Brownie Batter Cookies

I’ve been playing around with this recipe for a while now — anyone who follows me on Instagram might recognize these as some of the cookies that make a semi-frequent cameo in my feed, but with no recipe to accompany them… until now, that is.

I was actually going to wait until Friday to post this recipe, because Friday always seems to be *THE* day of the week that  my chocolate cravings skyrocket (work weeks are hard, you guys, and chocolate makes everything better). But Monday isn’t exactly an ‘easy’ day, either… some might even argue it’s the worst day of the week, so maybe that means this is actually the day that’s most in need of a hefty dose of dark, melty chocolate?

So, to get you through your Monday, I bring you these: BROWNIE. BATTER. COOKIES. If the name alone doesn’t leave your mind swimming in a sea of chocolate, I don’t know what else will.

I’m pretty smitten with my brownie recipe — dark, chocolatey, fudgey, dense — and these are basically the cookie equivalent of them. The recipe even starts off with the exact same ingredients, quantities, and mixing instructions as that brownie recipe. Midway through, though, it takes a more cookie-like twist with a higher quantity of flour and the addition of some baking soda and corn starch (fun fact: corn starch does magical things to cookie dough). Plus chopped up chocolate bars and chips… a lot of those, actually.

These bake up super chocolatey, dense, and soft. And are completely loaded up with melty pockets of chocolate (if consumed freshly baked/warm from the oven). And what makes these cookies even better is the fact that they’re a ONE BOWL RECIPE — WOOHOO!! Less kitchen clean up always makes baked goods taste just a little bit sweeter, doesn’t it?

Whenever I  bake cookies, I always give the scooped out dough some time to chill out in the fridge before baking — those couple of hours in the fridge (or more — I’ve refrigerated cookie dough for up to 48 hours before actually baking them, and they always turn out great) helps to prevent spreading/flattening in the oven. And as someone who prefers their cookies on the thick side, spreading and flattening is the last thing I typically want my cookies to do as they bake. With that in mind, i haven’t actually tried baking these cookies without that fridge step. So if you opt to go that route, I can’t promise these won’t spread out or the texture won’t be affected. I’ll have to test that out sometime soon and will modify the recipe accordingly depending on the results.

You’ll also want to be careful that you don’t overbake these. Even if they don’t look completely ‘done,’ take them out – it’ll be alright, I promise. These cool completely on the cookie sheets so they’ll actually keep baking a bit once they’re taken out. Overbake them, though, and these won’t be the soft, fudgey cookies of your dreams. They’ll be dry and crumbly and you’ll probably feel sad as you eat them, thinking of the exact moment you SHOULD have taken them out of the oven, minutes sooner than when you actually did. I’ve been there, you guys. It’s not a fun place to be.

Good luck to everyone as we all get through this Monday and to the weekend — and who knows, maybe these cookies will help out with your weekly Friday chocolate cravings, too. (Because seriously, it’s like clock work with those things.)

Brownie Batter Cookies
Yield: 11 very large cookies

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 – 2 cups of chocolate chunks or chips, plus more for topping (optional)

Directions:
In a large microwave-safe bowl, add the butter and chopped chocolate. Microwave until melted in 30-40 second intervals (be sure to give it a quick mix at these intervals, too).

To the butter and chocolate mixture, add both the sugars and mix together until well-blended. Then, mix in the egg, yolks, vanilla, and espresso powder. Add the baking soda, salt, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and flour to the batter and fold in until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.

On parchment-lined baking sheets, scoop out the dough with a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop and place about 2 inches apart. If you’re into it, now’s the time to add some more chocolate chunks/chips to the top of the pre-baked cookies (just be careful not to flatten them out too much when you press the chocolate pieces in if you want a tall cookie). Cover the dough-lined cookie sheets with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake the cookies for 10-13 minutes; when the edges are lightly touched, they won’t feel completely ‘done,’ they’ll be pretty soft — that’s exactly how they should be. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before serving.