Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Once you taste these chocolate brownie cookies, you will immediately fall in love with them! Soft, rich and fudgy texture with crinkly and shiny tops sprinkled with some sea salt flakes, they are impossible to resist!

The cookies come together in less than 30 minutes, with no chilling time required, making this hybrid of the brownie and cookie super-easy and simple to prepare. Follow my tips and suggestions for a perfect brownie cookies every time!

If you are unfamiliar with brownie cookies, let me bring you up to speed. In simplest terms, brownie cookie, or 'brookie' (as they are sometimes called) is a cross of brownie and a cookie. They have all of the characteristics of chocolate brownie, but shaped into a cookie.

They're really easy and quick to make, and the best part is that unlike most of the cookies, they don't require any chilling time! The hardest part is waiting for them to cool down.

If you prefer more traditional brownies, make sure to check out my Easy Homemade Brownies recipe or my popular Chocolate Cherry Brownies. In fact, I have the whole category dedicated to bars and brownies recipes, where everyone will find something delicious to suit their needs.

Jump to:

• Ingredients and substitutions
• Instructions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage and freezing
• FAQ's
• Top tip
• 📖 Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients and substitutions

To make this brownie cookie recipe you will need:

• Chocolate - I prefer to use the dark chocolate bar, with minimum 70% cocoa solids. It gives these cookies rich and deep chocolate flavour, which other chocolates may not deliver. You could also use milk chocolate, but the texture and flavour will be just slightly different. Chocolate can also be replaced by chocolate chips ( sweet chocolate chips or semi sweet chocolate chips) or chocolate discs.
• Butter - Use salted or unsalted butter. Cut the butter into small cubes, as this will warm it up quicker and speed up the melting process.
• Sugar - We are using two different types of sugar here: white caster (or granulated) and soft light brown sugar. White sugar will add more sweetness, while the brown sugar will also enhance the flavour with buttery, caramel-like notes.
• Eggs - 2 whole large eggs are required in this recipe. For my US and Australia based readers, you will use 2 extra large eggs.
• Flour - Only a small amount of plain / all-purpose flour. You can also use self-raising flour here. If you do, omit the baking powder and salt from the dry ingredients, as the self-raising flour already has both of them added.
• Cocoa powder - Use the best quality cocoa powder you can get, it really makes a huge difference in the taste and appearance of these chocolate cookies! I always use the Green & Blacks organic cocoa powder. Make sure to use unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch processed).
• Sea salt - Optional, but highly recommended ingredient. A pinch of flaky sea salt on top of the cookies balances out the sweetness and adds an extra crunch.

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the recipe card and full list of the ingredients.

Instructions

Watch the video in the recipe card to see how I made this cake.

This simple recipe comes together in no more than 15 minutes, but it requires you to prepare few things in advance.

Hint: Before you start, make sure you have all of your ingredients measured/ weighted, and line your baking trays with baking paper. Timing is very important to get the texture of these cookies just right, so stick to it!

Start by mixing the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and set them aside. Use a heatproof bowl to place over a pan of gently simmering water to melt your butter and chocolate. Stir it every now and then, allow both to melt completely and set aside, while you whip the eggs and sugars together.

Beat the eggs with sugar for 5 minutes exactly. You want to create, light, fluffy and shiny mixture, this is what will give your cookies that beautiful, shiny top. Once it's ready, pour in the melted butter and chocolate and combine together again, for about a minute. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

The batter should be quite wet, but thick and fudgy. Scoop the cookie dough right above prepared baking sheets and leave plenty of space between each cookie. They will puff-up and spread out quite a bit as they bake. Adding flaked sea salt on top of them is optional, but I highly recommend it, because it just balances out the sweetness of the chocolate sooo well!

