chocolate brownie cookies
If you love brownies and cookies, then you’ll love this hybrid cookie that’s crisp and soft in the right spots. This recipe is based on one I found in Food and Wine magazine by Chef Belinda Leong and fell in love with ever since I first baked them. I’ve tweaked it slightly over time; swap the butter out with ghee, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the chocolate’s depth. Salted toasted pistachios add a supreme level of crunchiness to these brownie cookies.
- Yield: about 18 cookies
Ingredients
1/2 lb/230 g semisweet chocolate (60% cacao), chips or chopped
2 Tbsp melted ghee or unsalted butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup/150 g sugar
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 cup/35 g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
6 oz/ 170 g semisweet chocolate (60% cacao), chips or chopped
1/2 cup/70 g salted toasted pistachios, lightly crushed
Instructions
- Prepare a water bath to melt the chocolate. Set a medium mixing bowl, preferably stainless steel, over a medium saucepan filled with water and heat over medium. The water should never touch the base of the bowl and should be barely simmering. Add the 1/2 lb/230 g of chocolate with the ghee and stir with a silicone spatula until completely melted, smooth, and silky. Remove from the water bath and let the chocolate sit until cool enough to handle, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar over medium speed until they turn thick and pale, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the salt, cooled melted chocolate, and whisk to combine over medium speed, about 1 minute.
- Dry whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl and add it to the batter. Whisk over low speed until there are no more visible flecks of flour, about 1 minute.
- Fold in the 6 oz/170 g chocolate chips and pistachios. Transfer the batter to a bowl. Cover with a lid or clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour. The batter will firm up.
- 10 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop 1 Tbsp of cookie batter and place it onto the baking sheet. Alternatively, you can also shape each Tbsp of the dough into round balls using your hands and place them on the sheet. Keep the cookie dough about 2 in/5 cm apart from each other. You should get about 18 cookies. Bake in batches for 10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The cookies won’t spread but will rise slightly, and the tops will crack. Remove from the oven, let the cookies cool on the sheet, and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before storing. Cookies can be stored for up to a week in an airtight container in the refrigerator or for up to 1 month in the freezer.
Notes
- I prefer 60% cacao here, but you can take the cookies on a darker or brighter path by using chocolate with different cacao percentages.
- A cookie scoop will make things easier with the batter.
