These are brownies disguised as cookies. They have the flavor and density of a brownie, but the chew of a cookie. The perfect marriage of brownie and cookie.
And look how cute they are, all dressed up for Halloween! I love any excuse to make a festive dessert. Normally I make these with semi-sweet chocolate chips, but couldn’t pass up the Halloween M&M’s at Target. Just too cute!
You’re basically making a brownie batter that you’ll roll into balls. When you first mix it up it will seem very loose, like you should be pouring it into a 9×13 pan to bake a batch of brownies. Don’t worry, that’s what it’s supposed to look like. These cookies take time to marinate haha. After about 30 minutes in the fridge, it will firm up nicely so you can roll it into balls to bake them.
Here’s a tip to get those pretty cookies, where the add-ins are nice and perfectly placed. Literally perfectly place them haha. After you roll the dough into balls, place a few add-ins (whether it be chocolate chips, M&M’s, or nuts) on top. They bake “prettier” than just only adding them into the batter and evenly mixing them.
Also, you’ll feel a nudge to want to bake these longer when the timer goes off. Don’t do it! Chocolate cookies are always hard to gauge on done-ness because you can’t see the browning. It would be better to under bake these than over bake them. They’ll set up after being completely cooled. If you over bake them, you lose that brownie element and will just get a crunchy or crumbly cookie…yuck.
These will definitely be your go-to chocolate cookie recipe. BELIEVE ME!
Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 10 Tbsp salted butter, room temp
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt 2 cups of chocolate chips. I do this in the microwave, in 30 second increments, stirring well after each increment. You will know when you're done when you have mostly melted all of the chocolate, but there are still some lumps. Keep stirring and let the residual heat melt the rest of the chocolate. Over-heating chocolate will cause it to seize and you will have to start over.
- in the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the softened butter until smooth. Add in the sugars. The mixture will look granular.
- Add in eggs, one at a time, making sure everything is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add in vanilla and beat for 30 seconds.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix until everything is incorporated.
- With the mixer set on your lowest speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Finally, add in your chocolate chips (or whatever add-in you're using), being careful to not over beat. The dough may seem too thin, but that's OK.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The dough can also be placed in an airtight container and kept in the fridge for up to a week.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with silicone liners (I use these).
- When dough is thick enough to roll in your hands, roll dough into about 1 inch balls (I use my cookie scoop found here) and place them on the cookie sheet. I normally do 12 per pan.
- Bake 8 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies have just begun to set, but the centers are still very soft.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, or until set enough to transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely. Cookies will firm up as they cool. ENJOY!