re soft and raw between the cracks on their tops, but they will continue cooking once out of the oven.
• If you have a third pan, bake those cookies now.
• Leave the cookies on the parchment-lined pans on a rack for 30 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack individually.

Notes

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days at room temperature. I haven’t tried freezing them yet, but will update the recipe after I have.

Adapted from a recipe by Matthew Fairman in Cook’s Country (December 2019/January 2020).