There’s cookies. There’s brownies. There’s even the best of both worlds with cookie brownie bars. But how about switching it around and making brownie cookies?
*extra brownie points for these being vegan and gluten-free friendly AND doubling as edible cookie dough*
These rich little cookies pack an intense chocolate punch. The truffle-like texture is incredible; your teeth sink first into the shell of frosting, then the soft-baked fudgy cookie, for it to almost begin to melt in your mouth like a dark chocolate dream.
Or you can skip the baking and keep this sweet treat in the fridge as edible cookie dough! Take it up a notch by drizzling the ganache-like icing on top for a chocolate shell or scoop the cookie dough out and dip each ball into the ganache – it’ll be like a cookie dough cake pop!
Now let’s get to the good stuff!
Vegan Frosted Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 TBSP vegan butter or neutral oil: walnut, almond, avocado
- 120 g chocolate chips, divided dairy-free
- 4 oz. plain, unsweetened dairy-free yogurt*
- 1 TBSP vanilla
- 2 TBSP monk fruit or other sweetener
- ½ C flour
- 6 TBSP cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- ¼ tsp. baking powder
- ⅛ tsp. baking soda
Ganache-Like Icing
- 60 g chocolate chips dairy-free
- ~2 g vegan butter
- 2 tsp. unsweetened milk dairy-free
- Optional: splash of vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Place half of the chocolate (60g) and the oil or butter in microwave safe bowl and microwave in 15 second increments, stirring between, until the chocolate is melted and smooth
- Stir the yogurt and vanilla into the melted oil and chocolate
- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated
- Fold in the rest of the chocolate chips – at this point the dough can be baked into cookies or stored in an airtight container in the fridge for edible cookie dough*
- For cookies, scoop onto a prepped baking sheet, then lightly press down to flatten each cookie as they don’t spread much while baking – wet your fingers, use gloves, or a piece of parchment or wax paper to shape the cookies and keep the mess to a minimum
- Bake for 5-7 minutes, then let cool (either on the baking sheet or a cooling rack)
- As the cookies are cooling, prepare the icing – or see below for other topping options – by melting all of the icing ingredients together in 10-15 second increments and stirring between until smooth and glossy
- Once the cookies are cool, spread a layer (thickness based on preference) of the icing onto each cookie, then allow the cookies sit at room temperature until the icing has set – it’s set when the icing is firm to the touch and the cookies can be stacked without sticking to each other
Notes
- *Chocolate chips: any chocolate chips or chunks can be used, I typically use semi-sweet to melt for the cookie dough in step 2, and a mix of semi-sweet mini chips, dark chocolate, and/or chocolate chunks to fold into the dough
- *Yogurt: Silk and So Delicious are the brands I use and trust in baking
- *5. I recommend baking half of the dough and keeping half in the fridge for edible cookie dough (that can always be baked later!)
- Makes ~17 cookies using a 1.5 TBSP cookie dough scooper
What’s crazy is I almost forgot about this recipe. The idea came to me falling asleep one night, and I (wrongly) assumed, “this is a fantastic idea, of course I’ll remember it!” only to be leisurely sitting on the couch DAYS later and *brownie cookies* abruptly pops into my head. Imagine the bombshell that was!
And it’s to our good fortune that this recipe wasn’t forever forgotten. Cookies and brownies are classic desserts. It’s no wonder why they’re brought together; when two things are as good as these are separately, think of how they could be together? These tender, bite-sized brownies are another example of how irresistible the cookie brownie combo is.
But it is a wonder why there aren’t more fresh baked brownie scented candles? Until then, we’ll go the old-fashioned way and bake these bad boys to fill our homes with the most mouthwatering, comfy cozy aromas.
Aside from the chocolate ganache, these brownie cookies can be:
- left plain (surprisingly yummy)
- sprinkled with powdered sugar
- slathered with white frosting (and fun sprinkles!)
- dipped in or drizzled with melted white chocolate
- topped with caramel and flaky sea salt
These cookies are adapted from the tried-and-true Healthy Fudgy Brownies I’ve been making since 2018. With 2 different icing options and the flexibility to make them gluten-free and dairy-free, they’re sure to be a hit for everyone!
Or for the other cookie brownie combo, there are these Cookie Brownie Bars that also feature edible cookie dough.
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 cookie (makes ~17): 11.4 C | 5.7 F | 1.6 P
Depending on the size of the cookie scooper or personal preference, you may end up with more or less than 17 cookies. If you do and want to know the macros, take the macros of the entire batch (below) divided by the number of cookies made to determine the approximate macros for each cookie.
Whole recipe: 194.6 C | 96.3 F | 26.6 P
And if you ditch the ganache-like icing and choose a different option or keep them naked, here are the macros:
Macros per cookie, plain, no icing (based on 17): 11 C | 3.7 F | 1 P
Whole recipe, plain, no icing: 186.6 C | 63.6 F | 17 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 “Vegan Frosted Brownie Cookies – SUNutrition” or “Vegan Brownie Cookies, NO Frosting – SUNutrition”).
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