Better-than-Brownies Chocolate Cookies
Better-Than-Brownies Chocolate Cookies are a chocolate-lover’s dream! Dense and fudgy, just like a brownie, with the portability of a cookie! They’re quick to make and are a great addition to any bake sale, party, or holiday cookie tray.
The title essentially says it all. Well, sort of. Having trouble deciding between making cookies or making brownies? Your problem is now solved – bake up these beauties and you get the best of both worlds.
I tried to determine if I really think these cookies are better than brownies. That, of course, required serious research. Research, in this case, would be defined as taste testing. And the result is – I just can’t choose. These are basically brownies in cookie form – they are rich, dense and fudgy, and they even have that characteristic shiny, crackly top that brownies are know for.
If you’re craving something super chocolately or even brownies, but you HAVE to make cookies (maybe it’s a picnic or party or cookie table or holiday cookie tray), then these are your do-not-pass-go, do-not-collect-$200 answer.
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To be totally honest, these are not for the faint of heart, and if you are only a fair-weather chocolate fan, these will either fully convert you or may be too much for you. My husband (who usually thinks I put too many chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies) declared these “too chocolatey”. Since I am an all-chocolate-all-the-time chocolate fan, it goes without saying that these cookies razzled and dazzled me to the point of wanting to hide them from others. I didn’t really hide them, but I was tempted. Actually, it wouldn’t hurt to stash a few of these in the freezer for when chocolate hunger pangs strike.
I have a number of other chocolate cookies on the site, but these are, by far, the richest, densest and most like a brownie that you’ll find. I hope all of my fellow chocolate lovers enjoy these!
One year ago: Baking Basics: Vanilla Beans 101
Five years ago: Pretzel Dogs
Six years ago: Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread
Nine years ago: Cheddar Ale Spread
Better-Than-Brownies Cookies
Ingredients
- 16 ounces (453.59 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 eggs
- 1⅓ cups (266.67 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (62.5 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking powder
- 1 cup (180 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- In the meantime, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.
- Add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until completely combined. Add the flour mixture in three batches, folding it gently into the batter with a spatula. Once all of the flour is incorporated, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop 1½ tablespoons of dough (or use a medium cookie scoop) onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm on the outside. Like brownies, do not over bake! Leave to cool completely on the baking sheets, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. These can also be frozen for up to two months.
Notes
- I use Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate for these cookies. It's not SUPER bittersweet, but I think you could use semisweet chocolate if you prefer.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This recipe was originally published on July 22, 2009.
Drat! Reading these comments as the brownie/cookies (or pancakes as they seem to be) went into the oven. I am in a hot climate – maybe that made a difference?
The batter did seem way too runny, lucky i had a little leftover so will add more flour. Either way, they are TASTY!
Thanks
Michelle- I’ve got these in the over as I type and they smell wonderful. The batter was thinner than I thought it might be, but duh, not much flour in there. I poked my head in the oven (well, kind of) & all seems to be going well! Starting to look just like yours. My honey who is outside and has been all day wood working will be thrilled when he walks in the house to these! Thanks so much!!
D
That was to be oven, but I’m sure you got that ;)
i followed this exact recipe, and they were delicious! However…they were paper-thin and a DISASTER to get off the parchment paper! I am never making these again!
I am just finishing up my last batch of these, and I have to agree with everyone who said “Cool the chocolate before adding it!” – I did, and the batter turned out to be just slightly stiffer than regular brownie batter, but the cookies didn’t spread too much and turned out perfectly. I wound up putting the chocolate/butter in the fridge for about 7 minutes before adding it to the eggs, and it was still perfect.
Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
Hi Carrie, Thanks so much for stopping back to share your experience with these cookies. I’m so happy to hear you loved them, and thank you for sharing your tips!
I just made these and they were super runny an wafer thin as well. Taste good but I wanted to give them to someone but had to scratch that idea because they were so ugly lol! I baked 6 or so of them as a test and when that didn’t work out put the batter in the fridge to harden up a bit (1 hour or so) and that didn’t help at all, as soon as they were in tw oven they flattened out again. The rest of the batter is in a brownie tin so hopefully they work out ok!
I made these incredible cookies last night with great success! After I first mixed the batter it was incredibly runny as some of the other comments here have mentioned. After reading the comments I was very unsure of how to proceed, so I just walked away from it and left my batter sitting on the counter for about 1/2 hr/45 min or so. When I came back to it, it had thickened up perfectly and baked exactly as they were supposed to. Michelle, I think you were right about the chocolate mixture being too warm. It needs to cool first! Thank you for such an excellent recipe!
