Anna Olson's Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookie
Posted by Donna-Marie Pye on
These more-ish cookies have a lovely crackled satin surface that looks just like a well-made pan of chocolate brownies and they have a chocolate flavour that’s just as intense due to the proportionately large quantity of chocolate in the recipe. Get that glass of cold milk ready!
Ingredients...
- 8 oz (240 g) dark baking/couverture chocolate chopped
- ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter*, diced
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp Nielson-Massey vanilla extract
- ½ cup (75 g) all-purpose flour**
- ¼ cup (30 g) Valrhona Dutch process cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp fine salt
- ½ cup (90 g) chocolate chips (white, milk or semisweet)
Method...
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a small metal bowl placed over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring gently until smooth. Set aside.
- Whisk the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla by hand for a minute, until paler in colour. Whisk in the melted chocolate.
- Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and stir to combine. The batter will be quite fluid but if you let it rest for a minute or two, it will thicken up on its own. Scoop the cookies onto the trays, leaving 2 inches (5 cm) between them.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies appear crackled on the surface. Remove from the oven and cool on the trays, on cooling racks, for 10 minutes. Lift the cookies onto the racks to cool completely.
The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
We asked Anna about her recommendations for this recipe. Here are her comments…
“I know exactly what the issue with the cookies is. While effective in most recipes, I have learned that Baker’s brand chocolate is not ideal for these cookies. It does not have the fluidity when melted to allow the cookies to spread, but other brands will work better.
I rely on Callebaut semisweet or bittersweet chocolate from Bulk Barn (also at Costco). It comes in a chip form called callets and needs to be weighed.
When I refer to couverture/baking chocolate, I am trying to steer bakers away from the bags of chocolate chips you use for chocolate chip cookies. They are made to hold their shape and will not work in recipes that call for melted chocolate".
I loved the flavor of these cookies, however, mine did spread, so I will try to refrigerate them to avoid spreading. Please give me your comments, thank you
Me too. My cookies didn’t spread at all!
Can you elaborate please on the ingredient “dark baking/couverture chocolate” – what it is exactly, is it like baking chocolate, is it sweet, semisweet or bittersweet? Where can I find it, under which brand name? Thanks for your help! It was a costly failure with all that chocolate…
I tried this recipe twice and my cookies did not spread.
I’m not sure why it happened, I followed the recipe exactly like it’s in the book. ( I have her book)
I’m so sad and disappointed… but they tasted really good but did not spread