Brownie-Batter Stuffed Chocolate-Chip Cookies

If you've been on my Facebook page lately, you may be feeling a little déjà vu-ish at the moment, because this post was inspired by a recent post there.

To recap: my girls were getting ready to host their friend Kelsey for a sleepover. I told them to ask her what she wanted for dessert, and Kelsey said she couldn't decide between brownies and chocolate-chip cookies. 

My younger daughter, who is well-versed in our family's dessert repertoire, told her, "I know what you want." 

Enter Brownie-Batter Stuffed Chocolate-Chip Cookies.

I included the basic method for these cookies on Facebook, but here's a more detailed recipe. Because no one should have to choose between two of the great desserts of the world when it's entirely possible to have them both in one life-altering bite.

Brownie-Batter Stuffed Chocolate-Chip Cookies {print}

1 standard-sized batch chocolate-chip cookie dough, well chilled (make your favorite recipe or make my favorite recipe or use a tube from the grocery store or haul out that tub you bought from the school fundraiser and stashed in the freezer...any chocolate-chip cookie dough will work as long as it is well-chilled and firm)

1 batch brownie batter, made by mixing together the following ingredients and freezing until solid and firm...don't try to cheat this step:

• 1 standard-sized box plain, basic brownie mix (I like Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge)
• melted butter equivalent to the oil called for on the box (e.g., 1/3 cup melted butter instead of 1/3 cup oil)
• water as called for on the box (e.g., 1/4 cup for 1/4 cup)
• NO egg(s), no matter what the box calls for (e.g., none for one, none for two, none for three...this brownie batter contains ZERO eggs)

Once you've got a well-chilled batch of cookie dough and a solidly frozen batch of brownie batter within reach, you're ready to roll, wrap, and bake. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and either coat a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper. Scoop about 1 scant tablespoon of frozen brownie batter out of the container you stored it in and roll it into a ball. You may have to show the batter who's boss at first, but it will get easier as the batter softens up a little. Now take about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons well-chilled chocolate-chip cookie dough and smoosh it out a little in the palm of your hand. Place your brownie ball in the center and fold the cookie dough up around it. You are trying to entirely encase the brownie batter in cookie dough. Yes, this is a little messy. But so are lots of other things in life that are much less delicious than these cookies will be. Carry on. Pinch the cookie dough around the brownie batter ball until the brownie batter is safely tucked inside and cannot be seen. 

Place on your prepared cookie sheet and repeat with enough of your remaining dough and batter until you have as many cookies as you want to make. Chill/freeze remaining dough and batter until you need it.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until cracked around the edges and puffed in the center. Cool on the cookie sheet for several minutes or until the cookies are firm enough to remove to a wire rack without falling apart in transit. Eat while warm, with a big glass of cold milk.

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I've never made this kind of plea before on this page, and I'm not going to do it again. But if you haven't stopped by my Facebook page, I'd love to have you do it now. I have this weird dream of getting to 777 "likes"--7 being a number of completion in the Bible and all that. I don't know...it just seems so tidy to me. Unlike my house. Which is enough said on both these subjects. Thanks for reading.

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Triple Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies

 

Four years ago, when my oldest daughter started marching band (yes, I promise this does relate to the cookies), I went to my first-ever high school football game. Everyone had on their team colors and shirts with our school name, but I told my husband, "I want a shirt that says, 'I'm just here for the band.'" I meant no disrespect for the football team, but I wanted to demonstrate my allegiance and passion for our under-appreciated marching band. 

We did end up getting shirts made, but my point is this: I know you're just here for the cookies. March on.

Triple Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies {print}

**Annoying-but-worth-it fact: the dough for these cookies cooperates better if you allow about an hour for chilling.**

What you need:
24 large round marshmallow OR 12 "s'more marshmallows," such as Jet-Puffed S'moreMallows (these are now available year-round, praise the Lord, in the marshmallow section of the grocery store...they're more tender and marshmallowy than other shapes on account of more marshmallow interior and less exterior cornstarchy coating)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 packets (about 1 ounce each) instant cocoa mix (do not use sugar-free...I love Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate Sensation)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

1/3 cup milk chocolate chips or chunks or mini "kisses"

What to do:
1. Before you do anything else on these cookies (and you can do this up to several months ahead of time!), cut your marshmallows into pieces with kitchen scissors you've coated with vegetable oil or cooking spray: if you're using large round marshmallows, cut them in half horizontally. If you're using s'more marshmallows, cut them into sixths. Put your cut marshmallows in the freezer until further notice. You're going to all this hassle because marshmallows tend to disappear in the oven if they haven't been given the deep chill first. It will be worth the work, I promise.

2. Cream the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, the NOT-sugar-free cocoa mix packets, the baking powder and baking soda, and salt.

4. Add the dry ingredients to your butter-sugar mixture and mix just until combined. 

5. Stir in the semisweet and milk chocolate chips/chunks.

6. Cover and chill for an hour. Your marshmallow pieces should still be camping out in the freezer.

7. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.

