I have birds.
Living in Los Angeles is like living in a jungle. Instead of dense tropical trees and dangerous pumas, Los Angeles has obnoxious cars and… actors. There is very little visible animal life besides dogs on leashes, squirrels rummaging through the trash bins and pigeons just walking around being pretty gross.
But I have birds. I call them my Midnight Song Birds. They live in the tree outside my bedroom window and sing to one another all night long. All night! Sometimes I’ll be up until 1 in the morning and the birds are still going at it. They keep up the chatter all night long.
I’ve come to love sound of these birds chirping as I fall asleep. It helps erase the occasional helicopter or paramedic siren. My birds sound beautiful. And though they sound completely out of place at 1 in the morning, they remind me to be thankful for the little things- like the simple joy of chirping birds, or chewy chocolate cookies.
How about some cookie adventures? Follow me.
I’m convinced that these cookies are actually brownies in disguise. They’re super soft, full of chocolate, and my favorite part- they have that brownie crackled skin on top. I think it’s the slightly flaky chocolate top and soft center that won my heart.
Topped with darling chocolate covered sunflower seeds, these cookies are perfect to snack on with a glass of cold milk sitting in front of the TV watching dvds of Big Love… or maybe that’s just me.
Chocolate Brownie Cookies
recipe from King Arthur Flour
yields 26 cookies without chips, 30 cookies with chips
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped or in chips)
3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.
In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. You don’t need a mixer, just do it in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you’re using them. Refrigerate the batter like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.
Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2″ between the dough balls, as they’ll spread as they bake.
Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’re done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a bittersweet chocolate wafer, or a chocolate covered sunflower seed. Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
That brownie cookies look so good! I like the sound of those chocolate covered sunflower seeds. I will have to look for some.
My kids would love these !
Oh these cookies look delicious! I wish I could have one right now. And that’s pretty neat about your birds!
I think I just did that Homer Simpson drooling thing when I saw those pictures.
I love how you decorated them, Joy. They’re beautiful.
Oh joy, I believe that those dangerous pumas are actually the actors :) are you melting down in Southern California? Up in Northern California, we are COVERED in smoke. I literally can’t see 10 feet ahead of me because of the dense haze. It’s nasty. So instead of hanging out outside like I normally do, I will be watching reruns of Big Love (I share your addiction) and chomping on these cookies.
I have those crazy birds in Nashville, TN outside my house. I don’t have the appreciation for them that you do at 1:00 AM…i DO however appreciate those scrumptious looking cookies! Maybe next time the silly birds are keeping me awake I’ll make these cookies and sing along :)
There’s actually a bit of wildlife where I live, but I just noticed my own “Midnight Song Birds” about a month ago. I thought it was odd at first, but now I find it quite soothing.
I love the crackly tops on these cookies! The sunflower seeds look really lovely too.
Brownies in disguise. O yum!
Never heard of chocolate covered sunflower seeds. Yum.
I can’t wait to try the cookies. Now, how about a good chewy oatmeal raisin cookie?
I would miss the variety of birds and other critters. Suburbia isn’t all bad. Glad you have a few by your window.
I love chocolate covered sunflower seeds.
Cookies, Cookies, Cookies…my daughter and I can never get enough of cookies, especially chocolate ones. The photos you took of the cookies look wonderful. I’ve never seen chocolate covered sunflower seeds. Maybe I can get them online. Great blog. Thanks for sharing.
I have a mockingbird that comes every summer and sings all night long varying what he hears. It is my favorite thing in summer. My blog is very new, and seeing as these are chocolate cookies, then I must make them.
Oh Joy, these sound and look marvelous! I’m so gonna make them!
oh. my. gosh.
I love brownies in any form, those look great!
These cookies look great, just from the pictures I could imagine the soft insides and light crust on the top, mmmm.
These look delicious! They look so pretty with the chocolate sunflower seeds in them!
These look and sound wonderful. A brownie in cookie form mmmmm.
this is the chocolate cookie of my dreams!!!
