Brookie Squares

Cookies were the first proper thing I worked on when it came to creating my own recipes. I found them to be so hard for some reason! Once I had that perfected, I moved onto brownies. The other thing that I thought was so hard. Getting the radios right and having the perfect chewy, fudgey centre, while also having a nice crinkly topping. and not having it sink in the middle, or be too undercooked while the edges were over cooked. Hard work man!

But once I had both under my belt, it only made sense to put them together to create the perfect brookie squares! Using all the techniques i've learnt over the years to make them individually, I have created the perfect combo for a brookie square! So let's talk about it!

Sugar

One of the most important things to me that makes the perfect brownie is the chewy, fudgey centre! Brownie's shouldn't be cakey in the middle or too runny. And to achieve this fudginess the sugar used is so important! That's why in this recipe I only use soft light brown sugar. This really adds to the chewiness of the texture. Some brownie recipes will use a combination of white and brown sugar, however, I find using only soft light brown sugar really adds to the intensity of the chew.

In the cookie, I use a combination of soft light brown sugar and caster sugar. Of course, we want the cookie to be nice and chewy, just like the brownie, but the caster sugar will help the outside of the cookie have a slight crisp to it as well. There are other cookie recipes where I have just used soft light brown sugar, like in my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, as this gives a really melt-in-your-mouth, chewy texture, but that's not what we're going for here.

Chocolate

The quality of chocolate used in a brownie makes all the difference. The higher quality of chocolate used adds a lot to the flavour of the brownie. I use 70% dark chocolate. Don't worry if you're thinking 'ew, I couldn't possibly eat that, it's far too bitter!' I'm totally with you!! But when mixed into the batter along with the sugar and eggs and everything else, what you get is a nice chocolatey flavour coming through the brownie, rather than a weak chocolate flavour. This is what I love about using real chocolate in a brownie, and not just using cocoa powder.

For the chocolate in the cookie, you have options. You could use chocolate chips either milk or dark, whatever you prefer. Though bare in mind if this is what you choose, that chocolate chips contain stabilisers to stop them from melting, so they'll pretty much hold their shape. Another option is using a chocolate bar and chop it up to use as the chocolate chips. This allows the chocolate to melt and spread throughout the cookie giving greater pockets of chocolate as you bite in, which in my opinion, isn't a bad thing!

Eggs

To start with, let's clear something up. Eggs do not have to be kept in the fridge. You'll probably find that most recipes will require the eggs to be at room temperature. So keeping your eggs out on the side is a shortcut for that!

The brownie recipe calls for one large egg and 1 egg yolk. Egg yolks add a lot of extra richness to the recipe and help to make a smoother end result because of the extra fat and protein in them.

The eggs get mixed with the sugar and rather than just mixing until combined, I mix this for a good 5-8 minutes until it's pale and fluffy, with thick ribbons falling back into it when you scoop some up. The extra mixing time here helps to make sure the sugar is fully dissolved to bake it extra chewy and fudgy, and makes the top of the brownie extra crinkly.

Check out some of my other recipes below!

Coffee

I know a lot of people may be dubious about adding coffee. And this step is completely optional, but a small teaspoon of coffee powder into the recipe really helps the chocolate flavour to pop.

But you definitely can't taste the coffee. It's such a small amount, if you wanted a coffee brownie, it would require a lot more coffee, so fret not! But as I say, it's completely optional, and you can for sure skip this step if you wanted to.

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Baking

The key to baking this is low temperature and patience. Nobody wants the edges to be too overcooked while the middle is still runny. To get that nice even bake, a slightly lower temperature works best. I bake this on 170°C fan for around 35 minutes. But bare in mind that every oven is different, and it may take some trial and error to figure out how your oven best bakes it.

My advice would be to set your timer for under the recommended time, for example 25 minutes, then check it, maybe turn it around and add 5 more minutes and keep going like that until it's done. Thenn keep track of how long it was in the oven for.

Knowing when to take it out the oven is important. If you wait for it to look completely done, it will end up being too hard. The cooking process still continues in the few minutes after it comes out the oven. What you're looking for is just a slight wiggle in the centre of the brownie when you take it out. This will ensure a perfectly chewy, fudgey centre of each slice of brownie. Don't take it out if it's too wiggly though, because that will be slightly undercooked. And if there's no wiggle, its overbaked and will end up too hard.

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Equipment

Here is a list of recommended equipment I use and where to buy them!

• Whisk - https://amzn.to/3ZRbkT6

• Kitchen Scales - https://amzn.to/40iSN3D

• Kitchenaid Stand Mixer - https://amzn.to/40h2CiA

• Electric `hand whisk - https://amzn.to/4jliwym

Ingredients

Cookie

85g butter

115g soft light brown sugar

45g caster sugar

1 large egg

3/4 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

160g plain flour

75g dark chocolate chips

75g milk chocolate chips

Brownie

100g melted butter

80g 70% dark chocolate

25g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp coffee powder

1 large egg

1 egg yolk

150g soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

65g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170C. Line an 10x10" tray with greaseproof paper.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, or with an electric hand whisk, cream the butter and sugars together.

3. Add the egg and once combined add the vanilla and mix until thick and pale. Scrape the bowl down if needed to ensure all is incorporated.

4. Add the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb through a sieve and fold in until the flour mixture is almost gone. Add the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar and mix until combined.

5. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge while you work on the brownie. This will make the cookie easier to handle.

6. Moving onto the brownie, in the bowl of your stand mixer, or with an electric hand whisk, add the egg, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla and whisk for 5-8 minutes (this mixing time will be slightly longer if using a hand whisk) until it becomes really thick and pale. Tip: If you take some of the mixture and tip it back in a figure 8 it should stay there for a few seconds before sinking back into the mixture.

7. While the eggs and sugar are mixing, break up the chocolate into a bowl. Add the sifted cocoa powder and the coffee powder. In a separate bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Pour the hot butter into the chocolate and let it sit for a few minutes to melt the chocolate. Whisk together until smooth and silky. Set aside to cool.

8. When the egg mixture is ready, tip the chocolate into the it and whisk together slowly until fully combined. Tip: at this point I normally swap to folding the mixture with a spatula so air isn’t added in. Added air at this point would cause the brownie to sink after baking.

9. Next, fold in the sifted flour and baking powder.

10. Pour half of the brownie mixture into the prepared tin. Break up some pieces of the cookie dough and plate It around In random places. Add the second half of the brownie batter and spread It around, then top again with broken up pieces of cookie dough. Lightly tap the bottom of the tray a few times to get rid of any air. Bake for 25-35 minutes. The middle should have a slight wiggle. Leave to cool completely in the tray.

11. To get an even more chewy, fudgey centre, once it's fully cooled put in the fridge overnight, then cut and serve at room temperature the next day. Enjoy!

    
    

    Serving suggestion: Heat a slice in the microwave for 20-30 seconds and enjoy warm with a scoop of your favourite ice-cream.

Additional Tips:

• Make sure all ingredients are room temperature before baking.

• This cake can keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container.

• Sieve all of your dry ingredients, including the caster sugar. This helps the batter to be as smooth as possible.

• Use real block butter for the best taste and texture. This also helps hold the structure of the brookie together.