Making chocolate chip cookie brownie bars!

This recipe for chocolate chip cookie brownie bars was in the cook book made by Bev Shaffer named Cookies to Die For! When cut up, it can make about three dozen bars.
"Ingredients for brownie

• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Ingredients of chocolate chip cookie

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9" baking pan. Line pan with foil, then lightly grease foil.


For the brownie base: Melt the chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan, over low heat, stirring to blend. Remove pan from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.


Stir in flour, baking power, and salt. Spread into prepared pan.


For the chocolate chip cookie dough: Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until creamy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl


Mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Top brownie base with spoonfuls of cookie dough, distributing as evenly as possible.


Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted i the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely on a wire rack.


When completely cool, invert onto a large cutting board and gently remove foil. Reflip onto another large cutting board so the chocolate chip cookie topping is right side up. Cut into bars. Makes about three dozen" (Shaffer 140).


I tried this recipe because I thought it would be something interesting, combining brownies with cookies. Although combining the two doughs was tedious, the flavors were definitely worth it. At first I though that the brownie had overpowered the flavor of the cookie, but when I tried both flavors separately I noticed they combined quite well.

For once, I almost completely stuck to the recipe given. But, I was bringing these to a get-together and I was running short on time due to the long bake time. So, I was supposed to let the cookie/brownie cool on a large cutting board and then cut them into bars (Shaffer 140). Instead, I grabbed the pan with a towel and put them into my car so I wouldn't be even more late. I then cut them into bars at the get-together.

As much as I love this recipe, it proved to be challenging in some cases. If not cooled as supposed to, it is quite challenging to cut and remove bars out of the pan, while not shredding the foil everywhere. Also, throwing spoonful's of cookie dough on top of the brownie mix was painstaking and not very precise. Although I liked that certain parts had different ratios of cookie to brownie, it wasn't visually pleasing. I thought this especially about the areas I got little to no cookie dough at.

Hopefully, I will be able to do this recipe again. In which case, there are probably some different actions I would take. First off, I would actually let the everything cool properly, then remove and cut the bars. I would also try a different way to more evenly distribute the cookie dough, possibly by trying to give it some shape or roll it out and then place it on top of the brownie mix. Then I might try to mix up the flavors, maybe using larger chocolate chips in the cookie dough or maybe adding flavored chocolate chips to my brownie mix.

How do you think I could make the bars more flavorful without ruining the combination of cookie with brownie?

Shaffer, Bev. Cookies to Die For! Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub., 2009. Print