These easy chocolate Brownie Cookies are rich, fudgy, decadent, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. They are made with dark chocolate as well as cocoa powder for that intense chocolate flavor that is signature to these brookies.
This post was sponsored by Dark Horse Wine. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
If you love brownies, you most definitely will love this brownie in a cookie form. These cookies are super chocolaty, soft and fudgy in the center, with slightly crispy edges, and a slightly chewy texture.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- These cookies have a very intense chocolate flavor that is expected of a dark chocolate dessert.
- They are super rich, fudgy and decadent.
- They have the signature brownie crackly top.
- This is one cookie recipe where I will tell you: No need to chill the dough!
- This recipe is actually really easy to make. Aside from waiting for the melted butter and chocolate mixture to cool, the dough is super quick to come together and also quick to bake.
Ingredients and Substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips for each ingredient:
- Butter – I used unsalted butter but you can use salted butter in a pinch. However, if using salted butter, you will need to omit the salt called for separately in the recipe.
- Sugar – both light brown sugar and granulated sugar are used in this recipe.
- Egg – you’ll need 2 large eggs for these brookies.
- Vanilla – just a splash of pure vanilla extract is needed to enhance the chocolate flavor.
- Flour – simple all-purpose flour will work for this recipe.
- Salt – I use kosher salt, if you’re using table salt, only use about two thirds as much. (Omit if using salted butter)
- Baking powder – only baking powder is used as a leavening agent in this recipe.
- Cocoa powder – I used Dutch-processed cocoa powder along with chocolate chips for a double dose of chocolate flavor.
- Chocolate – dark chocolate is best for this recipe, the higher the cocoa content, the more intense the chocolate flavor. I don’t recommend anything with less than 60% cocoa (like semisweet chocolate chips) as I think it will make the cookies too sweet. I think 70% cocoa is the sweet spot for this recipe. But you can use a mixture of chocolate from 60% to 74% cocoa depending on what you have on hand. Also, any type of chocolate will work, whether it’s chips, wafers or bars.
How to make brownie cookies
The following instructions, step by step photos and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
First, melt the chocolate and butter by adding cubed butter along with the dark chocolate to a heat-proof bowl, place the bowl over a pot of simmering water to make a double boiler. Stir to melt the ingredients and set aside to cool down.
Next, beat the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer or with an electric mixer until creamy, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla and the cooled melted chocolate/butter mixture; beat for about a minute to combine.
In the meantime, sift flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder into a small mixing bowl. Add the salt and mix with a whisk to distribute evenly. Slowly add the dry ingredients while the mixer is stirring on the lowest speed; mix until just combined.
The final batter is thick but still a bit runny, more like a brownie batter; not doughy like a typical cookie dough. Use a spatula to scrape down the whisk attachment, the side, and the bottom of the bowl. Give it a final stir to make sure everything is combined evenly.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and use a 3-tablespoon size cookie scoop to portion the batter. Scoop and level with a spatula, and drop it on the prepared baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Bake at 350°F for 11 minutes.
The testing process
I retested this brownie cookie recipe recently. The cookies turned out just as delicious as I remembered.
I don’t remember how long I let the melted butter and chocolate mixture cool previously, but this time I let it sit for about an hour while I was doing other chores. It was still runny but definitely has thickened up a bit. When I beat this mixture into the eggs, it turned a lighter brown and was thicker than the process photo shows. The final cookie dough was also not as runny but definitely still a wet cookie dough.
So when you make this recipe, depending on how long you let your butter and chocolate mixture cool, you may see slightly different color and texture during each stage of the process as compared to the process photos in this post.
I also used a different mixture of chocolate, different brands of chocolate each time I made this recipe. This could also play a role in the texture of the cookie dough. However, the final product was always consistent no matter what brand or type of chocolate I used.
Baker’s Tips
- Use a cookie scoop – because the dough (or batter) for these brownie cookies is quite soft, it is best to use a cookie scoop to evenly divide it. I used a 1.5 oz (or 3 tablespoon) scoop in this recipe. This will also help create uniform cookies and help them stay perfectly round when baked.
- Don’t chill the cookie dough – for once, you actually don’t want to chill this cookie dough to allow them to spread in the oven.
- Don’t mess with the top of the cookie dough – once you drop the dough on the baking sheet, don’t mess with the top for the perfect crackly surface.
- Ensure you don’t over bake these brookies. Just like with brownies, over baking will dry them out. I only bake these cookies for 11 minutes, when they come out of the oven, you should be able to see the middle of the cookie still slightly underbaked under all the crinkles. They will finish baking from the residual heat.
- For even deeper chocolate flavor add instant espresso powder to the cookie dough, ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon will do.
Variations
While these cookies are amazing just the way they are, in their pure chocolaty form. If you’re looking to add a little extra excitement, you could try adding mix-ins to the cookie dough for some delicious variations:
- Fold in additional chocolate chips for extra chocolaty goodness.
