Brookies

I came across the concept of these many times while browsing through Pinterest. However, as many photos as there were, I could never find a recipe! 

I decided to try them as a treat to cheer up someone who loves brownies and loves chocolate chip cookies! Those are pretty basic things to love. It's kind of hard to go wrong making either. 

I think I got this down pretty well even though the baking times for these are obviously very different! I wanted to preserve the tastes of each part of the Brookie and still get them to stick together. I had no problem getting them to do just that! The result was a gooey, soft cookie and a chewy brownie that's just sticky enough in the middle. They resemble mini muffins, and that's the kind of pan I used to make them. They are deadly sweet and the perfect size of you ask me. Anything bigger and I think they'd just be too rich!

Brownie Portion:

2 squares unsweetened chocolate

3/4 stick butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

Cookie Portion:

1 cup flour

1/2 Tsp baking soda

1/4 Tsp salt

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 pkg chocolate chips

Mix two separate batters up in a stand mixer or with bowls and an electric mixer.

I usually have no problem at all making batters like this is one bowl! I just don't see the point of dirtying so many bowls to separate wet and dry ingredients. Mix up the cookie one. Start with creaming the butter, then add in the sugar and other wet ingredients, followed by all the dry ingredients with the flour going in last and then fold in any mixings such as the chips. Set aside. 

Now mix up the brownie portion. Heat the butter and chocolate on the stove top in a small pan on low just until its completely melted. Then pour it into your mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, vanilla, and flour. Make sure that the mix isn't too warm to add in the eggs, if its cool enough, you can beat them in. 

Grease your pans well. Spoon brownie batter into the muffin pans until they are a bit more than half full. I used disposable pans, but I'm sure these are a lot easier to handle using a permanent pan. I just happened to be making them in someone else's kitchen so I bought these for the job. Bake the brownies in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. 

Remove mostly cooked brownies from the oven and allow to cool down for about 5 minutes. Cover with cookie mixture almost to the top of the tin wells. Continue to bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and check for thorough cooking with a toothpick. It should come out mostly clean and definitely not goopey. 

Get yourself a big glass of milk to enjoy these with. You won't be able to resist trying one right out of the oven!

Low Fat Banana Cookies

I originally pinned this recipe because they were guilt free cookies. I ended up needing to bake for someone who was eating gluten free. You really can't get much simpler than these cookies though. And what better to do with bananas if they are starting to turn? I usually made some Low Fat Banana muffins with them but, I now switched to these. I now make these cookies EVERY time I have bananas that are starting to brown!

 

Recipe Adapted from The Burlap Bag

 

For each banana you have, mash them and add 1/2 cup of oats. I threw in some vanilla extract and cinnamon because I can never just leave a recipe alone. I'm sure I will be trying these with all kinds of mix-ins in the future! Each banana should yield about 2 cookies (apparently I made big ones), and it's so easy to keep track of what you are eating if you use an app like I do.

 

I added chocolate chips to them. I like to put them on top of cookies too because it looks nicer and you can count them out!



Lay your cookies out on a well greased cookie sheet! Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. When they come out of the oven, you have to let them cool for a few minutes so they will stay together. Don't leave them too long though, because they can be hard to get off the pan (maybe 5-10 minutes). Next time, I think I will try parchment paper and see if that makes it easier.

 

Hindsight: When I first started making these cookies, I used to puree the banana to an almost liquid. I have since figured out that the chunkier you leave the bananas, the easier the cookies come off the pan and the better they stay together!