Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownie! Nom Nom!

Hullo all!

It is time for some charity baking this weekend and I started off with this delicious hybrid of brownie and chocolate chip cookies. Two baked goods all in one! What more could you want?

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)- to melt with the butter
100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)- chopped
265g soft light brown sugar (muscovado if you have it gives a better taste)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla EXTRACT (not essence- extract has a more intense flavour)
85g plain flour
1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder

150g unsalted butter
80g soft light brown sugar (again muscovado if you have it gives a better taste)
80g granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
225g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
100-200g chocolate chips (how much depends on how chocolatey you want it and you could use white, milk, or dark chocolate chips, whichever takes your fancy!)

• I Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (if you have a powerful oven you may wish to preheat to 160 degrees celsius).
• Then I line a rectangular baking tin (mine is 22cm by 28cm).
• I start by semi-preparing the Brownie:
• Melt the butter and 100g of the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, once melted allow the mixture to cool slightly.
• In a large bowl beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract together. I use my electric hand whisk ( which was very kindly donated to me by my Mamma) for this.
• In a separate bowl sift the plain flour and baking powder together, if you like you could some spice such as cinnamon or nutmeg to this, this is a good addition at Christmas time.
• Chop the remaining 100g of dark chocolate.
• Put the chopped chocolate and these bowls to one side (you should have three bowls, one containing the butter and chocolate, one containing the sugar and eggs and the final one containing the flour, baking powder and any spices you are adding).

• Now I make my chocolate chip cookie mixture:
• Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
• Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the mixture then mix with a wooden spoon.
• Add the chocolate chips and mix well (I used white chocolate chips today).
• Dollop teaspoons of the chocolate chip cookie dough into the lined baking tin at regular intervals.

• Then I complete the mixing of my brownie ingredients:
• I add the flour, baking powder and chopped chocolate mixture into the beaten sugar, eggs and vanilla extract mixture and mix well (again, I use my electric hand whisk).
• Then I add the melted chocolate mixture and mix well (again, using the electric hand whisk).
• Next I pour the brownie batter over the dollops of chocolate chip cookie dough, ensuring an even distribution in the tin and over the cookie dough.

• Then I dollop further teaspoons of the chocolate chip cookie dough onto the top of the brownie mixture- just to make sure there's plenty of cookie dough action going off!

• Then I bake for 30 minutes and check with a skewer. If the skewer doesn't come out clean I give it another 5-10 minutes and check again with a skewer. If you use a lower oven temperature it may take 40-50 minutes overall to bake but check regularly at the end of baking to avoid burning.
• Once baked I remove the chocolate chip cookie brownie from the oven and leave to cool almost completely in the tin. If I remove it from the tin to soon it is too soft and the brownie is likely to break and crack.
• Once it is cool I remove it and leave it for a further 30 minutes to cool with the baking paper still stuck to it. I do this because the chocolate chip cookie brownie firms up further making it easier to cut. It's hard to resist cutting it and having a slice but it's worth the wait!
• Once it's cool and firm enough I cut it into squares and serve. 
• It will keep for quite a while as, unlike most other cakes, brownie tastes better after a few days after baking. I once made this brownie for OB's Aunty and Uncle and they froze it in the freezer and ate it for months!
• It can be served hot or cold. OB's Aunt and Uncle assure me it's very nice with vanilla ice cream when served hot.

So there you go! It's a bit of a faff and it's a tad expensive with all the ingredients required but definitely worth it if you fancy a brownie with a different twist!

I am about to destroy the edges of my chocolate chip cookie brownie as when I cut mine I slice the edges of to make the pieces a bit neater. Good job I did a 10k run this morning!

Enjoy- I know I will!

xoxo