Outrageous Brookies

and my last week of school :')

I’m writing to you from a plane in the Canadian skies en route to ALASKA!! Michaela and I are spending a week visiting our friends who moved there, with more friends coming to join. I simply cannot wait - for the great company, the food, the hikes. We’re closing out the trip with Salmon Fest, a bow-worthy named music festival meant to celebrate and encourage protection of the great Alaskan salmon.

I also had my last day of SCHOOL this week. I pretty swiftly jumped from school to travel before starting my externship, and frankly I still haven’t totally processed that class is over. It was a more emotional last day than I expected - we all signed each others’ chef coats, exchanged big hugs, and got a few tears from our Chef instructor.

I have some posts coming up on Instagram about my final exam wedding ‘cake,’ AKA a three-tiered styrofoam cake meant to test our cake design skills. I modeled mine after Werner Bronkhorst’s Avid Skiier piece. I’ve been a big fan of his and Golsa Golchini’s work for years and was SO excited to put something similar to cake.

My main feedback from chef was to go for more texture. I’d love to do another version of this cake (with real cakes next time, not styrofoam :) ), but cover the entire cake with royal icing and make swoops within it, instead of leaving the fondant negative space around the swoops like I did this time. I didn’t think I’d be a wedding cake gal, but if you do want to pay me to make this cake for a wedding/event in NY, let me know - I’d love to give it another go!!

This week’s recipe

I’m pulling from the archives this week for a recipe that is high effort and HIGH reward: completely homemade brookies. If you have never heard of brookies, they are a magical combo of fudgy brownie and gooey on the inside, crisp on the top chocolate chip cookies.

I think they were actually the first recipe I tried to develop. At age nine, not knowing they were a thing (and maybe they weren’t in 2005!!), I begged my mom to let me get brownie mix and chocolate chip cookie dough because I thought I just came up with the most inspired dessert of all time. I dropped some balls of storebought dough into brownie mix and… was honestly disappointed. The ratio just wasn’t right – the cookie distracted from the brownie instead of them working together to create the perfect bite.

Twenty years later, I went back to the drawing board. I tested brownie to cookie ratio, the right richness and chocolatey-ness of the brownie batter so it would complement instead of overpower the cookies, and the ideal layering approach (thank you to Blue Bowl Recipes for this!!). And I gotta say, these brookies DELIVER. They have the perfect balance of fudgy brownie and gooey cookie in each bite, and the homemade brownie batter and cookie dough takes them to a much further level than store-bought ever could.

cross-section: brownie layer, cookie dough layer, brownie layer, cookie dough balls

The best tools for this recipe

• Kitchen scale: Kitchen scales are great for measuring any ingredient, but especially flour. Flour is one of the easiest ingredients to mis-measure in cups, and too much flour will make your brownies and cookies cakey. This $25 scale is the one I’ve seen across pastry school and professional kitchens.

• Straight-edge 8x8 tin: A lot of 8x8 tins have rounded edges, but there is nothing more satisfying than a brookie with a perfectly straight edge. I freaking love this tin.

• Parchment paper: Parchment paper allows us to make our middle cookie dough layer, and to remove the brookies from the pan after baking so we can easily cut them. If you don’t have parchment, you can still make the cookie dough layer with plastic wrap, but you will need to cut the brookies directly in the pan.

• Offset spatula: Your best friend for leveling off batter, fillings, etc. It’s one of the tools I reach for the most in pastry school. This is the one I use - I love the wooden handle and vintage feel.

• Dutch process cocoa powder: This is an ingredient, not a tool, but it freaking rocks. Dutch process cocoa powder is cocoa powder that’s treated with alkali (reduces acidity), giving it a more deep chocolate flavor. My personal favorite is Black cocoa powder, which is the darkest cocoa powder and it straight up tastes like Oreos. It’s hard to find in grocery stores, but you can buy it on Amazon.

  • You can also use natural cocoa powder (IE, classic Hershey’s) in this recipe, but flavor-wise, Dutch is better.

Outrageous Brookies

Makes nine large or 16 small brookies. You can double the recipe and bake them in a 9x13 pan, covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for an additional 20-30 minutes.

Ingredients

For the chocolate chip cookie dough

• 1⁄2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

• 3⁄4 cup (160 grams) light brown sugar

• 1 egg

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1⁄4 tsp. fine kosher or sea salt

• 1⁄4 tsp. baking soda

• 1⁄4 tsp. baking powder

• 1 1⁄4 cups (150 grams) all-purpose flour

• 1⁄3 cup (2 ounces) chocolate chips (I prefer mini chocolate chips for this recipe)

For the brownie batter

• 6 TBS. (85 grams) unsalted butter, cut into cubes

• 1⁄3 cup (2 ounces), chopped chocolate (60% cacao)

• 2 eggs, at room temperature

• 3⁄4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1⁄2 tsp. fine kosher or sea salt

• Heaping 1⁄4 cup (28 grams) Dutch process cocoa powder

• 3⁄4 cup (72 grams) almond flour

  • You can sub in all purpose flour or a 1:1 gluten free flour

• 1⁄3 cup (2 ounces) chocolate chips (I prefer mini chocolate chips for this recipe)

• Flaky sea salt to top

Directions

1. Make the cookie dough: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until there’s no separation. Then whisk in the egg and vanilla extract, followed by the salt, baking soda and baking powder. Gently fold in the flour until there are only a few streaks left. Then fold in the chocolate chips just until combined.
   
   Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and store in the fridge while you make the brownie batter.

2. Make the brownie batter: Melt the butter and chocolate together either in the microwave or on very low heat on the stovetop. Set aside to cool slightly.
   
   Add the eggs and granulated sugar to a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until you don’t feel too many granules of sugar when you pinch your fingers in the mixture. You can also do this with a whisk, but it’ll take longer.
   
   Mix a little bit of the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture to temper the eggs, before mixing in the rest. Then mix in the vanilla and salt, followed by the Dutch process cocoa powder, almond flour, and chocolate chips. Set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

4. Make your cookie dough layer: Line an 8×8 baking tin with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Press two-thirds of the cookie dough into the bottom and place in the freezer for 10 minutes, until set.

5. Assemble the brookies: Remove the cookie dough layer from the tin and place in the fridge to stay cool. Line the pan with parchment paper. Pour half the brownie batter in. Flip your cookie dough layer into the tin so that it’s parchment-side up. Slowly take off the parchment paper. Add the rest of the brownie batter, and then evenly space balls of cookie dough on top.

6. Bake: Cover the brookies with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out with moist crumbs, but not raw batter. If the dough is starting to brown too much on top, put the foil back on.

7. Cool and eat: Let cool for 15 minutes, sprinkle flaky sea salt on top, and enjoy! You can get the cleanest slices by letting the brookies cool completely, and then cutting with a very sharp knife, wiping off the knife with a hot, wet paper towel in between cuts. Enjoy as is, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Much love,

Maddie