Chewy Brownie Cookies

Bakery Club students were in a deadlock on Friday... cookies or brownies? 

At first I thought I would make a cookie cake, but then I realized... what would a cookie cake have to offer to the students wanting brownies? Okay, scratch cookie cake idea...what about brownie bites? Not quite the sweet treat the cookie students would be hoping for either.  This realization then lead me to google "brownie cookies" (while simultaneously crossing my fingers and hoping such a thing would already be in existence). Luckily, and to my delight, the Brown Eyed Baker had already taken this plunge into the big brownie or cookie debate. 


I followed her recipe, and my husband (quite the chocolate expert) approved...and approved...and (just for good measure) approved the recipe one last time. 

So, in case you get the hankerin' for a chewy brownie with a crunchy outer shell, give this recipe a GO!

Ingredients:

16 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I bought 4 Ghirardelli 4oz bittersweet chocolate baking bars)
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
4 eggs
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (that ooey gooey center)

Directions:

1. Chop up 16 ounces bittersweet chocolate. Put butter and chopped chocolate into a heat proof bowl and double broil over simmering water. If you don't have a double broiler--I use a large soup pot and fill with about 2 inches of water. I let it come to a simmer. I put the ingredients that need to melt in a smaller pot (or any heat proof bowl). I hold the smaller bowl/pot over the simmering water and stir ingredients until completely incorporated and mixture is smooth. Put melted chocolate mixture to the side and allow it to come to room temperature. 
2. Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper (wait until chocolate mixture is cooled)
3. Whisk together eggs, vanilla, and sugar in a medium size mixing bowl.
4. In a small mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.
5. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the eggs, vanilla, and sugar mixture. Stir well to combine. 
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients, FOLDING them into the batter. 
7. Once the flour mixture is incorporated, add the chocolate chunks.
8. I have a large cookie scoop, so I filled the scoop about 3/4 full for each cookie. Cookies will spread just a little, so make sure you don't place them too close together on the prepared sheets. 
9. Bake for 10-11 minutes or until firm on the outside. DON'T over bake. Cool on baking sheets or transfer to wire cooling racks after a few minutes if you need to reuse baking sheets. 

Yield: about 28 ooey gooey brownie cookies 

**TIP- do NOT put batter into fridge in between batches. My second batch of cookies came out a little lumpy... husband says they still taste just as good, but aren't as nice looking as the first batch. 

Cookie on the right is from the first batch, and the cookie on the left is from the second batch (cooled batter). It also took about a minute longer to bake the second batch.