We all know that homemade brownies are exceptionally rich. And when it comes to brownie cookies, these are the richest—trust me, I’ve done my research! They’re extra chewy with soft fudge-like centers and only require about 20 minutes of chill time before baking. For best results, use pure baking chocolate. See all of my success tips below.
Why make a brownie cookie when you can literally just have a… brownie? A very good question and I have a very good answer. A pan of traditional brownies has varying textures. You have slightly crisp and chewy edge brownies with softer, fudgier brownies in the center. When you bake brownies as cookies, you get both in 1. A super chewy and textured edge with that beloved fudge center.
So the real question is this:
Why make a brownie when you can have a brownie cookie?
One reader, Lily, commented: “I’m not exaggerating, every single time I make these, at least one or two people ask for the recipe. I’ve now been specifically requested to bring these to gatherings—they’re that insane! So fudgy and rich, the espresso makes them even more chocolatey, but they never feel heavy. I usually finish them with a sprinkle of sea salt on top to balance the sweet richness. I think I’m going to be making these for the rest of my life! ★★★★★”
Tell Me About These Brownie Cookies
- Texture: Talk about a satisfying texture. If you love fudge brownies, you’ll appreciate all this cookie has to offer—chewy edges, soft centers, gooey chocolate chips when they’re fresh out of the oven.
- Flavor: These brownie cookies are for pure chocolate lovers. No caramel, nuts, fruits, or candies in the way. The wonderful part is that you can control the chocolate’s sweetness and strength. I recommend semi-sweet chocolate and adding a touch of espresso powder, which deepens the chocolate flavor. For sweeter cookies, use milk chocolate. For bittersweet cookies, use bittersweet or even unsweetened chocolate. (Warning—unsweetened chocolate lends a very deep, dark chocolate cookie!)
- Ease: Though this recipe much easier than, say, chocolate croissants, it’s not quite as simple as mixing brownie batter together. You need 3 main bowls—one for melted chocolate, one for dry ingredients, and one for other wet ingredients. Shaping the dough is a cinch, though. Use a cookie scoop to keep things uniform.
- Time: Some cookie doughs require chilling in the refrigerator and others don’t. This recipe requires just 20 minutes in the fridge, which is just enough time to quickly clean up and preheat the oven. You’ll be enjoying these cookies in under 1 hour.
If you’ve tried my Midnight Brownie Cookies in Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook, or my peppermint frosted chocolate cookies or peanut butter filled brownie cookies, today’s cookies are similarly rich. If you love chocolate, brownies, and cookies, you can’t go wrong with any of these 3!
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesn’t
When I was working on today’s recipe, I wanted to experiment with 2 variables: consistency of butter and chill time in the refrigerator. There are 4 cookies pictured below, with the bottom right cookie as the winner (today’s recipe). Each cookie was made with the same measurements and ingredients. For the cookies made with melted butter, I melted the butter with the 8 ounces of chocolate, then whisked in the sugars, eggs, and vanilla before beating in the dry ingredients.
Let me explain each.
- Top Left – Melted Butter + No Chilling: 5 Tablespoons of melted butter with no cookie dough chilling lended greasy cookies that over-spread. The edges burned and crumbled.
- Top Right – Melted Butter + Chilling: 5 Tablespoons of melted butter with 20 minutes of cookie dough chilling. Cookies were thicker, but tasted like pure chocolate. Delicious and rich, but didn’t really have a brownie texture.
- Bottom Left – Softened Butter + No Chilling: 5 Tablespoons of softened butter with no cookie dough chilling. The cookies had more of an irresistible brownie texture, but spread a little too much. The edges burned quickly.
- Bottom Right – Softened Butter + Chilling: 5 Tablespoons of softened butter with 20 minutes of cookie dough chilling. These cookies were the clear winner with nice spread, fudge brownie centers, crackly tops, and chewy edges.
Best Chocolate to Use
Most of the cookie’s chocolate flavor comes from melted chocolate. Do not cut corners here—use pure chocolate baking bars, just like we do for dark chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies. You can find them right next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle. They’re typically sold in 4 ounce bars, so you’ll need 2. I’m not affiliated or working with this brand, but I strongly recommend Ghirardelli (pictured below). This chocolate simply produced the best tasting and looking cookie. The cookies made with Baker’s brand chocolate were great, but the cookies didn’t really have the crackly tops.
- I use and recommend semi-sweet chocolate, but you can use bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate for a much darker flavor.
- If you can find it and want to splurge, use 8 ounces of semi-sweet Scharffen Berger Chocolate. These are sold in 3 ounce or 9 ounce bars. My regular grocer carries it in the baking aisle, but you can find and purchase it online.
Overview: How to Make Brownie Cookies
The full printable recipe is below, but let’s walk through the recipe so you understand each step before you get started.
- Melt the chocolate. Start by melting the chopped chocolate. I recommend doing this first so it has a few minutes to cool down before you need it in step 3 below. (Don’t want to melt the creamed butter or scramble the eggs!)
- Whisk dry ingredients together.
