Cookie Dough Brownies
Today’s recipe is a hybrid of two of the most popular recipes on the blog! My favorite fudgy brownie recipe and edible cookie dough collide for one of the most decadent desserts yet: Cookie Dough Brownies. This recipe was originally published nearly 5 years ago and it was about time it received a refresh. The photos are new, a video has been added, and the recipe has been minimally tweaked to simplify and perfect things. Let’s get to it!
What You Need
Since most of these ingredients are fairly basic, I just wanted to touch on a few of them before we jump into making the brownies:
Chocolate. You need a variety of chocolate for this recipe! The brownie layer uses melted chocolate (you can use chocolate chips or a chocolate bar) and cocoa powder, the cookie dough layer uses chocolate chips (I recommend mini chips for best texture), and then additional chocolate is melted on top for the ganache topping. Instant coffee. This is an optional ingredient that goes into the brownie layer. While the cookie dough brownies won’t ultimately taste like coffee, this ingredient helps to enhance the chocolate flavor of the bars and I recommend using it! Sugar. Yes, this recipe uses a fair bit of sugar! Both granulated sugar and brown sugar go in both the brownie layer and the cookie dough layer. While many brownie recipes use granulated sugar only, I love the depth of flavor and added moisture brown sugar lends to the baked brownies. As for the cookie dough, without brown sugar we’d have a sugar cookie dough, and I was aiming for more of a chocolate chip cookie dough (so you need that molasses flavor from the brown sugar!). If you don’t have brown sugar on hand, don’t forget I have a tutorial on how to make brown sugar!Eggs. There are no eggs in the top cookie dough layer. You might notice the brownie layer, despite being based off of my existing brownie recipe, calls for only 2 eggs instead of the 2 eggs + 1 yolk that the original recipe calls for. Personally I felt that the extra richness of the cookie dough topping compensated for the chewiness that the extra egg yolk in the brownie batter usually adds, and with such a multi-step recipe I was looking to simplify as much as possible. Feel free to include the additional egg yolk or leave it out! Shortening. You’ll notice the chocolate topping is simply chocolate melted together with shortening. If you don’t have or prefer not to use shortening, you can just melt the chocolate (or make my chocolate ganache instead). I prefer to use the shortening because it makes a chocolate shell that melts in your mouth but hardens enough to handle without melting everywhere. It’s very similar to the chocolate coating on my Swiss roll. Note that plain chocolate will not cut or break as easily and, if not tempered properly, may ultimately harden with chalky white swirls (they are not harmful to eat!).Flour. All-purpose flour is best for this recipe.
Making the Brownie Layer
Begin by making the brownie layer! Note that you can substitute your favorite brownie recipe/box-mix.
Making the (Edible) Cookie Dough
The cookie dough brownies can be served like this, or you can melt together chocolate and shortening and spread this over the cookie dough before serving. This recipe was originally published August of 2016.