- Fold in peanut butter chips for the best combo of chocolate and peanut butter, much like these chocolate peanut butter chip cookies.
- Fold in some roasted chopped nuts, walnuts and pecans will work great.
Storage
Room temperature: store these brownie cookies in an airtight container for 3 to 5 days.
Freezer: you can also freeze these brookies for up to 3 months, thaw at room temperature for a few hours before serving. You could pop them in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften and warm them up, they will taste like freshly baked.
FAQs
While it is not necessary to chill this cookie dough, if you want to make ahead, you can keep this brownie cookie dough refrigerated. However, I recommend scooping the dough first and refrigerating the dough balls because the dough will harden and become difficult to scoop if you don’t portion it right away after mixing. Note that cold cookie dough won’t spread as much, so you could allow the dough to come back to room temperature before baking.
You certainly can, but make sure to reduce baking time so you don’t over bake the small cookies. However, I think the 3-tablespoon size cookies are perfect, not too big, not too small.
Sure! You can easily double this recipe and make a big batch of 32 brookies.
Since the recipe uses 2 eggs, it would be very easy to halve all the ingredients to make a small batch of just 8 brownie cookies.
More delicious chocolate recipes
- French Silk Pie
- Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
- Chocolate Mochi Brownies
- Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Olive Oil Chocolate Cake
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📖 Recipe card
Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 oz dark chocolate (~70% cocoa, 1 cup, 170 g)
- 4 oz unsalted butter (cubed, 1 stick, 113 g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 g)
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (135 g)
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder (dutch-processed, 13 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Add butter along with the dark chocolate to a heat-proof bowl, place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir to melt the butter and chocolate. Set aside to cool down.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add eggs and sugar. Stir to combine, then increase the mixer to medium speed and beat for 4-5 minutes until creamy.
- In the meantime, sift flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder into a small mixing bowl. Add the salt and mix with a whisk to distribute evenly. Set aside.
- Once the egg mixture is done mixing, add vanilla and the cooled melted chocolate/butter mixture; beat for about a minute to combine. Reduce the mixer speed to stir and slowly add the dry ingredients set aside earlier; mix until just combined.
- The final batter is thick but still a bit runny, more like a brownie batter; not doughy like a typical cookie dough. Use a spatula to scrape down the whisk attachment, the side, and the bottom of the bowl. Give it a final stir to make sure everything is combined evenly.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and use a 1.5 oz cookie scoop to portion the batter. Scoop and level with a spatula, and drop it on the prepared baking sheet at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 11 minutes, remove from the oven, and let the baking sheet rest on a wire rack for 5 – 10 minutes before removing the cookies to the wire rack to cool completely.
- Repeat with the rest of the batter, only baking one tray at a time.
Notes
- Use dark chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content or higher, anything lower will make the cookies too sweet, 70% is recommended.
- You can use chocolate chips, wafers, bars, whatever you prefer.
- You do not need to chill this cookie dough.
- Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough to create uniform cookies and help them stay perfectly round when baked.
- Once you drop the dough on the baking sheet, don’t mess with the top for the perfect crackly surface.
- For even deeper chocolate flavor, add instant espresso powder to the cookie dough, ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon will do.
Nutrition
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hello! can these be frozen? thanks!
Yes, you can bake them and freeze them up to 3 months.
Tasted awesome yet came out flat. What might have happened, I followed recipe completely?
Hi Elizabeth, I don’t know for sure but it could be the baking powder? Is your baking powder old? Or maybe you didn’t beat enough air into the egg mixture. Was it completely flat like paper? If you look at the photos, these cookies aren’t super super thick, they do flatten as they bake in the oven.
Well guess what I discovered, totally my bad. I bought a can of baking soda from Trader Joes which I thought would be great for keeping it fresher than boxed. At time of purchase it did occur to me that I would have to be mindful because the baking powder and baking soda cans looked alike. Well I guess mindfulness went out the window, it appears I used baking soda and not powder in this recipe, yup thats why they came out flat! I will have to try again.
I’m glad you discovered the reason! 🙂
Does the egg and suger mixture need to reach the ribbon stage???
Hey Sarah! It will be thick and creamy but not quite ribbon stage.
Hi Trang,
I just made the cookies with some minor tweaking.
I added 1/2 t of expresso powder, increased the cocoa powder to 3 T , added 1 cup of chopped pecans.
I also used the smaller one tablespoon size cookie scoop and left the temperature at 350 for my convection oven.
They turned out fantastic!
Thank you!
Lynn
Thanks for the feedback Lynn! I bet the espresso powder is amazing, and the pecans, can never go wrong with chocolate and pecans.
Do you use a lower temp for a convection oven?
Yes try 25 degrees lower for convection oven.
I do love a brownie and a cookie and a cab sav so this combination is absolutely perfect for me. Yum!