The Story:
I get emails from people every day asking questions, wanting to know where I get certain products, giving recipe suggestions, and a few from people just telling me thank you .
But a common line in all the emails tends to read something like this…”They tasted great, but of course they didn’t look as good as yours….”
Give yourself a break! I spend hours upon hours baking every week. After all, it’s my “job” so I have to be good at it to make ends meet. I don’t have 3 kids running around the house or a desk job to tend to.
So I really do LOVE posting recipes where it doesn’t take any fancy tools or skills to make them look just like the photos. Because honestly, how many times have we all tried to make the Martha Stewart cake or the Bobby Flay meal and it just never looks like the picture. Don’t worry, I too have failed many times.
Cookie Dough Brownie Bars
Ingredients
Brownie:
- 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate finely chopped
- 1 C. unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 C. brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 C. flour
Cookie Dough:
- 3/4 C. butter unsalted
- 3/4 C. brown sugar
- 3/4 C. sugar
- 3 Tbsp. milk or cream
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 C. flour
- 1 1/2 C. mini chocolate chips
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a 11 X 13 pan with foil (let some hang over the edge to it's easy to lft the dessert out when finished), then spray or butter the foil.
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2. Brownies: In a microwave proof bowl, melt the chocolate the 30 second increments and stir until smooth. Set aside to let cool.
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3. Cream butter and brown sugar together for 2 minutes.
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4. Add eggs and vanilla extract, scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.
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5. Pour in chocolate, mix well.
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6. On low, mix in flour just until combined.
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7. Pour into foiled pan and spread evenly.
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8. Bake for 25-30 minutes. (The longer you leave it in, the more "cakey" your brownie layer will be. Less time means a fudgey brownie.)
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9. Let brownies cool completely.
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10. Cook Dough: Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar together for 2 minutes.
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11. Add milk, vanilla and flour and mix just until combined.
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12. Stir in 1 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.
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13. Spread cookie dough onto cooled brownies, then sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top and gently press in.
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14. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours for easy cutting.
Recipe Notes
You can also just make brownies from a box and then put the cookie dough layer on top of save time.
Okay, so I gave in this weekend when I was home alone watching a movie. I put one of these in a bowl, zapped it in the microwave to get the cookie dough all gooey and the cake all warm and put a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Love in a bowl.
Oh my.
Wow, cookie dough and brownie = double yum.
I’ll need to try this out soon. 🙂
Angela,
http://www.butter-groove.blogspot.com
I have seen a CC recipe using a scoop of cookie dough as the icing. Yum!
These look AWESOME!! I def. need to make these. I have yet to make something with cookie dough.
Oh man, I would totally give in to not one, but a couple of these.
Brown the butter for the cookie dough. I know it is bit extra work, but the taste is so much better (not that it isn’t delicious to begin with)!
Great recipe
Lizzy – could you check #4 and make the correction, please?
Done!
Amazing! Two of my favorite things in one desert!
Lizzy…Thank you for doing a “homemade” recipe!!!
The boxed ones are great too, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t like the chemicals.
This one achieves the taste, the look, and the “real” ingredients
oh my goodness….
I have to ask, how do you get the cookie dough perfectly spread on the brownie mix with out tearing up the brownie?
I uhh… let me see if I can explain this. I took little chunks about 1/2 cup fulls and flattened them with my fingers and then put them on the brownies like a puzzle and then used my spatula to spread over the top to fill in the gaps and holes. Does that make sense?
Yum!!!!! I would love to make these! What a great and easy dessert to take to a summer potluck or party. It’s always good to remember that even the best of us fail from time to time (or on a regular basis).
DELICIOUS!
Thanks Lizzy, can’t wait to try this delicious brownies, it looks yummy, all your recipe taste great,
Yes thank you, that makes perfect sense! One more question, do you put brownies in frig so they are firm before placing cookie dough on top?
