Chocolate Swirl Brownie Cookies
I believe in baking.
Baking for friends. Baking for family. Baking for coworkers. And even sometimes, for myself.
By now, most of you know that I believe in healthy baking. I’m always looking for replacements to high-calorie sweet treat staples like butter, sugar, and eggs.
Except during the holidays. Because I also believe that if you bake a batch of cookies to gift to a friend, they might start to reconsider your friendship if you skimp out on all the tasty goodness that things like butter and sugar can bring to all the best baked goods.
Which is why I took a healthy, vegan, Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookie recipe by Chocolate Covered Katie and added my own little twist to it. And by twist, I actually don’t mean the swirl topping, I mean butter. I added butter to the batter. So sue me.
You won’t. At least not after you try one of these heavenly, chocolate-filled treats of wonder. It’s almost Christmas. It’s time to celebrate. Plus, 2012 might also be the end of the world, so please, just live a little. And most importantly (more important than the end of the world) remember that it’s always OK to indulge every now and then.
And these cookies are the best way to do it.
(Just saying.)
Ingredients:
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 + 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 T coconut oil
5 T butter (I used unsalted), melted
chocolate & white chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 325F. In a large bowl, mix together the first six ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, melted butter, and vanilla.
3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until a thick, fudgy dough is formed and all of the flour is absorbed.
4. Place the dough in a plastic bag and mush it all together into one big ball using your hands. Freeze for 15 minutes.
5. Break apart the dough to create small cookie shaped pieces and place on a greased cookie sheet. (Note: Use a conservative amount of dough for each cookie. Their circumference will increase as they bake.)
6. For “Polka Dot” cookies, press chocolate and white chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie before baking. (For regular chip cookies you can simply fold the chips into the dough before freezing.) *And for swirl-topped cookies, place 2-3 white & chocolate chocolate chips on top of each cookie after removing from the oven. Let sit for 2-3 minutes. When they have softened, take the tip of a small spoon and very gently press down while making a light swirling motion.
7. Bake at 325F for 13-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for an additional 10 minutes before removing from pan.
