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Brown Butter Brookies

Brookies are a mix of fudgy brown butter brownies and chewy chocolate chip cookies. Putting the two batters in a certain order makes sure that everything bakes evenly and that neither layer overbakes.

Why You’ll Love These Brookies

Fudgy Brownie Layer: This simple dessert has a luscious layer of my fudgy chocolate brownies.
Layer of Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: My chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe is stacked on top of and between the brownie batter.
Feeds a Lot of People—These rich bars can be sliced into little pieces to feed a lot of people! Great for parties.

Preparation & Servings

Preparation: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Total: 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Servings: 16 to 24 bars

You can always find the full recipe with measurements and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. To get around, use the table of contents (back at the top, underneath the first picture).

Overview of the Ingredients

I always use salted butter since it tastes the nicest, but you may use unsalted butter if you like. The cookie layer is made with 100% butter.
Vegetable oil: Because vegetable oil stays liquid at room temperature (unlike butter), it helps keep baked goods of all kinds soft and moist. I used to make brownies using all butter, but trust me, switching out some of the butter for oil makes them more moister without changing the taste!
Semi-Sweet Chocolate: We’re using semi-sweet chocolate so the bars won’t be too sweet.
Cocoa Powder: I like to add cocoa powder to melted chocolate to give my brownies a deeper chocolate flavor.
Eggs: Use big eggs that are at room temperature.
Sugars: A mix of granulated and powdered sugar makes it simpler for all the sugar to dissolve, which is necessary for the crust to be very thin and beautiful. The cookie batter has both granulated sugar and brown sugar in it to keep the cookies soft and chewy.
Vanilla: For optimal results, use real vanilla extract.
A little salt is important for any recipe, whether it’s savory or sweet. It helps to bring out the flavor and balance the sweetness.
All-purpose flour: For optimal results, spoon your flour into the measuring cup and then level it off with a flat tool. You can also use a scale. If you scoop the measuring cup right into the flour, you’ll get too much flour and maybe a dry bake.

Tools that are special:

Pan 9×13 –This recipe needs a metal 9×13 pan!

To Make the Chocolate Chip Cookies:

14.5 tablespoons of salted butter, 206 grams
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar, 163 grams
3/4 cup of granulated sugar, 156 grams
2 big eggs that are at room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
390 grams of all-purpose flour, measured in cups and leveled out.
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 salt
1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips

For the Brownies:

3/4 cup of salted butter, cut into cubes; 170 grams before browning and 140 grams after
4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped; chocolate chips work too
1/4 cup of vegetable oil, or 56 mL
63 grams of cocoa powder, or 3/4 cup
3 big eggs at room temperature
1 large egg yolk that is at room temperature
158 grams of granulated sugar, or 3/4 cup
1 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, or 174 grams
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
65 grams of all-purpose flour, or 1/2 cup
Optional: a pinch of espresso powder
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You may leave this out if you have to, but it makes each brownie have nice pockets of melted chocolate.

For the Top:

Optional flaky sea salt

Step-by-Step Instructions

Before you start, turn up your oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 metal pan with nonstick spray and line it with parchment paper. This will make it easier to remove and cut later.
To make the chocolate chip cookie dough, melt the butter in a big basin. Add the sugars and mix them in. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk for about 30 to 45 seconds, or until everything is smooth and mixed. First, mix in the dry ingredients, and then the chocolate chips or pieces. Split the dough in half so that each half weighs around 640 grams. Cut the dough in half and press one half into a 9×13 pan lined with parchment paper. Put half of the dough in the prepared pan, then take out the parchment paper and put in a new one. Take it out and set it aside. This is the cookie batter for the middle layer. Put the cookie dough layer aside and leave the rest in the bowl for later.
Put cubes of butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Stir the butter every so often until it melts. After the butter has melted, bring the heat down to medium-low and keep cooking it, turning it often. The butter will get foamy and bubbly, and then it will turn a rich golden color and smell like nuts and caramel. (This will take around 3 to 6 minutes after the butter has melted.)
After the butter has browned, toss in the semi-sweet chocolate until it is completely melted. Then, whisk in the cocoa powder and vegetable oil. Let it cool down a little bit. Put the eggs, egg yolk, and sugar in a big mixing bowl. Whisk for one to two minutes, or until the sugar is completely dissolved. Touch the mixture with your fingers. If it’s perfectly smooth, you’re set to go! Keep whisking until you can’t feel any sugar granules. Next, mix in the salt, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Then, make sure the chocolate mixture isn’t too hot (it will still be warm), and whisk it into the bowl of eggs and sugar. Add the flour and espresso powder, and finally the chocolate chips.
Put a little more than half of the brownie batter in the bottom of the prepared 9×13 pan. You can just eyeball it. Take off the excess piece of parchment paper and place the sheet of cookie dough on top of this. Put the rest of the brownie batter on top. Make thick, big discs out of the rest of the cookie dough and place them on top of the batter. If you need help seeing this, look at the pictures in the blog page above. If you choose, you can press more chocolate chips into any portions on the cookie dough that are bare.
Bake the constructed brookies for 38 to 44 minutes. The brownies will have a beautiful top and the cookies will be golden. If you stick a toothpick into the middle of a brownie area, it will have some moist crumbs but not wet batter. Don’t bake too long!

Serving and Storing

Let the bars cool in the pan on a wire rack for 1 to 2 hours before cutting and serving. If you want, sprinkle flaky sea salt on top!

Before cutting the bars, let them cool for at least 30 minutes. The longer you let them cool, the finer your slices will be (but let’s be honest, these are demanding to be eaten warm!)

You can keep leftover bars in an airtight jar at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.

Put leftover bars in an airtight container at room temperature for 3–4 days. I really, really think you should warm up leftover pieces in the microwave.

Baking Tips for Brookies from the Pros

Oven thermometer: An oven thermometer will let you know if your oven is really at the temperature you set it at. Your oven might not be right. Most baked goods need the oven to be at the right temperature, so I always have an oven thermometer in there to check the calibration.
Kitchen Scale: The easiest approach to make sure your flour is the right weight is to use a food scale. This is because the amounts will be very different depending on how you measure it and the measuring cup you use, since they are not standardized.

Different Ways to Make This Recipe

Gluten-free: I haven’t tried making this dish gluten-free yet.
Dairy-free: To make this dish dairy-free, use your favorite dairy-free butter.

Notes about Brownies

Brown Butter in the Brownies: If you’re short on time, you can skip browning the butter. If you don’t want to brown the butter, though, start with only 140 grams of melted butter instead of 170 grams.
Cocoa Powder: You can use any kind of cocoa powder for this recipe because it doesn’t call for baking powder or soda. Dutch process and natural cocoa powder usually can’t be used interchangeably because of how they react with baking powder and baking soda. You can use black, natural, or Dutch process cocoa powder. Black cocoa is the kind they use in Oreos, so these brownies taste a little like Oreos.

Nutrition Serving

1 bar, Calories: 667kcal, Carbohydrates: 84g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 36g, Saturated Fat: 20g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 86mg, Sodium: 297mg, Potassium: 274mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 56g, Vitamin A: 641IU, Calcium: 67mg, Iron: 3mg

The nutrition information is automatically calculated, thus it should only be used as a rough guide.