brooksters.

Brownies + cookies + hipster (attitude)= Brooksters.

No, sorry, I'm just kidding. But these tiny confections are so adorable that they make you want to strut around a party with one positioned just so between your pointer and thumb, because they make you look cool.

Hey! It's a cookie AND a brownie conveniently and ingeniously packaged together in one cohesive calorie bomb!

I made something similar before, except that the cookie dough portion was unbaked. And like before, my opinions remained unchanged. Two good things combined together doesn't make the final product even more mind-blowing. I think it's probably due to the coinciding flavour profiles, i.e. rich and chocolaty. Usually, the best desserts are those with complementary flavours and textures, regardless of what form they are in. So if I were to take the same brownie with, say, vanilla pudding, I would greatly prefer that. It helps to break the monotony.

That's not to say that these weren't good though. I actually used my own chocolate chip cookie dough recipe instead of the one provided in the book so of course it's good! (Har har.) The brownie is definitely one of my favourites so far. It's dense, but not too much, with a slight cakey-ness to it. So when you store it in the fridge overnight, it transforms into this creamy chocolate bar. Which, by the way, I highly recommend you to try!

On a side note: Curse you chocolate cookies. Why are you so dang good?

Brooksters
partially adapted from Baked Elements
makes 6 4 inch ones, 12 regular-sized ones or 48 mini ones

For the cookie dough, refer to here. Make 1/2 of the recipe or make the full and bake the rest of into regular cookies. Whichever quantity you make, you have to prepare it at least 3 hours ahead, store in fridge.

For the brownie:
3/4 cup flour
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, cold

Grease 6 4-inch pie pans, a 12-hole regular-sized muffin pan or enough mini muffin pans.

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder and salt together in a bowl.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the sugars and vanilla extract. Stir in the eggs, one by one, until fully incorporated but don't overmix. Fold in the flour mixture until just combined.

Fill each cavity just under halfway full. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 375F, 350F or 325F for 4-inch, regular-sized or mini brooksters respectively. Take about 1/4 cup of cookie dough for 4-inch brooksters (downsize accordingly for the smaller versions), roll it into a ball and flatten it slightly before placing it on top of the brownie batter.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (adjust accordingly for the smaller versions again. 10 to 12 minutes for the mini ones should suffice.) or until the cookie dough turns a light golden brown at the edges. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes or until firm enough to hold before unmolding.