Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

- by The Dark Chocolate

So I don't really have the chance to make too many desserts anymore.  If I made anything, I would be the only one eating it and then I would get diabetes.  Therefore I really like it when I have a reason to make a dessert for someone else, and that's what birthdays are for! So when I saw this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, I just knew I had to make it, and luckily someone's birthday was coming up!

I found this recipe on my all-time favorite website - Food Gawker. Apparently JFGI is internet lingo for "Just F***ing Google It", but for me JFGI means Just Food Gawker It.  Apologies for the foul language - but just imagine Lily from Modern Family saying it, and then Cam running away giggling :). Anyway here's the link to the recipe - http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/07/21/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-brownies/.  The birthday that was coming up and would give me an excuse to make this was The Oven Mits'! I was actually in Houston at the time, and she was obviously in Chicago so I wanted to make her something that I could mail to her [ie. was easily transported and wouldn't melt or go bad], so this was perfect!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Yield: 32 brownies
Prep Time: 40 minutes | Bake Time: 25 minutes

For the Brownie:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

For the Cookie Dough:
¾ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups mini chocolate chips

1. Prepare the Brownies: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch pan with foil, with enough to hang over all four sides. Butter the foil. In a medium glass bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, scraping the bowl as needed. Mix in the melted chocolate until combined. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour and mix just until combined (don’t over-mix). Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

2. Prepare the Cookie Dough: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to combine the butter and both sugars. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Spread the cookie dough over the cooled brownies. Refrigerate until the dough is firm, about an hour. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter (my favorite way to slice brownies!) to cut the brownies. Store the brownies in an airtight container at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator.
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This clearly isn't for anyone wanting to reduce their sugar intake, and it certainly isn't for someone like The Health Nut, who probably saw the need for 4 eggs and had a mini-stroke.  And it obviously isn't vegan.  But I guess the concept of a cookie dough/brownie creation can be made vegan/eggless! I think the only substitution I made was to use Fat-Free Milk instead of Whole Milk (who drinks Whole Milk....), and I can't really think of anything else to change. 

Obviously mine didn't turn out as neat and lovely as the ones on the recipe, but I still think they were pretty tasty! In fact, a little too tasty.  If I kept them at my place I would eat way too many way too quickly, so in addition to the ones I was sending to The Oven Mits, I decided to surprise another fellow blog author - The Coco Nut - as she was within a cheap mailing distance (being a fellow Texas resident) and she is someone who can actually eat and enjoy this stuff (sigh, the life of a person whose friends are vegan/don't eat eggs/are super healthy)!  Anyway, below are some photos of the making of and also the finished product, ready to be shipped off to the birthday girl!

Brownie batter ready to go into the oven

Cookie dough ready to be put on the baked, cooled brownie

Finished product!

All ready to be sent to their unknowing recipients!