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Brownie cookies are the best of both worlds, with rich chocolate flavor, soft chewy centers, and crisp edges. This easy recipe from Sarah Kieffer’s wonderful 100 Cookies cookbook is a must-bake. Don’t miss it.
Why we love this recipe
These treats have been named, “Like top 10 cookies, period,” in our household. They are:
- Rich and chocolaty like the best brownies
- Tender and chewy on the inside and lightly crisp on the outside like the best cookies
- Quick and easy to make
- Classic and comforting, with a gentle twist
Why you need 100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen
I can’t say enough good things about Sarah Kieffer, whose award-winning Vanilla Bean Blog has been around almost as long as Umami Girl. She’s a lovely human, a skilled professional baker, a talented photographer, and much more.
100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen is already the #1 bestselling book in cookie baking on Amazon. It’s exactly the cookie book I’ve been wanting for ages — one part anthology of totally doable, perfectly calibrated cookie recipes, one part absolute delight (with Sarah’s signature literary quotes, baking playlist, and front matter that’s as helpful as it is charming).
The recipes are divided into seven sections, from classics to next-level cookies, with a whole section on Sarah’s famous pan-banging cookies. It was hard to choose which recipe to feature, but these brownie cookies feel like they capture at least part of the essence of the book. It’s approachable, comfortable, personal, and just innovative enough, all at once.
I expect to reach for it many times in the years to come, and I’m sure you will too.
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make these cookies.
- Dutch-process cocoa powder is processed with alkali. The higher pH makes it react differently in batter than regular cocoa powder, so don’t swap one for the other. It shouldn’t be too hard to find, but if you can’t get it locally, you can order it on Amazon.
- You can use either semisweet or bittersweet chocolate in these cookies. Semisweet will make for slightly sweeter cookies, bittersweet slightly darker and more complex-tasting. I almost always use bittersweet given the chance, and you probably already have a sense for which type you prefer.
- The recipe calls for canola oil, but you can use any neutral-tasting oil you have on hand, such as peanut, safflower, or a vegetable oil blend.
How to make them
Here’s what you’ll do to make these brownie cookies. You can see all the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post.
- You’ll beat together the eggs, sugar, and salt until they’ve lightened in color and doubled in volume. I find this step weirdly satisfying? I don’t know. Then the oil and vanilla get mixed in.
- The butter and chocolate get melted together on the stovetop or in the microwave, and then you’ll stir in the cocoa powder.
- You’ll add the chocolate mixture to the eggs, followed by the flour mixture. The batter gets a little rest before proceeding.
- You can bake the cookies on the smaller or larger side as you wish. Swirl in a little peanut butter for a fun variation if you like. The cookies are very soft when they first come out of the oven, so let them cool on the baking sheet until they’re ready to handle.
Expert tips and FAQs
Nope, not in this recipe, and not in general when baking. Dutch-processed cocoa has been washed with alkali, which changes the pH. It reacts differently with leaveners in a batter. For this reason it’s best to stick to the recipe as written.
Semisweet chocolate is sweeter, bittersweet a little bit darker and more complex-tasting. These cookies are great with either kind of chocolate. My personal preference is almost always for bittersweet.
They’re best on baking day, but you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days.
More of our favorite family-friendly cookies
Love cookies? So do we. Here are some of our other favorite classic recipes:
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Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon, (116 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups (250 grams) granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
- 8 ounces (226 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
- ¼ cup (25 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder, and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the eggs, sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until the mixture is pale and doubled in volume, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed and stir in the canola oil and vanilla until just combined.
- While the egg mixture is beating, melt the butter and chocolate. Place the butter in a small, heavy-bottom saucepan set over low heat. Add the chocolate and melt together, stirring frequently, until smooth. Off the heat, add the cocoa powder to the chocolate and whisk until completely combined.
- Add the warm chocolate-butter mixture to the egg mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
- Use a small scoop or two spoons to drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the prepared sheet pans, spacing them at least 2 inches (5 cm) apart, fitting 12 on a pan.
- Bake the cookies one pan at a time, rotating halfway through baking. Bake until the cookies are puffed and cracked and the edges are set, 8 to 12 minutes.
- Transfer the sheet pan to a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely on the pan.
Notes
- Variation: With peanut butter — Drop 1 heaping teaspoon of peanut butter on top of each brownie dough ball and use a knife to swirl.
- Sarah’s recipe says it makes about 16 cookies, but I got 30 when dropping by the rounded tablespoon. Bonus. 🙂 You can make them that size or bigger to yield 16. The recipe’s baking time range is wide to accommodate both approaches.
- You can use a regular electric mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer. Just make sure to follow the visual cues (such as doubling of volume) before moving on to the next step, since timing can vary.
- You can melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave instead of on the stovetop. Use medium power and stop to stir every 30 seconds or so until just melted.
- Dutch-process cocoa powder reacts differently in dough than regular cocoa powder due to its different pH, so don’t substitute one for the other. You can get Dutch process cocoa here if you can’t find it locally.
- The cookies are best the day of baking but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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