- Work on wet ingredients. As detailed in the recipe below, cream the butter and both sugars together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, then beat in the melted and cooled chocolate. Pay attention to your mixing times. We want to beat long enough to whip some air into these ingredients, which helps achieve a crackly brownie appearance on the cookies. (Which are usually created by deflated air, melted sugar, and quality chocolate.)
- Combine wet and dry ingredients.
- Chill as oven preheats. Chill the cookie dough for just 20 minutes. This quick chill time helps slightly solidify the chocolate and butter in the dough, which gives the cookies a nice spread (not over-spread). Chilling for longer creates thicker cookies where, in some cases, they may not spread at all. My peanut butter chocolate chip cookies have a super quick chill time, too.
- Scoop and bake. Dough is thick and sticky, so I strongly recommend using a cookie scoop. The medium size is perfect because each dough ball should be around 1.5 Tablespoons, the same exact size I recommend for double chocolate chip cookies.
Pictured above are our 3 bowls: 1 for dry, 1 for wet, and 1 for melted chocolate. When it all comes together, expect a thick and sticky cookie dough.
And for those of you who want your brownie cookies AND brownies… 😉
Brownie Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes (includes chilling)
- Yield: 24 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These are extra rich, extra fudge-like, and extra chewy brownie cookies. For best results, use good chocolate and follow this recipe closely.
Ingredients
- 2 four ounce bars (226g) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 3/4 cup (94g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (21g) natural unsweetened or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional: 3/4 cup (135g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or use the microwave. Microwave in 20 second increments, stirring after each until completely melted. Set aside to slightly cool (so it doesn’t melt the butter or cook the eggs).
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat on high speed for 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl, then beat on high for 1 more minute. Pour in the slightly cooled melted chocolate and mix on medium-high speed for 2 full minutes.
- Pour in the the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Finally, beat in the chocolate chips.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. As the oven preheats, continue to step 6.
- Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for just 20 minutes as the oven preheats. This quick chill time helps slightly solidify the chocolate and butter in the dough, which gives the cookies a nice spread (not over-spread). Chilling for longer creates thicker cookies where, in some cases, they may not spread at all. If chilling for longer than 20 minutes, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling and baking.
- Roll or scoop the dough into balls, 1.5 Tablespoons of dough each. I recommend a medium cookie scoop. Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets and bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges appear set. (The centers will be quite soft, but will set up as the cookies cool.)
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Cookies won’t spread as much if dough balls were frozen, so about halfway through bake-time, gently press down on the baking cookies with a spoon to help get them to spread. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Double Boiler | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Chocolate: Use pure chocolate baking bars. You can find them right next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle. They are sold in 4 ounce bars, so you’ll need 2. I strongly recommend Ghirardelli brand. I’m not working with this company—this chocolate simply produced the best tasting and looking cookie. I use and recommend semi-sweet chocolate, but you can use bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate for a much darker flavor. If you can find it (my regular grocer carries it in the baking aisle) and want to splurge, use 8 ounces of semi-sweet Scharffen Berger Chocolate. These are sold in 3 ounce or 9 ounce bars.
- Espresso Powder: Espresso powder deepens the chocolate flavor. You can find it in the baking aisle at the grocery store or online. You can skip it or use 2 teaspoons of instant coffee powder instead.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Do you mean 31g cocoa?
21g is correct! You can read more about measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Hello! These look so delicious! I’m planning on making Brookies & using this recipe combined with your “chewy CC cookie” recipe. Wondering if you think this may be too gooey & if so could suggest an alternative if necessary? Thanks so much!
Has anyone tried using these cookies to make ice cream sandwiches? Was just wondering how they’d hold up. I’ve made the Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich recipe and they were delicious. Thought these might work as well.
Hi Nicole, we haven’t tested it, but that sounds delicious! Our double chocolate cookies would be great as well – make sure to use mini chocolate chips if you prefer for ice cream sandwiches.
I LOVED this recipe so much!! I have made this atleast 50 times now.
Crazy delicious! These turned out so beautifully. Lightly crispy on the outside with soft gooey chocolate centers. Right out of the oven, nothing is better. You’ll have to stop yourself from eating too many 🙂
I can’t wait to try these and when I do, I will come back and rate them. I just wanted to tell you again how much I appreciate that you go above and beyond telling us all your experience of what worked well and why. I loved the pics above showing chilled dough and softened butter vs melted. It really makes a difference!
Thank you Twana! Recipe testing is so interesting, and it’s really fun to share what I learn when developing a new recipe. Glad you enjoy it, too!
These were fantastic! Appreciate the detailed instructions! The kids will be enjoying with their school lunches this week!
Very, very good recipe. Will definitely make again. Thanks so much for all the testing and hard work you do, all the recipes I’ve tried have been excellent!
It’s OK but definitely not truly a brownie cookie.
I followed recipe to a T and they were so dry. What a waste of Ghirardelli chocolate.
I have a big can of Ghirardelli dark chocolate and cocoa sweet ground powder – could I use that for the recipe (this question applies to regular brownies too!!) Or would it not work as well since it’s sweet powder?