No need, I did my little silly flatten out pieces trick as explained in the comments, so to works fine. If you do want to chill the brownies, use the freezer so you don’t dry them out
These look delicious. I plan to make these for father’s day but would like to get a head start on making them Saturday. Is there a way to make the brownies before hand and store them so that they don’t dry out before adding the cookie dough topping on Sunday?? Thanks
You can just make them on saturday and cover them (as tight as you can so the air can’t circulate in and out) and just keep them on the counter top. You’ll be totally fine for a day!
hint for those wondering about easy spreading and smoothing of the dough…keep the wrappers from the butter. Its already smooth and buttery, so if you use it to press the dough down, it comes out looking perfect! 🙂
That’s what I do when I press down rice crispy treats!!!!
Just made these… holy moly, they are awesome! Thanks!!
How many people does this recipe serve?
It just depends how big you cut the pieces but about 20 or more
Hi! I’d love to bake this for my best friend’s birthday because two of her favourite things are cookies and brownies! But, how long do you bake the cookie dough for after putting it on the cooled brownie? Thanks 🙂
You don’t ever bake the cookie dough. It’s egg-less and meant to stay as cookie DOUGH and not an actual cookie. I hope that makes sense… Good luck and happy birthday to your friend!
Thank you so much for explaining!
Could you change the brownie into chocolate cake? Thanks!
Yes you can!
What is the substitution for using cocoa powder instead? Excited to make these for some elders tomorrow!
You need the cocoa powder to make the brownies chocolate, but you could try using melted bakers chocolate!
I want to make these for a bake sale….will they be ok out of the fridge for a couple hours between assembly and sale?
Oh yes! No problem at all with doing that!
You can tell the odds are that I’m most likely in a different generation than 90% of the people reading this recipe. I immediately questioned not baking the second half of the recipe. I see so far only one other person commented on this in the comments I read. I guess these bars are in response to the TREMENDOUS fad of everyone wanting raw cookie dough. Was that in the 1990s? I guess the threat of salmonella and dying ended that fad quickly enough when it hit. And by the way, someone I know personally lost her father-in-law to just this very thing. He was a widowed older West Virginia farmer who most likely in his life been exposed to every dirty, grimy, filthy, disgusting and repulsive mess any farmer can see in a lifetime. So one would think if anyone would have resistance it would be someone in this situation. Well it didn’t work that way. Her father-in-law became ill with what everyone at first, including his physician, thought was the flu. He treated him for the flu and he continued to worsen. By the time they took him to the ER a week later he was so ill with salmonella he didn’t make it, he died. It took the hospital a day or so to isolate what was wrong but by the time they began treatment, it just wasn’t soon enough. What they were able to piece together is he broke an egg one day, an egg from his own farm, but failed to clean properly after dealing with the raw egg. This contaminated other items which came into contact with food he was preparing and that’s how it went. I used to believe the whole salmonella scare what a lot of hype. But I figure if a man whose immune system SHOULD be hardened against almost anything can die from this, anyone can. I changed my approach to licking the bowl and beaters (I used to love the raw cake batter better than baked), preparing foods such as Silk Chocolate Pie and Eggnog and other various recipes calling for raw egg. Unless I can use pasteurized, it doesn’t happen in my kitchen. I also have a fair number of seniors who are served items I bake, plus, even if I make for my own family my parents are this year 77 and 80 and my mom’s health isn’t good. I would NEVER want to risk anything for her or anyone else. So when you think of using raw egg in a recipe, think of that old WV farmer. But since this dough doesn’t include them, its fine. However, I like the idea one person had about browning the butter. It does make a tremendous difference in any “chocolate chip cookie” type of treat and I might “toast” my flour. I’ve been baking over 50 years and just a few months ago I heard of this for the very first time. I’m anxious to try it, apparently it provides a wonderful flavor to the flour. And when you think about it, we toast nuts and grains and what is flour, a grain really. So its not so odd when you look at it this way.
To make the cookie dough, brown the butter. Although while it requires coreball a little more effort, the end result is worth it since the flavor is enhanced greatly.