What is your favorite dessert? In college I loved brownies. Nice and soft. I would make box brownies (I think Duncan Hines was my fave) and after cutting them, I would freeze them. Then eat them straight out of the freezer. I love chocolate chip cookies that way too. Since taking up baking last year, I have tried to stay away from box mixes. Not only to challenge myself but also because most box mixes contain hydrogenated oils. I find so many recipes I want to try but they call for cake mixes or pudding…if anyone has a go to recipe for homemade cake mixes and pudding, let me know.

Thanks to Jen’s Favorite Cookies, I found a really good Brownie Cookie. Easy to make and really good. I already have plans for another alteration to the recipe.

Brownie Cookies

½ cup butter, cut into chunks (I only had salted so I didn’t use all the salt below)
1 bag (10 – 12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 eggs
1 cup + 2 T. sugar
2 T. cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
¾ cup flour
½ cup white chocolate chips
chopped pecans (I didn’t measure these, sorry)

Instructions

Over a double boiler, melt butter and chocolate chips together, stirring until completely melted and smooth. (I don’t have a double broiler, and the bowl I was trying to use was failing me, so I finished it off in the microwave.)
Meanwhile, mix together eggs, cocoa powder, and sugar, beating 3-4 minutes on high.
Add melted chocolate to egg mixture, and mix well.
Add vanilla, salt, and baking powder, and mix. Add flour and mix just until combined.
Fold in white chocolate chips and chopped pecans.
Drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet with cookie scoop
Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes.

If you like the tops of brownies, you will love these cookies. I already know that next time I am going to try something else, and cook them a little less. They didn’t look done so I cooked them 1 minute longer. Which ended up not being needed. Hardly any recipe I have found on Pinterest to try calls for nuts. I add nuts to almost everything. Pecans and walnuts. I need to try almonds in something too. Yum. Call me nutty.

For this baking I also used something new. I knew that I didn’t have a very good food processor because it wouldn’t fully chop my peppermints. Or anything else I put in there. I decided to get the Ninja at work. I knew it had a lot of pieces but it basically has a blender as well. So I can get rid of that old one too. And the blades are double sets so it blends up higher in the bowl too. I did however, get told that they get returned a lot at work. I hope not. So far I think it works great. And so much easier to clean. It chopped the pecans up perfectly.