Salted Brownie Cookies are a decadent treat that combines the rich, fudgy texture of a classic brownie with the convenience and crisp edges of a cookie. This hybrid dessert is perfect for those who love the intense flavor of chocolate but crave the satisfying crunch and portability of a cookie. Made with a blend of semi-sweet chocolate chips, unsweetened cocoa powder, and a hint of espresso, these cookies offer a deep, complex chocolate flavor that is perfectly balanced by a sprinkle of sea salt on top. The contrast between the sweet, gooey center and the salty, crackly top makes each bite an indulgent experience.

What sets these cookies apart is their ability to capture the best qualities of both brownies and cookies in one bite-sized form. Their popularity has surged as more home bakers discover the joy of combining two beloved desserts into one irresistible treat. Whether you’re a chocolate lover or a cookie enthusiast, Salted Brownie Cookies are a must-try recipe that promises to delight your taste buds and impress anyone lucky enough to share them.

Essential Ingredients for Salted Brownie Cookies

Salted Brownie Cookies are made with a thoughtfully curated selection of ingredients, each playing a crucial role in creating the perfect balance of flavors and textures. Understanding the purpose of each component can help you achieve the best results.

All-Purpose Flour

All-purpose flour serves as the structural foundation of these cookies, providing the necessary gluten that gives the cookies their shape and chewiness. The amount of flour used is carefully balanced to prevent the cookies from becoming too cakey, ensuring they retain that classic brownie-like fudginess.

Baking Powder

Baking powder is the leavening agent that gives the cookies a slight lift. It helps create a light, airy texture in the cookies without sacrificing their dense, chewy nature. The right amount of baking powder ensures that the cookies rise just enough to develop a crackly top, characteristic of a good brownie.

Salt

Salt is essential for balancing the sweetness of the cookies, enhancing the overall flavor profile. In the dough, it tempers the richness of the chocolate, while a sprinkle of sea salt flakes on top adds a delightful contrast to the sweet, fudgy interior, making each bite more complex and satisfying.

Eggs and Egg Yolk

The combination of whole eggs and an extra yolk adds richness and moisture to the cookies. Eggs provide structure and help bind the ingredients together, while the additional yolk increases the fat content, contributing to a denser, more fudgy texture that is key to these cookies.

Granulated Sugar

Granulated sugar not only sweetens the cookies but also helps achieve the desired structure by aerating the dough when creamed with the eggs. This process contributes to the cookies’ crackly tops and chewy texture.

Vegetable Oil

Vegetable oil is used instead of butter in part of the recipe to add moisture and softness to the cookies without making them greasy. It helps achieve a tender crumb while keeping the cookies chewy and moist.

Vanilla Extract

Vanilla extract enhances the flavor of the chocolate, adding a layer of depth and complexity to the cookies. It complements the sweetness and rounds out the overall flavor profile, making the chocolate taste richer.

Unsalted Butter

Unsalted butter is melted with the chocolate chips, creating a smooth, glossy mixture that forms the base of the cookie dough. The butter adds richness and a subtle buttery flavor that pairs beautifully with the intense chocolate notes.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Choosing high-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips is crucial for achieving the best flavor. They provide a balance between sweetness and bitterness, ensuring the cookies are rich and chocolaty without being overly sweet. Some chips are reserved for topping the cookies, adding a melty, indulgent finish.

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Unsweetened cocoa powder intensifies the chocolate flavor, giving the cookies a deep, rich taste. It also helps absorb some of the moisture, contributing to the fudgy texture that makes these cookies so irresistible.

Espresso Powder (Optional)

Espresso powder is an optional ingredient that subtly enhances the chocolate flavor, making it more robust and complex. It doesn’t add a strong coffee taste but instead deepens the chocolate notes, making the cookies even more indulgent.

Sea Salt Flakes

A sprinkle of sea salt flakes on top of each cookie is the final touch that elevates these cookies from good to extraordinary. The salt enhances the sweetness and brings out the complexity of the chocolate, creating a perfect balance of flavors in every bite.

Preparing Your Kitchen for Baking

Proper preparation is key to ensuring a smooth and successful baking experience, especially when making Salted Brownie Cookies. Begin by setting up your oven; preheat it to 350ºF, ensuring that the oven rack is positioned just above the center, which helps the cookies bake evenly and develop the desired crackly tops.

Next, choose the right baking sheets—heavy-duty, non-stick sheets are ideal for even heat distribution. To prevent sticking and ensure easy cleanup, line the baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. This also helps the cookies maintain their shape and prevents them from spreading too much.

Finally, practice mise en place, a French culinary term meaning “everything in its place.” Before you start mixing, measure and organize all your ingredients. This not only speeds up the baking process but also reduces the risk of missing ingredients or making errors, ensuring your cookies turn out perfectly every time.

Step-by-Step Instructions and Baking Tips

Mixing the Dry Ingredients 

Begin by combining the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk the ingredients together until they are thoroughly mixed. This step ensures that the baking powder and salt are evenly distributed throughout the flour, which is crucial for uniform leavening and flavor in your cookies.

Sifting the dry ingredients is an important step, especially when baking delicate items like these cookies. Sifting aerates the flour, which helps in achieving a light and consistent texture in the dough. It also breaks up any clumps that may be present in the baking powder or salt, ensuring a smoother batter. This even distribution of leavening agents is vital to avoid any dense or unevenly baked cookies.

