Yum
Sometimes, when I’m having a chocolate craving, I sit there and think to myself, “I’d love to have a chocolate chip cookie.” Other times, I think, “I’d just adore a gooey, fudgy brownie.”
I think that some stressed out Mom at some point, with her kids arguing whether they’d rather have cookies or brownies, shouted out, “Whatever– we will make BROOKIES!!!!” And she slammed them both together, made her kids happy, and devoured one, warm from the oven, and found her chocolate bliss. The end.
haha. Well, I don’t know how they got started, but “brookies” are the perfect cookie to make when you want something a little different– something pretty and also delicious. And if you don’t tell anyone how easy they are to make, I’ll never tell your secret, either. 😉
What are we waiting for? Let’s do this!
Brookies
(Adapted from basic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe)
Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup melted semi sweet chocolate chips
1 (12 oz) bag semi sweet chocolate chips (separate from melted chocolate, above)
Directions:
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Gradually add in dry ingredients. Remove half of batter and stir in melted chocolate. Stir in bag of chocolate chips by hand, splitting between the two batters. Use a cookie scoop
Now, in pictures! 🙂
So you’ve come to me, this blog NAMED after cookies, to learn the secrets of the cookie universe, eh? Well, seeker of the truth . . . I have said it before, and I’ll say it again:
Cold Ingredients are the Enemy of Good Cookies.
Whenever you are making any kind of cookie, get your butter and eggs out of the fridge and let them sit on the counter for about 1/2 hour before you’re ready to start making the aforementioned cookies. You know how when you’re shivering and huddled in your coat, you can’t really enjoy a get together? All you can think about is how uncomfortable you are? Cookies are the same way. They will be much “friendlier” when the ingredients are room temperature. 😉 Start out by creaming together your butter and sugars. I whip these babies on high speed for about a minute, until they are light and fluffy.
Here Fluffy! Here kitty kitty kitty! Oh. Sorry. I misunderstood. Moving on.
Next, mix in your egg and vanilla. I like to stop the mixer halfway through whirling this mixture and scrape down the bowl with a wooden spoon. Then mix again. This just makes sure that our batter plays nicely and plays with all the other elements. No one is left out. 😉
Add in your baking soda and salt, and mix again. Then add your flour, and mix slowly until combined. NOW take half of your batter out of the bowl and put it into a separate bowl. In the batter still in the mixing bowl, gently stir in your 3/4 cup melted chocolate chips (just melt these in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each time, just until melted). Whirl the mixer until you have chocolate batter. Voila. You now have 2 separate batters, with the work of one. You are so smart. I love working with you.
Now, for the fun part– adding in MORE chocolate. Yes, please. I’ll never argue with those instructions. 😉 Divide your bag of chocolate chips in between the two separate batters and stir just until combined.
Now, this part is really cool. In a traditional Brookie, you have to kind of smoosh 2 balls of separate dough together, then roll in your hands. Not only is this a pain, but it’s super messy. You end up scraping perfectly good cookie dough (read: baby cookies that have not yet been realized!!!) into the trash to clean off your hands. Then you goop up your sink trying to wash your hands. No wonder when you give a mouse a cookie all the other stuff happens. Messy!
Well, your messy cookie making woes are over. Meet one of my favorite cookie making tools: the cookie scoop
Next, bake your cookies at 350 for 12 minutes, until they are *just* starting to get a little golden brown around the edges. Well, don’t ACTUALLY flip your trays. That would be cookie murder. And that would be wrong. But flip your trays (switch top to bottom and turn back to front).
Another note. I had to ruin many batches of cookies (hides eyes in shame) before I realized a secret. My oven was lying to me. My cookies, which had been spreading thinner than a Mom without coffee trying to complete her daily tasks, cried for a 350 degree oven, and my oven was only 320 degrees, They melted falt as a pancake, begging for heat. They wanted a toasty Florida beach, and I gave them New England winter for vacation. Anyone would be mad.
But all that’s over now. I bought a cheapie oven thermometer
When your cookies have spent another 4 minutes or so in the oven after rotating, they should be golden on the edges, but not overly brown on top. Pull them out of the oven, and press a few chocolate chips into the tops while the cookies are still hot. And then LET THEM BE. Seriously. Don’t move them to a cooling rack right away, or they will smoosh sideways and not be the pretty little things we want. Let them sit on their cookie sheets for 2-3 minutes. THEN you can carefully use a pancake turner to move them to a cooling rack. The bottoms will be golden brown and a little shiny. The tops will be *just* brown, but definitely not overbaked. The sides will have a hint of crunch, and the centers will be ooey gooey and OOOHHHH so delicious. Those perfectly placed chips on top are just window dressing. 😉
Who says that making cookies and brownies together can’t be both delicious AND easy?
You did it. And I’m just so proud of you.
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