Fudgy Brownie Cookies
An easy fudgy brownie cookie made with melted chocolate chips and cocoa powder for a rich brownie flavor in easy cookie form! Quick prep time with no mixer needed & no chilling. In less than 30 minutes you can have these on your plate!
These cookies have all the flavor and texture of a gooey fudgy brownie but in a cookie that takes only a few minutes to prep. Just take a look at those shiny crinkly tops and brownie like interior!
I decided to turn my favorite brownie cupcakes into an easy cookie recipe. We take the same ingredients and switch it up just a little bit, adding more chocolate chips and more flour for structure, and reducing the amount of oil (we keep just a tiny bit to give these a real brownie like texture-just like our best bread flour brownies are made with a mix of vegetable oil and butter!)
The baking science: In my recipe testing, the shiny crinkly tops in brownies are made when dissolving sugar in liquid. We’ll mix the sugar separately with the eggs, vanilla, and oil before adding to the melted chocolate mixture. Then they need to be baked right away while the cookie dough is still thinner and loose, like brownie batter. More details in the step by step instructions!
Let’s bake!
Ingredients you’ll need for brownie cookies
- Salted butter, 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons)
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips, 3/4 cup
- Cocoa powder, 1/4 cup
- Sugar, 1 cup
- Eggs, 2 medium to large
- Vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon
- Vanilla, 1 teaspoon
- All purpose flour, 1 and 1/4 cups
- Salt, 1/2 teaspoon
Tools
Mixing bowls, whisk, spatula, and baking pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, and a tablespoon size cookie scoop.
How to make the best fudgy brownie cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two cookie sheet with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. I prefer to use silicone mats because this dough is very sticky and the mats stay in place better when dropping the dough.
You’ll need two separate mixing bowls. In a medium microwave safe bowl, add 1/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Microwave in 30 second increments until the butter is melted & chocolate is soft. Add the 1/4 cup cocoa powder. Adding the cocoa to the hot butter mixture will help bloom the cocoa and give the cookies a stronger chocolate flavor.
Whisk until the mixture is very smooth with no lumps of cocoa remaining.
In another bowl, add 1 cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk until smooth and the sugar is dissolving, then pour the sugar mixture into the chocolate and whisk again.
Next, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir in, then the 1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour. Gently stir together with a spatula just until no white streaks remain.
The dough will look thick and shiny, more like a brownie batter than a cookie dough.
To get the prettiest shiny crackly tops, we need to work quickly to get these cookies baked! Use a tablespoon cookie scoop to measure out and place the batter on the cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
Place in the oven for 7-9 minutes. While they’re baking, go ahead and scoop the rest of the dough onto the next baking sheet so these can go in as soon as the other tray comes out.
Check these at 7 minutes. They should look shiny and lightly underbaked with a few crackles on the top. Leaving them underbaked will give them the fudgiest texture and brownie batter flavor. If they’re still completely smooth across the top, give them another minute.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Baking right away vs. waiting
As the batter sits, the flour will absorb the liquid and thickens to a more cookie dough consistency rather than brownie batter. See pictures below for the difference. The top photos show the batter just after mixing and the cookies that are baked from this batter.
The bottom set of photos is after the the batter has dried enough to roll the cookie dough by hand. These cookies are less shiny and crackly as before but they still taste just like a fudgy brownie!
Tips for perfectly round cookies:
This batter/dough will be loose and wet as you scoop it onto the baking sheets and will likely spread a little bit and the cookies can get a bit misshapen. No worries! We can fix these into perfectly round cookies.
As soon as you pull the baking sheet from the oven, use a round cookie or biscuit cutter or a spoon and go around the edges of the cookies and push the wonky edges in. Because they’re still baking and quite soft, they should shape easily.
How to store fudgy brownie cookies:
These cookies stay fresh for up to 5 days in an air tight container stored at room temperature. They will begin to lose moisture after a few days, but still taste great on day 5.
Fudgy Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup salted butter
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (130 g)
- ¼ cup cocoa powder (18 g)
- 1 cup sugar (210 g)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 and ¼ cup all purpose flour (167 g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and prepare two cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- In a medium microwave safe bowl, add ¼ cup salted butter and ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (130 g). Heat in 30 second increments until the butter and chocolate are melted, then add ¼ cup cocoa powder (18 g) and whisk together until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, add 1 cup sugar (210 g), 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and whisk together. Pour the sugar mixture into the bowl with the chocolate and whisk until everything is thoroughly mixed and smooth.
- Add ½ teaspoon salt and 1 and ¼ cup all purpose flour (167 g), gently mix with a spatula until there are no white streaks of flour left.
- Using a tablespoon size cookie scoop, measure out a heaping scoops of doughs and place them 2 inches on the prepared cookie sheets. Go ahead and scoop out both trays so the second one can go in as soon as the first one comes out.
- Bake one tray at a time, for 7-9 minutes, checking at 7 minutes. They should look shiny and lightly underbaked with a few crackles on the top. If they're still completely smooth across the top, give them another minute.
- Don't overbake-you want these slightly underbaked so the middles keep that gooey fudgy texture! Remove them from the oven and let cool on the pan for at least 5 minutes, then move them to finish cooling on a wire rack. Enjoy!
Notes
- These cookies look best with shiny crackly brownie tops if they’re baked right away, as soon as the batter comes together. As the batter sits, the flour will absorb the liquid and thickens to a more cookie dough consistency rather than brownie batter.
- If the batter dries, the cookies made from this dough will be less shiny and crackly as before but they will still taste fantastic. At this point the dough can be rolled into balls instead of scooping loose batter onto a cookie sheet.
- These cookies stay fresh for up to 5 days in an air tight container stored at room temperature. They will begin to lose moisture after a few days, but still taste great on day 5.
I’d love to hear from you!
If you try this recipe and love it, please leave a comment and a star rating and let me know how it went. Happy Baking!