Hi Emily, we haven’t tried that particular mix, but since it’s a dutched cocoa it should work just fine in this recipe and in brownie recipes that call for natural unsweetened or dutch process cocoa (like these). They will likely be on the sweeter side. Let us know if you try it!
Hi Sally, thank you for your wonderful recipes. Is it possible to leave out the melted chocolate and just add more cocoa powder?
Hi Valentine, most of the cookies deep chocolate flavor comes from the melted chocolate bars, and we don’t recommend omitting it. Adding more cocoa powder would dry out the cookie dough without other adjustments to the recipe, so we don’t recommend it. For best results, we’d wait until you can use a pure chocolate bar!
I am so excited to make these! Do you think it is possible to stuff these, or do you think would they spread too much?
Hi Jessa, for a stuffed brownie cookie, you can use our recipe for peanut butter filled brownie cookies instead. Feel free to play around with the filling!
I haven’t made these cookies yet because i had a question. Can you use chocolate chips instead of the chocolate bars? If u can, how many cups of chocolate chips would I use???
Hi Clare! See recipe notes – you really want pure baking chocolate for best success with this recipe.
Looking forward to making these for cookie boxes! Do you think I could add green and red M&Ms to these to add a festive color without affecting the recipe too much? I may just add them on top while the cookies are still warm.
Yes, absolutely!
how do I prevent these cookies from deflating when I take it out of the oven? Been happening each time I bake them, they still taste great though!
Hi M, If the cookies are deflating, they my simply be underbaked. Try adding a couple minutes to the bake time!
I need to make 7 dozen cookies. Can I quadriple the recipe or should I make in 4 batches?
Hi Diana, we recommend making two double batches!
These cookies have a wonderful texture! I found them to be a bit sweet using both semisweet chocolate bars and the optional semisweet chocolate chips. I think next time I might try using a combination of unsweetened and semisweet chocolate and reducing the amount of chocolate chips.
I made this today and WOW these are delicious!! An easy recipe to put together and great instructions with the video. I will be using these for a dessert basket for an online auction. My basket is called Cabernet and Cookies.
These turned out perfectly! I used Bakers chocolate because Canada doesn’t have the variety of brands the States does (although I guess I could buy Ghiradelli chocolate bars in the confectionary aisle…). I also doubled the recipe and added some black gel colouring, because I made them into monster cookies for Halloween (using candy eyes and red cookie icing for the mouths). Will definitely make again!
Is it possible to omit the espresso powder? I can’t find this anywhere but really want to try these!
Hi Kate, You can skip it or use 2 teaspoons of instant coffee powder instead.
Is it possible to make this recipe without eggs? Thank you.
Hi Mary, we don’t recommend omitting the egg but we haven’t tested any alternatives for this recipe. Here are all of our egg free recipes if you’re interested.
I’m giving recipe a 5 because they taste amazing. Perfect for a chocoholic! I had a doozy of a time making them, however. Followed recipe exactly (except I didn’t have chocolate bars so I had to sub with my Ghirardelli semi sweet chips). I really aerated the wet and when I added the dry I had thick soup. Added flour in small portions till it was a batter that looked like your photo. Baked as directed but my first batch did not spread so I used your suggestion in an answer to another post and pressed gently with back of spoon. Got a little spread, nice crackly tops and, like I said, they are very yummy. I am going to get some Ghiradelli baking bars for the next time.
These sounded delicious so I made them as soon as I read the recipe. The taste was very good, but the appearance and consistency did not resemble your cookies! The were very flat on the edges and did not crackle. They were cake-like, and not chewy.
I rested them in the fridge for the exact time you recommended. Who knows!?
I will try again!
Hi Pascale, If your cookies spread too much and were flat, your butter may have been a bit too warm or your flour under-measured. For next time, you can also chill them for a bit longer which should help them hold their shape more. We share more tips for preventing spread in this blog post on 10 Tips to Prevent Cookies from Spreading. Thank you so much for giving this recipe a try!
These are good but soooooo sweet. It’s a one and done at best.
thank you for this amazing recipe! It is really the best brownie cookie that is out there. I make your cookies all the time and they never fail.
My boys call these the triple chocolate cookies and absolutely adore them. We had so much fun making them as a family. My husband even gave me an “ohhhh myyyy goodness” as his taste test response hahah. Highly recommend these!
Mine did start to dry out around day 3, though they honestly didn’t laT much longer than that.
These are everything you want in a brownie cookie. Rich, soft yet chewy. Don’t forget the espresso powder it really makes these cookies perfect!
100% recommend! These cookies are chewy, delicious and perfection. Thank you!
These are YUMMY! I baked these in a bit of a brain fog, and I accidentally melted the butter with the chocolate first – and this is why you always read the recipe before you start, folks. Decided to chill them for an hour instead of the usual 20 minutes to compensate for my whoopsie, and they came out beautifully! I’m excited to try baking these again – this time following the directions!
The cookies are perfection! They have a perfect balance of chocolate. Not too sweet and rich. The recipe is a keeper and will I be making them for my cookie swap party!