You are welcome Amy, I am so happy to hear you had success! Thank you for sharing!
I made these exactly as described and the batter was too runny to form a cookie shape. I added more flour which worked, but the taste wasn’t so great. What was the consistency of your batter? Was it cookie-scoopable or more pancake batter-like?
Hi Kristin, My cookies were definitely scoopable. Was your butter/chocolate mixture still hot? If so, that could have caused the batter to thin out. If you want to give them another shot, let the chocolate/butter mixture cool to room temperature before adding it to the batter.
I. Can’t. Stop. First, your Chewy Brownies, now these cookies…too much chocolate amazingness to handle. Unfortunately (for my thighs), the Boy requested I make him ice cream sandwiches for his bday and this is the cookie recipe I used. Paired with Ben and Jerry’s Mint Chocolate Cookie ice cream, these were heaven! The pictures are horrendous, but I’ll link to it anyway. Thanks again!!
http://bakingwithbuttermilk.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream-sandwiches-and-a-bwb-birthday/
So glad you loved these Caroline, thank you for sharing your post!
I made these this weekend and they looked exactly like your pictures! I was very excited that they turned out. They were a little too bitter for my taste. Do you think that using semi-sweet chocolate bars would work just as well?
Hi Tanya, If you found them a little too bitter, you can definitely sub semisweet chocolate for the bittersweet. Glad you loved them as much as I did!
Okay, I tried the recipe but I used chocolate chips (Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate chunks to be exact). It’s not the flour although it is indeed better to measure that by weight rather than volume….but, it’s the chocolate. The chocolate chips just set up (upon cooling) better than some of the bars. The one thing I forgot is to decrease the sugar a bit as semi-sweet has more than the chocolate specified in the recipe, but the recipe worked anyway, just a bit on the sweet side. I waited about 20 min. or so after the dough was mixed to let it set up and it did so beautifully.
Michelle, I’d love to know which kind of chocolate you used because yours was evidently one of the bar-types that sets up well, I’d like to try and duplicate your effort!
Hi again Angela! I use Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet chocolate baking bars (they come in 4 oz bars).
Dear Michelle,
first of all, I would like to thank you for sharing your recipes and experience with us on your blog. However, there are a few things I would like to indicate.
My friend and I have just finished baking your cookies, or so we thought they ought to be! I will not say they are not utterly delicious, but they look horrific ! We have a dinner tomorrow, and this is a complete if not utter disaster!!
I do not know what went wrong, for we followed your instruction to the tee.
The outcome was more of a sheet of chocolate instead of cookies! Please give us your feedback, for it will be much appreciated.
Thanks again for your time and effort.
your,
S.
Hi S, I suspect that the batter might need to be chilled if it didn’t firm up enough sitting at room temperature.
This is a great blog with beautiful photos, I’m really enjoying it!
I have two comments on this recipe. I’m an experienced baker. I haven’t tried this particular one yet but have tried others much like it. The ones that didn’t yield a runny batter were the ones that had the eggs beaten to ribbon stage with the sugar, then combined with the other ingredient. The ones that did yield a runny, thin batter that baked up into chocolate pancakes ! rather than cookies were ones like this one. What I’m curious about is #1) What brands of flour were used for the successful results above, and what brands used for the unsuccessful ones. All-purpose flours vary quite a bit from region to region, in terms of how much gluten and how much starch they contain (“harder” vs. “softer” flours, etc.) I’m wondering if a starchier flour might work better with this recipe.
Regarding weight measurements rather than volume, I agree, weight is much more reliable – however the above recipe didn’t provide weights so there’s no way we could’ve used weight measurements. Michelle, do you have the weights? If so I’d love to have them.
Thanks so much for such a beautiful blog, and also for any responses that may shed some light on my theories….
Hi Angela, Thank you for the kind words on my site, much appreciated! As for your question – I use King Arthur Flour unbleached all-purpose flour for all recipes calling for all-purpose flour. According to Cook’s Illustrated, that particular flour has an 11.7% protein content.
As far as the weights go – I use a scale (the Escali Pana) that has weight measurements but also volume to weight conversions. If you don’t have a scale with volume conversions, this chart is super helpful:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes2008/master-weight-chart.html
LOVE the idea of these….tried them….got the same runny result. Came out of the oven nicely, but a little flat. They taste marvelous…..but don’t look like yours. Can you offer a bit of advice? Mine are pancake flat, and are even lighter in color. They have the sheen, but not the crackle.
