Author Notes
I was on the lookout for the perfect homemade baked good, for my BF’s mom. I knew she was a die hard chocoholic and preferred soft textures to crunchy ones. Naturally, brownies came to mind. But while tasting amazing, they don’t make for the prettiest gifts. Especially not, when sitting in a parcel for 3-4 days and travelling 800km. So when I found the recipe for the Brownie Cookies on Epicourius, it seemed like the perfect solution. I adapted the recipe by lowering (never thought I'd see the day) the chocolate amount and adding ground espresso and the caramel sauce.
Super chocolaty: check. Soft to the bite: check. Travel well: check. And the added bonus: they only get better with age, ripening in the package. Of course they also tasted amazing straight out of the oven. —Maja
Ingredients
- Brownie Cookies
-
1/4 cup
flour
-
1/4 teaspoon
baking powder
-
Pinch
salt
-
2
eggs at roomtemperature
-
2/3 cup
sugar
-
1/2 teaspoon
espresso powder
-
1
vanilla bean
-
2 tablespoons
butter at roomtemperature
-
6 ounces
mix of dark and semi-sweet high quality chocolate
- Salted Caramel Sauce
-
1/4 cup
sugar
-
1 1/2 tablespoons
butter
-
1/8 cup
milk
-
1/4 teaspoon
coarse sea salt
Directions
- Brownie Cookies
-
Preheat oven to 180°C / 375°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
-
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
-
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs the sugar, espresso, and mark of a vanilla bean on high speed for 10 minutes, until thick. The original recipe calls for 15 min, but since I only own a hand mixer, there is no way I’ll go for 15 minutes. It turns out great with 10 minutes of mixing, so don’t worry.
-
While the eggs are whipping (or after, depending on your type of mixer), place the butter in the top of a double boiler or in a small metal bowl on top of a pot of simmering water, and put the chopped chocolate on top. Heat until the butter and chocolate melt. Remove the boiler top from over the water and stir the chocolate and butter until smooth.
-
Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Add the flour mixture to the batter and carefully fold it in.
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Let it rest until the batter thickens slightly, about 4 minutes.
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Drop the batter by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and again let them rest for a few minutes.
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Bake until puffed and cracked, 7 to 9 minutes.
-
Carefully transfer to a wire rack, after letting them firm up for 1 minute.
While the cookies cool down, prepare the Caramel Sauce.
- Salted Caramel Sauce
-
Melt sugar in a light saucepan over high heat, stirring consistently. Once the sugar has turned into a brownish color, turn off the heat, add the butter and keep stirring. Add the milk and continue stirring, until the consistency is thick and creamy. Mix in the sea salt and decorate the cookies.
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If you have some sauce left, let it cool a bit and then form squares, for cute caramel bonbons.
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