I couldn't come up with a catchy name for these, but my goal was big, soft, chocolate brownie cookies with a bend-y, (almost) fall-apart-when-you-lift texture. They were inspired by a chocolate cookie my husband brought home from Potbelly. Up until now I thought their sugar cookies were the best, but their brownie cookies are even better. So that was my inspiration. The photo below is the one from Potbelly.
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And here's mine. It's a little bit darker due to the type of cocoa powder I used, but the taste and texture was similar.
Dutch Cocoa Powder and Black Cocoa Powder
For deep chocolate flavor, I used Ghirardelli Dutch cocoa powder. I'm not sure the recipe will work right with natural, so you may want to use Dutch process. If you happen to have some black cocoa (which is also Dutch), you can mix in a little of that as well. For these cookies, I used 50 grams of Dutch and 20 grams of this brand black. But again -- the black is not absolutely necessary, it's just gives the cookies a deeper chocolate flavor.
Batch Size
The recipe gives you 12 very large cookies, each a little over 3.5 ounces. You can bake them all at once, or you can portion out the dough, chill, freeze and bake as needed.
Soft and Bendy Texture
To get a soft texture, there are a couple of things you can do. The cream of tartar helps a little, as does the brown sugar, but the way you bake the cookies also affects the results. I've found that elevating the baking sheet by setting it on a smaller rimmed baking sheet or cake pan, keeps the bottoms from getting as hard. With the softer bottom, the cookies bend slightly when lifted. If elevating the baking sheet doesn't give you soft enough cookies, you can soften by storing the cookies in a closed tin with a couple of slices of bread.
Soft and Flat Chocolate Brownie Cookies
If you like your cookies soft and flat, you can use the same dough to get that affect. Just press the dough down into ½ inch thick rounds and smooth the tops a little. Bake as directed. After about 18 minutes, lift the pan carefully and bang it against the rack. Let bake for another 2 minutes or until top looks completely set.
Big Soft Chocolate Brownie Ingredient Notes
- For the butter, I've tested with Land o' Lakes brand and Publix.
- Flour can be any brand of all-purpose, but for softer cookies I usually try to use one of the lower protein brands like Gold Medal or Pillsbury or even grocery store brand bleached flour. White Lily should work really well.
- Cocoa Powder -- Dutch process (I use Ghirardelli or Guittard). Can mix with black.
- Baking Soda
- Cream of Tartar -- This causes cookies to rise and fall a little quicker than baking powder and should give you more cracks and crevices. It also supposedly curbs crystallization of sugar leading to softer, chewier cookies.
- Salt -- I use Morton kosher which measures like table salt
- Cinnamon -- only use a tiny pinch. It should be barely detectable.
- Sugar -- Imperial or Domino or any brand cane.
- Brown Sugar -- I use light brown and go by weight.
- Eggs -- Medium or large (about 90 grams total after being cracked)
- Vanilla Extract -- Costco
- Chocolate -- Big Soft Brownie Cookies are perfect with Costco chocolate chips or an array of high quality chunks or chopped chocolate like Valrhona or Guittard.
I hope you give these a try! I have so many different double chocolate cookies, but if I had to pick one recipe this might be it.
Recipe
Big Soft Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 grams) -- weigh or measure by spooning into cups and leveling
- ⅔ cup Dutch process cocoa powder (weigh for best results) (70 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/16 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) (228 grams)
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar (150 grams)
- 2 large medium or large eggs, bring to room temperature (90 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4-6 ounces chopped dark or bittersweet chocolate or 1 cup bittersweet chips or whatever chocolate you like
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and the tiny bit of cinnamon. Be sure everything is evenly blended. Set aside.
- Soften the butter so that it is squishy, almost but not quite melted. I do this by standing the stick on its end in the microwave, heating on high for 6 seconds, then turning and standing the butter on its other end and heating for 4 to 6 seconds.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attached, cream the softened butter and both sugars for about 4 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.
- Add the eggs and beat on low until blended, then increase mixer speed and beat until it is mixed in. Beat in the vanilla.
- By hand or using lowest speed of mixer, stir in the flour mixture, being careful not to over-beat Batter will be very thick. Stir in the chocolate.
- Adjust oven rack so that it's in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two light colored baking sheets with parchment paper. Also have ready a rimmed baking sheet or 9x13 inch cake pan, which you will put under the baking sheet.
- Using a large cookie scoop, scoop out 12 big rounds of dough onto a couple of dinner plates. This dough is messy and sticky. Use your fingers, preferably dampened with a little water, to form the dough into balls, then gently flatten the tops so you have inch 1-inch thick mounds (for thicker cookies). If you want big flat (thin) cookies, flatten to about ½ inch thick. You can also chill the dough at this point if you'd like, but it's not necessary. I usually do anyway.
- Arrange as many rounds as you want to bake (I recommend starting with 2 just to get the timing right) on one of the parchment lined baking sheets.
- Put the smaller rimmed pan in the oven, then set the baking sheet with the cookie dough on top of it.
- Bake at 325 F. for 20 to 25 minutes. Check at 20.
- To cool, slide the parchment onto a cool counter and let cool completely.
- Convection: If using convection, bake at 330 and check at 18 minutes. The time will probably be about the same, but you need to reduce the temperature slightly.
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