Chocolate Brownie Cookies
I have birds.
Living in Los Angeles is like living in a jungle. Instead of dense tropical trees and dangerous pumas, Los Angeles has obnoxious cars and… actors. There is very little visible animal life besides dogs on leashes, squirrels rummaging through the trash bins and pigeons just walking around being pretty gross.
But I have birds. I call them my Midnight Song Birds. They live in the tree outside my bedroom window and sing to one another all night long. All night! Sometimes I’ll be up until 1 in the morning and the birds are still going at it. They keep up the chatter all night long.
I’ve come to love sound of these birds chirping as I fall asleep. It helps erase the occasional helicopter or paramedic siren. My birds sound beautiful. And though they sound completely out of place at 1 in the morning, they remind me to be thankful for the little things- like the simple joy of chirping birds, or chewy chocolate cookies.
How about some cookie adventures? Follow me.
I’m convinced that these cookies are actually brownies in disguise. They’re super soft, full of chocolate, and my favorite part- they have that brownie crackled skin on top. I think it’s the slightly flaky chocolate top and soft center that won my heart.
Topped with darling chocolate covered sunflower seeds, these cookies are perfect to snack on with a glass of cold milk sitting in front of the TV watching dvds of Big Love… or maybe that’s just me.
Chocolate Brownie Cookies
recipe from King Arthur Flour
yields 26 cookies without chips, 30 cookies with chips
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped or in chips)
3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.
In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. You don’t need a mixer, just do it in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you’re using them. Refrigerate the batter like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.
Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2″ between the dough balls, as they’ll spread as they bake.
Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’re done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a bittersweet chocolate wafer, or a chocolate covered sunflower seed. Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
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Wow! Thanks for this recipe! I just a newbie in baking but this was such a joy to bake. It’s so yummmmy :)
they were excellent. a huge hit and everyone wanted the recipe. thanks joy!
these look absolutely scrumptious!
i can’t wait to make these for my cool little brother.
Mine didn’t really work :(
They spread out too much, so they were crispy on the bottom, but hadn’t cracked on top. What did I do wrong?
these were awesome cookies
it took me a while to drop the cookies since i didnt have a scoop and resorted to two different spoons, but they were worth it.
These were awesome! They are a chocoholic’s dream! I used 1/4 C of semisweet chocolate chips & 1/4 C of milk chocolate chips in the batter too & my cookies took 15 minutes at 325 degrees & my cookies were a little puffier (i’m guessing because of the chocolate chips?). Oh & I also topped them with an M&M. I’ve made them twice now. The first time i just used spoons to dish out the batter & it was messy & sticky (still yummy though!) – i went & bought a 1-1/2 Tbsp scoop (that’s what they had at Bed, Bath & Beyond) and that worked MUCH better for the 2nd batch! Glad i stumbled upon this recipe. :)
I made these the other day but I used a pack of mini m’n'm’s instead of the optional cup of chocolate chips…worked a treat plus they added that little bit of colour as we don’t get the chocolate & candy coated sunflower seeds here. ;-)
Wow, your food looks great and you’re very pretty, too.
You’d make some guy very lucky!
I was telling my boyfriend last night that I wanted to find a way to turn boxed brownie mix into a cookie, so I figured I’d look around online, and these are exactly what I was looking for! He thought that I was trying to combine brownies and cookies, so I think I’ll have to make that as well, but first thing’s first, and these just look perfect! Thank you so much!
Yes Maris, these cookies freeze well, just wrap them well!
Hi Joy – I would love to make these for an event in a few days. Can you tell me if they freeze well?
Just tasted my first one and it’s a HIT! I topped mine with a dark chocolate M&M (the Easter colored ones are so pretty against the dark cookie.)
Note to self…buy cookie scoops or use two spoons next time. I tried to scoop out dough with a spoon and then roll it into a ball with my hands. I ended up with a few cookies worth of dough stuck to my hands. Sadly, I’m not a cookie dough fan, so it was a tragic loss of a cookie or two on my palms.
Chilling my dough now. And ordering more espresso powder from KAF since I’m out. :( So sad that I’m out of chocolate chips, too. And that I haven’t found chocolate covered candies of any sort that are dairy free that I can use…but, the batter still tasted swell! Timer needs to hurry!
Those look gorgeous!. M bookmarking these. the birds sound delightful. Here we get teh occasional birds with colourful streaks. An amazing feeling when I spot one.
i’m sitting in my kitchen waiting for these babies to pop outta the oven… yay for this recipe, and yay for you for writing all these happy blog posts!