I have birds outside my windows too. Albert and Alfred will perch on the tree outside my apartment and coo for their bread. And yes, chewy cookies are delicious. I had them for dinner last night :D
Hello! I’m a fairly new follower of your blog, I got a tip from a cousin and am glad I took the advice to give you a look! I just made these brownie cookies today, (I put crushed peppermints on top, the softish type, not the hard crunchy ones,) and appreciate the recipe! Even Himself liked these, and he’s not got a huge sweet tooth. When I first mixed them up, I had my doubts. The batter was so thin, but it firmed up quite nicely in the fridge, and I think mine turned out as prettily as yours. I liked hearing about your bird neighbors, too. That made me smile!
fantastic Joy! what a nice way to sneak the goodness of sunflower seeds in these cookies! I made espresso-kahlua brownies 2 days back, and I’m still on the espresso road, so these sound delicious!:)
Do you bake pies? I need one delivered for a birthday in your building.
Thank you.
Hi Joy,
I was on my was to making your brownies yet again but I stumbled on these.
Great way to say Thank you to my son’s teacher for a great first few weeks – Thanks for spreading the joy of baking all around.
Merci.
Joy – I just made these last night…delicious! I brought the rest of them into work today, because I would eat them all in one sitting otherwise! Everyone has said how yummy they are… truly a delicious brownie transformed into a portable cookie. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi there, Your blog is fantastic!! I’ve seen this recipe a few places and am going to try it. Can you tell me if the teaspoon of espresso powder is just a teaspoon of ground espresso or if it’s the instant powder you see in some baking recipes? Thanks!
Margot! These cookies are just dreamy. To answer you question, I used espresso powder, not ground espresso beans. The instant powder stuff. Enjoy!
I baked some of these last night. Two words: instant hit.
My cousin says they’re better than boxed brownies and I agree. The two of us nearly devoured a dozen before the other 4 family members could get to them :P (We college kids are horrible, we know.)
Thanks for sharing! This is a keeper :)
Thanks Joy! I just made these and that are sooo good – dreamy is the right word for them!! If I wasn’t taking them to a get together, half would be gone by tomorrow. :)
i’m sitting in my kitchen waiting for these babies to pop outta the oven… yay for this recipe, and yay for you for writing all these happy blog posts!
Those look gorgeous!. M bookmarking these. the birds sound delightful. Here we get teh occasional birds with colourful streaks. An amazing feeling when I spot one.
Chilling my dough now. And ordering more espresso powder from KAF since I’m out. :( So sad that I’m out of chocolate chips, too. And that I haven’t found chocolate covered candies of any sort that are dairy free that I can use…but, the batter still tasted swell! Timer needs to hurry!
Just tasted my first one and it’s a HIT! I topped mine with a dark chocolate M&M (the Easter colored ones are so pretty against the dark cookie.)
Note to self…buy cookie scoops or use two spoons next time. I tried to scoop out dough with a spoon and then roll it into a ball with my hands. I ended up with a few cookies worth of dough stuck to my hands. Sadly, I’m not a cookie dough fan, so it was a tragic loss of a cookie or two on my palms.
Hi Joy – I would love to make these for an event in a few days. Can you tell me if they freeze well?
Yes Maris, these cookies freeze well, just wrap them well!
I was telling my boyfriend last night that I wanted to find a way to turn boxed brownie mix into a cookie, so I figured I’d look around online, and these are exactly what I was looking for! He thought that I was trying to combine brownies and cookies, so I think I’ll have to make that as well, but first thing’s first, and these just look perfect! Thank you so much!
Wow, your food looks great and you’re very pretty, too.
You’d make some guy very lucky!
I made these the other day but I used a pack of mini m’n'm’s instead of the optional cup of chocolate chips…worked a treat plus they added that little bit of colour as we don’t get the chocolate & candy coated sunflower seeds here. ;-)
These were awesome! They are a chocoholic’s dream! I used 1/4 C of semisweet chocolate chips & 1/4 C of milk chocolate chips in the batter too & my cookies took 15 minutes at 325 degrees & my cookies were a little puffier (i’m guessing because of the chocolate chips?). Oh & I also topped them with an M&M. I’ve made them twice now. The first time i just used spoons to dish out the batter & it was messy & sticky (still yummy though!) – i went & bought a 1-1/2 Tbsp scoop (that’s what they had at Bed, Bath & Beyond) and that worked MUCH better for the 2nd batch! Glad i stumbled upon this recipe. :)
these were awesome cookies
it took me a while to drop the cookies since i didnt have a scoop and resorted to two different spoons, but they were worth it.
Mine didn’t really work :(
They spread out too much, so they were crispy on the bottom, but hadn’t cracked on top. What did I do wrong?
these look absolutely scrumptious!
i can’t wait to make these for my cool little brother.
they were excellent. a huge hit and everyone wanted the recipe. thanks joy!
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