THANKS :)
I have been wanting to make these since you posted them! Why did I wait? These are incredible! I want to add coffee to them – any suggestions on how to do that?
thanks,
Gretta
Hi,
These cookies look sooo good! I love chocolate and cookies that go nice with a glass on milk. Thanks for sharing the recipe ;)
Angie
Hi Not to be a drag but would it be possible to substitute cocoa somehow or at least in part to cut the cost of these brownie cookies? I need to make them on a larger scale to use for ice cream sandwiches…….. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
I was wondering the same thing! I thought I’d take a stab at it and made them substituting plain ol’ unsweetened cocoa powder and vegetable oil for the bittersweet chocolate (3 tablespoons cocoa powder + 1 tablespoon oil = 1 oz. bittersweet chocolate), then mix that with the 4 tablespoons butter (I just melted it slightly and mixed into the cocoa mixture). They turned out great, just like the pictures! And boy are they fudge-y! I think this way might also eliminate the liquid-y issue some are having since it’s never very warm to begin with. Mine were very easy to scoop. Thanks for the great recipe, Michelle!
My goodness, do these ever look good! My suggestion for the next group of recipes would be summer vegetables – tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, etc. My garden will be exploding soon and I need as many recipes as I can get my hands on.
These cookies look amazing!
Oh no, brownies and cookies in one! I will be hooked for life!
I just made these cookies and they are sooo awesome! I am thinking of sandwiching vanilla ice cream between two cookies and serving them to friends at one of our casual dinners.
I just made these. While mixing the batter, I wondered if the 1/2 C flour was a mistake, as the batter seemed too runny to do anything but spread all over the cookie sheets, so I read all the comments to the post to see if there was a correction somewhere. After making sure that 1/2 C flour was indeed the correct amount, I decided to go ahead and try to scoop the batter and make cookies, rather than pouring it into a pan for brownies. It was certainly more runny than any cookie batter I’ve ever made, but to my surprise (and delight) the cookies did retain their shape in the oven. I got that beautiful crackly surface that looks so appetizing in your photos, although, like others who have commented here, my cookies came out wafer thin (5/16 of an inch thick, to be exact). However, they taste amazing, and as another person said, they would make superb ice cream sandwiches.
My daughter is making these now. She had no problem with the consistency, they were easily scooped with a cookie dough scoop but the first batch stayed in a ball shape, so the next batch she flattened a bit. I like the taste but they are not sweet enough for my daughter and they definitely didn’t come out as pretty as yours did. Also could probably use salt. Thanks!
Made these just now, they flattened out for me too! I even tried chilling the dough wondering if the warm chocolate is making it not set up. Also tried adding a little more flour after the first batch. They’re good, they just spread out a bit too much for me, not poofy like the ones in your pic! Thx for sharing it though!
OH MY…these look so good!
Love chocolate. Love brownies. Love cookies – these look to die for!!
I think I could eat the entire plate!
My batter was runny too, but these ended up making some delicious (and gooey) brownies! I’ll try measuring the ingredients by weight next time. Thanks.
The butter to chocolate seems a bit strange; usually it’s a tablespoon of butter for every two ounces of chocolate. How did yours not seize up?
I’ve been saving this recipe for months and finally tried it last night. I used the Ghirardelli bittersweet 60% cacao and Nestle semi-sweet mini chips. The cookies are very delicious, but the batter was very thin and the cookies turned out wafer thin for me also. Although I did get the beautiful crackle like your photos. I may try adding more flour next time (or weighing ingredients – never tried that before!) With the remainder of the current batch, I’m thinking they will make perfect ice cream sandwiches – I think they will turn out terrific! Love your blog!
I tried these… and they came out a bit sticky. I thought they just weren’t done, so I put them back in the oven for about 4 minutes, and they were stick super sticky when I took them out. What could I do to prevent this next time? Besides being sticky (they wouldn’t even remain their cookie shape!) they were delicious. I needed a lot of milk – yummm!
I’m trying the homemade oreos next, woo hoo!
I had to repost about these cookies. Hubby and I tried these cookies BEFORE breakfast this morning and WOW! they taste AWESOME! They definately need to rest a bit after comming out of the oven. Not sure if I would change the type of chocolate now cause I really liked them this morning!