Variations

• Double or triple chocolate brownie cookies - Why not try adding a handful of chocolate chips to the cookie batter, turning them into double chocolate brownie cookies? You can use dark, milk or white chocolate chips, or a mix of all!
• Sandwich cookie - Whip some cream and pipe it on top of the back of one cookie, then grab another cookie and sandwich together. YUM!
• Add chopped fruit or nuts - You can experiment with adding small amounts of finely chopped fruit to your cookies, like cherries (just like in my Chocolate Cherry Brownies), strawberries or raspberries. You can also add chopped nuts. Hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans will work really well here (like they do in my Tahini Brownies recipe).

• Espresso powder - Adding a pinch or two of an espresso powder / fine coffee granules greatly enhances and intensifies the chocolate flavour. Don't worry, you won't taste the coffee in your bake, I promise!
• Peanut butter - Try stirring few tablespoons of peanut butter into the cookie batter (3-4 Tbsp). It will add more delicious flavour and texture to your brookies.
• Vegan Chocolate brownie cookies - For a vegan version of these cookies, check out this recipe for Fudgy Vegan Chocolate Brownie Cookies from The Loopy Whisk blog.

Equipment

• Handheld electric mixer or freestanding mixer with balloon whisk (but it is possible to make this recipe by hand, with kitchen whisk instead).
• Baking sheets / baking trays - You will need a couple of them, as these cookies are quite big (I normally fit 5 cookies per tray).
• Baking paper / parchment paper - To line the trays with. You can also use the silicone baking mat instead.
• Cookie scoop - This kitchen gadget comes really handy here. It helps to achieve the same size of cookies, and makes the whole batter distribution much easier. An ice cream scoop will also work, but it needs to be one with the spring mechanism, to release the batter easily into the baking tray. If you don't have one of those, use a tablespoon as a measure (2 tablespoon per cookie).

Storage and freezing

Once baked, store the cookies in the airtight container for up to 4 days. They will keep well at room temperature, and should stay soft and fudgy.

Chocolate brownie cookies are also suitable for freezing for up to three months. Allow the cookies to cool completely, then freeze them flat on the baking tray, until they are frozen. Transfer to the freezer-friendly container. Thaw in the fridge overnight, or at room temperature.

FAQ's

Why are my brownie cookies flat?

These cookies will puff up a little while they are baking in the oven, and will flatten a bit while they are cooling. Using a cookie or an ice cream scoop will help to produce a thicker cookie. If you don't have one, use a tablespoon measure, scooping about 2 tablespoon of batter per cookie. If you use less batter, the cookies will come out flatter (still delicious!).

My cookies are cakey, why is that?

You have overbaked them. Make sure to stick to the baking times from the recipe, they only need 12 minutes in the oven. Remember that the cookies will continue to cook after they have been removed from the oven.

The top of my cookies is not as shiny as yours, why is that?

You probably didn't whip the eggs and sugars for long enough. Make sure to whip them for 5 minutes, until the mixture is light, fluffy and almost double in volume. You want to whip as much air as possible into that mixture.

Also, once you have mixed all of the ingredients together, bake the cookies straight away. Do not let the batter sit for longer than it has to. If you leave the batter to rest, it will harden and become grainy, resulting in the cookies loosing their shiny top and crinkled appearance.

Top tip

Stick to the time recommendations from the recipe. Eggs and sugar have to be mixed for long enough to whip enough air into them. This is what will help to achieve that shiny, crackly top. Once all of the ingredients have been mixed, scoop the cookie batter onto the trays and bake straight away. If you allow the batter to sit for too long, the cookies will loose their crinkled appearance and their shine.

Allow the cookies to cool after baking. They will be too soft too handle, if you try to eat them straight away. Cooling them for at least 20 minutes will allow them to firm up and set.

To pin this recipe and save it for later, use the button on the recipe card, or on any of the photos above.

If you try this recipe, or any other recipe on Anna Banana, please take a moment to rate the recipe and/ or leave me a comment. I love hearing from you , but it also helps the other readers who are thinking of making the recipe.

📖 Recipe

This post was originally published in January 2021. It has been updated with new photos, revised recipe and tips in May 2022.