8. Form 1 1/2 tablespoon portions of dough into balls and place about an inch apart on the baking sheet. Do not flatten them. Your marshmallow pieces should STILL be in the freezer.

9. Bake the cookies for 4 minutes. Remove your marshmallow pieces from the freezer; open the oven door; and place marshmallow pieces in the center of each cookie. If you cut up large round marshmallows, use 2 pieces; if you cut up square "s'more marshmallows," use 3 pieces. You can overlap them a little.

10. Close the oven door. Return your remaining marshmallow pieces to the freezer, and bake the cookies for 4 more minutes. The marshmallows should be a least a little browned, and the cookie edges should be just starting to crack. Don't overbake these...gooey is good.

11. Remove from oven and cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool a little more or completely. If you have a kitchen blow torch (my favorite kitchen tool, as evidenced by its spot on this list), you can fire it up and give your marshmallows a little campfire-esque burn.

12. Repeat with remaining dough and marshmallow pieces (although you'll probably have some of those left over). Makes 18-24 cookies.

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The back of the aforementioned shirt, in case you've just been dying of curiosity...

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Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Kiss Cookies

I was right in the middle of eating peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies with a side of pretzels when it hit me: this is a combination that needs to get itself into a cookie.

Sweet/salty? Creamy/crunchy? With the melty chocolate factor thrown on top for good measure? I'll take a dozen. (At least.)

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Kiss Cookies {print}

**Annoying but important fact: this dough needs to chill for an hour before baking.**

2 cups thin pretzels
1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
chocolate kisses, unwrapped (approximately 24)
additional granulated sugar, for rolling cookie balls

Spread pretzels out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the pretzels in a cold oven and turn it on to preheat to 350 degrees. You're crisping the pretzels up a bit more than they already are so they'll stay crisp in the finished cookies. Remove them after 10 minutes (it doesn't matter if the oven reached 350 or not) and let them cool slightly. Turn off the oven for now. (Sorry.) Put the cooled pretzels in a plastic bag and beat them up a bit with a rolling pin or skillet or meat tenderizer...at this point, you want some fine crumbs but also some larger pieces. Set these aside for now. Since you've just had a workout, go eat a chocolate kiss (call it "quality assurance testing" if it makes you feel better).

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk, and beat well. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add this dry mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and beat just until incorporated. Gently fold in about 1/2 to 1 cup of the pretzels you dealt with earlier. You can use more or less, depending on how pretzely you want your cookies. Cover and chill this dough for an hour or more.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven (for real this time) to 375 degrees. (Yes, 375 this time is right.)

Crush remaining pretzels until they're fairly fine crumbs and mix about 1 tablespoon of these with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. You're going to roll your dough balls in this mixture. You can vary the ratio depending on if you want more sugar or more pretzel, and you might have to make more to coat all the dough balls.

Roll the dough (about 1 tablespoon per cookie) into balls and roll these in the pretzel-sugar mixture. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until slightly cracked. Remove from oven and immediately press an unwrapped chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Cool 2 minutes on the sheet, then remove to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Cool baked cookies completely and store airtight if you're not eating them within a couple hours. Makes about 24 cookies.



Credit and gratitude to Food Fun Family for "The Best Peanut Butter Blossoms Cookies," which provided a starting point for these cookies.

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National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter CCCs

It's Day 3 of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week, and I think it's time we crossed over to the dark side. 

We started with the classics. We threw in some white chocolate. Now we're getting serious with one of my family's favorite CCC incarnations: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.

What with all the flavonoids and antioxidants in the cocoa and the protein from the peanut butter, we count these as health food in our house. (Yes, we're that kind of family.)

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies {print}
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Hershey's Special Dark
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup peanut butter baking chips (I use Reese's)

1 cup chopped peanut butter cups (I use Reese's dark chocolate miniatures)

Beat the butter for a minute or so by hand or (even better) with an electric mixer. Dump in both sugars and beat another minute or so until light and fluffy. Beat in the oil, vanilla, corn syrup (which will slide right out of the tablespoon if you measured the oil first), and egg. Beat just until incorporated. Beat in the cocoa powder carefully so you don't end up with a cocoa cloud all over your kitchen. Whisk together the remaining dry ingredients (flour-salt) and dump on top of flour mixture. Beat in just until incorporated. Gently fold in the peanut butter chips and chopped peanut butter cups.

Cover and chill the dough for about 15 minutes while you preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Also, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Roll dough (about 1-2 tablespoon portions) into balls and place on cookie sheet, about 9-12 to a sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-7 minutes, or until just starting to crack at the edges. Remove from oven and cool on the sheet for 2 minutes. Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely if you're storing them (in an airtight container, please). I maintain that most homemade cookies are not worth eating after about 1 day of storage at room temperature, so if you want to keep these longer, I'd throw them in the freezer.

I'm so glad you're here. Up tomorrow: a little something for my gluten-free friends.

Other stuff you might want to know about:
Day 1 in this series: Classic CCCs
Day 2 in this series: White Chocolate Pretzel CCCs
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