Combining two crowd-pleasers: brownies and cookies!
You may also know them as…
- Brookies
- Crownies (unsure if they’ve ever actually been called that, but it sounds cool and regal)
- Cookies brownie bars
Betty Crocker’s highly addictive, *oops I ate half the pan in one sitting*, boxed cookie brownie bars are what inspired this dreamy, decadent dessert.
Except this one is even. better. in that it’s better for you (yes please guilt-free treats), made with less processed, higher quality ingredients, and is friendly for those with gluten, dairy, and nut sensitivities!
With that distinctive gritty texture of traditional cookie dough coming from the stevia brown sugar, this raw cookie dough is safe (and super yummy) to eat on its own. And the rich, chocolatey brownies are a delightful balance of moist and fluffy; and can certainly be made and devoured as is, sans cookie dough. But the two together? That’s a duo that could give peanut butter + chocolate a run for their money!
Now how about less talking and more baking so you can be one step closer to sinking your teeth into these warm, melt in your mouth brownies topped with puddles of soft, gooey cookie dough?
Cookie Brownie Bars
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 2 ¼ tsp. oil: walnut, almond, coconut*
- 2 ¼ tsp. stevia brown sugar
- ¼ tsp. maple syrup (Lakanto, monk fruit)
- ⅛ tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. unsweetened dairy-free milk any kind
- 3 ½ TBSP flour: oat, GF, AP, WW
- Pinch of sea salt
- 15 g (1 TBSP) chocolate chips dairy-free
Brownies
- 2 TBSP vegan butter or oil: walnut, almond, coconut
- 120 g (½ C) chocolate chips dairy-free
- 1 egg
- 2 TBSP liquid egg whites or 1 egg white
- 3 oz. unsweetened plain dairy-free yogurt*
- 1 TBSP vanilla
- ¼ C unsweetened dairy-free milk any kind
- ½ C flour: oat, GF, AP, WW
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 TBSP stevia or sweetener
- 6 TBSP cocoa powder
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- In a small bowl, whisk the oil and stevia brown sugar together
- Then whisk the rest of the wet ingredients in
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated (add a touch more flour or milk if needed to achieve desired cookie dough consistency)
- Fold the chocolate chips in, then place in the fridge while the brownie batter is being prepared
Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- In a medium sized, microwave-safe bowl (big enough for the brownie batter), melt the oil and HALF (60 g) of the chocolate chips in the microwave
- Once melted, add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until combined – it's okay if it's a little lumpy
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth
- Fold in the remaining chocolate chips, then evenly spread the batter into a prepared 8×8 or 9×9 square baking pan
- Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and using a measuring spoon, spoon, or your hands, scoop out ~½ TBSP sized pieces of cookie dough and lightly press the pieces into the brownies, spreading them out evenly – it doesn't need to be perfect, you can make them as big or small as you'd like
- Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean; for gooier brownies, remove around 15-16 minutes and let cool before cutting
Notes
- *Oil: almond and walnut oils are milder tasting oils, where coconut has a slightly stronger taste – although because of how rich these cookie brownie bars are, it’s pretty safe to say that the coconutty flavor wouldn’t be too noticeable, if at all
- *Chocolate chips: Enjoy Life is a brand free from common allergens that melts, bakes, and tastes like the real deal
- *Yogurt: in this recipe, So Delicious plain coconut milk yogurt is the brand that was used, but your favorite dairy-free yogurt will likely work just as well! For regular, dairy yogurt, you may need to increase the amount by 1 oz., similar to the Healthy Fudgy Brownies
- *6. (Brownies) To cover more surface area so you get a bit of cookie dough in each bite, slightly flatten the cookie dough pieces before placing then on the brownie batter. And you can also press the cookie dough into the batter as well.
- For extra pizazz, here are some optional topping ideas: flaky sea salt, powdered sugar or similar alternative, or drizzled chocolate
For your cookie brownie bar to taste like it’s fresh from the oven, even days later, warm it up in the microwave for 10 seconds before serving!
These brownies were derived from the iconic Healthy Fudgy Brownies – if you ever need or want to bring a dessert somewhere, look no further, seriously! And for another edible cookie dough that’s also vegan, wander on over to this blog: Vegan Cookie Dough Bites.
If interested, the macronutrients are below. They are kept separate at the very end of each recipe blog so that this can remain a safe, positive space for all as not everyone wishes to see the nutritional information.
Macros per bar (based on 9 bars): 20.3 C | 11.2 F | 4.1 P
If you cut this into more or less than 9 bars and want to know the macros per treat, just divide the macros of the entire recipe (below) by the total number of bars.
Whole recipe: 182.8 C | 101 F | 37.1 P
The macros for recipes are also available on MyFitnessPal. Simply search the name of the recipe followed by “ – SUNutrition” (so for this recipe, search “Cookie Brownie Bars – SUNutrition”).
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