Preparing the Wet Ingredients 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, egg yolk, granulated sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the ingredients together on medium-high speed. The goal is to mix until the combination is fully incorporated and becomes frothy, which usually takes a few minutes.

The frothiness indicates that air has been introduced into the mixture, which will contribute to the light, crackly tops of your cookies. It’s important that the eggs are at room temperature before mixing; this helps them blend more easily with the other ingredients, ensuring a smoother batter. Cold eggs can cause the fat in the recipe to solidify, leading to uneven texture and potentially affecting the final bake.

The addition of vegetable oil, along with the eggs, provides moisture and a rich, tender crumb in the cookies. The oil also helps to keep the cookies chewy while complementing the butter that will be added later.

Melting the Chocolate and Butter 

In a small saucepan, combine the semi-sweet chocolate chips and unsalted butter. Place the saucepan over medium heat and allow the ingredients to melt together, stirring constantly with a whisk or spatula. Medium heat is crucial here—it ensures that the chocolate and butter melt slowly and evenly, preventing the chocolate from burning or seizing, which can happen if the heat is too high.

Once the mixture is smooth and fully melted, remove it from the heat immediately. While the chocolate is still warm, whisk in the unsweetened cocoa powder and espresso powder (if using). The warmth of the chocolate mixture will help dissolve the cocoa powder and espresso, creating a rich, velvety base for your cookie dough. This step intensifies the chocolate flavor, making it deep and robust.

Combining Wet and Dry Ingredients 

Carefully pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl with the frothy egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the chocolate is just combined with the wet ingredients. At this stage, the batter should be smooth and well-mixed, but take care not to overmix, which can lead to tough cookies.

Next, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. You can do this in batches to make it easier to incorporate. When adding the dry ingredients, you can either mix on low speed or gently fold them in using a spatula. Folding is preferred when you want to retain the air that was introduced in the earlier steps, resulting in a lighter texture. However, if you mix too vigorously, you risk developing the gluten in the flour too much, which can make the cookies dense and tough.

The final batter will be on the thinner side, but still scoopable. It should have a shiny appearance and be well-combined without any streaks of flour.

Scooping and Shaping the Cookies 

Using a 1 ½ tablespoon-sized cookie scoop or two spoons, scoop out portions of the cookie dough and place them onto the prepared baking sheets. Leave about 1 ½ inches of space between each dough ball to allow for spreading during baking.

Proper spacing is crucial to prevent the cookies from merging into each other as they bake. If the cookies are too close together, they can spread into one another, resulting in an uneven bake and less appealing shapes.

Before baking, sprinkle a small amount of sea salt flakes over the top of each cookie dough ball. The amount of salt should be just enough to enhance the flavors without overwhelming the sweetness of the cookies. This final touch adds a delightful contrast that makes each bite more complex and satisfying.

Baking the Cookies to Perfection 

Place the baking sheets in the preheated oven, and bake the cookies at 350ºF for 8-10 minutes. The exact baking time can vary depending on your oven and the size of your cookies. The key to determining doneness is to watch for the tops of the cookies to become shiny and crackly, with a set edge but still slightly soft in the center.

For those who prefer their cookies on the chewier side, opt for a shorter baking time. If you prefer a crispier texture, leave them in the oven for an extra minute or two, but be careful not to overbake, as this can lead to hard, dry cookies.

Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, you can use a round cookie cutter, slightly larger than the cookies, to gently reshape them into perfect rounds. This technique works best while the cookies are still soft and pliable from the heat. Simply place the cutter over each cookie and swirl it in a circular motion to form a neat, round shape.

Cooling and Storing the Cookies 

Once baked, allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes. This cooling period helps the cookies set, making them easier to transfer without breaking. After 5 minutes, use a spatula to carefully transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Proper cooling is essential to achieving the best texture. Cooling on a rack allows air to circulate around the cookies, preventing them from becoming soggy as they cool. Once the cookies are at room temperature, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

If you prefer to enjoy the cookies warm, they can be reheated in the microwave for about 10 seconds, which will make the chocolate chips melty and the cookies soft again, bringing back that fresh-from-the-oven experience.

FAQs

How do I make my cookies chewier?

To make your cookies chewier, reduce the baking time slightly, keeping them in the oven for just 8 minutes rather than 10. Additionally, using a higher ratio of brown sugar or adding an extra egg yolk can increase the chewiness due to their moisture-retaining properties.

Can I substitute the vegetable oil with butter?

Yes, you can substitute the vegetable oil with melted butter, but this will change the texture slightly. Butter will add a richer flavor, but the cookies may turn out slightly denser and less chewy, as oil generally provides more moisture and softness.

Why did my cookies turn out too hard?

Cookies can turn out hard if they are overbaked or if too much flour was added to the dough. Ensure you measure the flour accurately and stick to the recommended baking time to prevent drying out the cookies.

Is espresso powder necessary, and can it be substituted?

Espresso powder is optional but recommended as it enhances the chocolate flavor without adding a noticeable coffee taste. If you don’t have espresso powder, you can omit it or substitute it with instant coffee powder.

How can I make my cookies perfectly round?

You can make your cookies perfectly round by using a round cookie cutter to gently shape the cookies immediately after they come out of the oven, while they are still soft.

What other types of chocolate can I use in this recipe?

You can use dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate chips as substitutes or additions to the semi-sweet chocolate chips, depending on your flavor preference. Dark chocolate will give a more intense flavor, while milk and white chocolate will add more sweetness.

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