I told my friend to pick a recipe for us to bake last weekend. She wanted these chocolate chip cookie bars I made once, but then she also wanted brownies. She had the brilliant idea of putting the two together, so I googled some recipes. I chose a recipe from About.com because it involved cocoa powder (which I had) and not unsweetened bars (which I didn’t have). We tried cutting the amount of butter in the recipe because it totaled 3 sticks. We had enough brownie batter but not enough cookie batter, so I would cut the butter in the brownie layer (which I adjusted in the recipe below) but keep the butter amount for the cookie layer. All my roommates and us enjoyed these brownies.


Double Decker Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer:
12 tablespoons butter, cut into slices
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Brownie Layer:
8 tablespoons butter, cut into slices
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 13×9 pan.

2. Chocolate chip layer: Melt butter over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature, but still liquid.

3. Brownie layer: Melt butter over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa powder. Scrape into medium-sized bowl with a spatula. Add sugar, whisking to combine until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until blended, adding vanilla with the last egg. Using a large spoon or spatula, mix in flour just until blended. Pour into prepared pan, and gently spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

4. Chocolate chip layer: Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Combine with cooled butter mixture until smooth. Whisk in 1 egg and vanilla until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.

5. Space spoonfuls of cookie mixture over the brownie layer. Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with small gooey bits. Do not overbake. Cool to room temperature.

Source: About.com