Chocolate lovers, this recipe is for you! These brownie cookies are the perfect blend of a classic brownie and a chocolate cookie. They are wonderfully chewy, have a fudgy center, and the trademark shiny crinkle top of a brownie.
While the cookie dough couldn’t be easier to make with the help of a hand mixer, you do need to chill the dough for 30 minutes so the cookies don’t fall flat or spread too thin. To get the crackly shiny top you know and love on brownies, you’ll need to beat the eggs and sugar for a few minutes so enough air is incorporated. You can whisk by hand if needed, but an electric hand or stand mixer will produce the best results! If you’d like to try some other homemade cookie recipes, then try my easy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, Lofthouse cookies, and Monster Cookies.
What You Need to Make this Recipe
Bittersweet chocolate — don’t let the “bittersweet” part scare you. There is plenty of sweetness in these brownie cookies, and using dark chocolate adds unparalleled richness. Be sure to chop it up so it melts quicker and doesn’t burn.
Butter — use unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter on hand, reduce the amount of salt you use by ¼ teaspoon.
Sugar — you’ll need granulated sugar as well as light brown sugar for sweetness and subtle caramel notes in the cookies.
Eggs — it is so important to use room temperature eggs so they whip up nice and fluffy.
Cocoa powder — use natural unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch process cocoa powder.
Leavening — you need ½ teaspoon baking powder for leavening.
Chocolate chips — I like using semisweet chocolate chips so I don’t end up with cookies that are cloying rather than balanced. But if you are looking to add sweetness, use milk chocolate chips.
How to Make Brownie Cookies
1. Grab a medium microwave-safe bowl and add the butter and chopped chocolate. Microwave on high in 20-second intervals, and stir between each, until the chocolate and butter are melted. Depending on your microwave, this will take about 2 minutes.
2. To a large bowl, add granulated sugar, light brown sugar, and eggs and beat with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and frothy. You need to incorporate a lot of air into the egg mixture so the cookies don’t fall flat, so beat them for a few minutes!
3. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and beat until combined.
4. Add all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a spatula until mostly combined. At this point, the mixture will look very similar to brownie batter.
5. Add the chocolate chips and mix until the batter is well combined (make sure that all the flour is incorporated). Cover the bowl and chill the batter in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat your oven to 350°F. While the oven is heating, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the chilled dough into 2-tablespoon-sized balls (I like using a #40 scoop for this to make it easier and to ensure the cookies are uniform in size). Place the cookie dough balls on the prepared pans. Leave about 3 inches of room around each one so they have room to spread. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until they have spread and are shiny and cracked on top. Baking time will depend on your oven, so be sure to watch them from the 8-minute mark. Don’t be alarmed when they come out of the oven soft — that’s normal! They will firm up as they set. Allow the brownie cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheet.
Pro Tips for Making this Recipe
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer. The eggs need to be beaten for a long time (about 4 minutes) so enough air is incorporated to get perfectly crinkly brownie-esque tops. You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, then switch to the paddle when incorporating the flour. Keep in mind mixing by hand will not give you that same crackling effect, but will still produce a great cookie.
- Use room temperature eggs. Cold eggs will not whip up nice and frothy, which will affect how your batter turns out.
- Weigh the flour. Since fudgy, gooey cookies are the name of the game here, you don’t need much flour. Using too much flour will give you a dry cookie, which is the exact opposite of what you want! Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate flour measurement. If you don’t have one, fluff up your flour in its container before spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling it off with a knife.
- Chill the cookie batter. If you skip this step, the cookies won’t bake up properly and will turn out too thin and possibly burn on the edges. This is a very easy recipe that creates really delicious chocolate cookies, but time is an important ingredient!
- Add espresso powder. If you want a more intense chocolate flavor, add ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder along with the cocoa powder and flour. The cookies won’t taste like coffee, I promise!
- Use a scoop to measure the cookie dough. I scooped the dough in a very heaping ball using a #40 scoop. Bigger dough balls turned out the best in my tests for this brownie cookie recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
One of the main reasons for a flat brownie cookie is not chilling the cookie dough. It might seem like an unimportant step, but the cookies spread far too much if the dough is not chilled first. So instead of a perfectly chewy cookie with the right rise, it will be flat and too crispy.
I often make a batch of cookie dough and freeze half the dough for later, so whenever the mood for brownie cookies strikes, I am ready! To freeze cookie dough, portion out the dough into balls as though you are going to bake them. Chill the balls in the refrigerator for about an hour before transferring them to a freezer-safe container or freezer bag. The dough freezes well for about 3 months.
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Freeze brownie cookies in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 2 months. Thaw them at room temperature for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this brownie cookies recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Brownie Cookies
Video
Equipment
- Hand mixer
- Cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped (112g)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (56g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar (110g)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour (80g)
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (25g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (90g)
Instructions
- In a medium microwave-safe mixing bowl, combine the chocolate and butter. Microwave on high in 20-second intervals, stirring between each, until the chocolate and butter are melted, about 2 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugars and eggs on medium speed until light and frothy. Add the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir together with a spatula until mostly combined. Stir in chocolate chips and mix until the batter is well combined. Cover the bowl and chill the batter for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the chilled dough into 2-tablespoon-sized balls and place on the prepared pans about 3 inches apart.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies have spread and are shiny and cracked. (They will still be soft when hot and firm up as they cool.) Let cool completely on the pans.
Notes
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer. The eggs need to be beaten for a long time (about 4 minutes) so enough air is incorporated to get perfectly crinkly brownie-esque tops. You can use a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, then switch to the paddle when incorporating the flour. Keep in mind mixing by hand will not give you that same crackling effect, but will still produce a great cookie.
- Use room temperature eggs. Cold eggs will not whip up nice and frothy, which will affect how your batter turns out.
- Weigh the flour. Since fudgy, gooey cookies are the name of the game here, you don’t need much flour. Using too much flour will give you a dry cookie, which is the exact opposite of what you want! Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate flour measurement. If you don’t have one, fluff up your flour in its container before spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling it off with a knife.
- Chill the cookie batter. If you skip this step, the cookies won’t bake up properly and will turn out too thin and possibly burn on the edges. This is a very easy recipe that creates really delicious chocolate cookies, but time is an important ingredient!
- Add espresso powder. If you want a more intense chocolate flavor, add ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder along with the cocoa powder and flour. The cookies won’t taste like coffee, I promise!
- Use a scoop to measure the cookie dough. I scooped the dough in a very heaping ball using a #40 scoop. Bigger dough balls turned out the best in my tests for this brownie cookie recipe.
