My husband and I live in opposite-ville when it comes to dessert. Give me a rich, gooey chocolate brownie with a shiny, crackly top any day. My husband loves crispy-chewy chocolate chip cookies with a passion that verges on new religion, but he’s positively “meh” about brownies. The solution? I glued my favorite brownie recipe to his favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, made a few tweaks, and now we live in dessert harmony with brookies — half brownie, half chocolate chip cookies!

Step 1: Mix up the brownie batter

You’ll want to make this sticky batter first and chill it while making the cookie dough, which will make it easier to handle. I like to use Dutched cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s Special Dark) and a touch of instant coffee (Starbucks instant VIA Columbia Roast works well) to give the brookies a really deep, dark chocolate flavor. Adding walnuts is optional, but I think they taste more like real brownies that way.

Step 2: Make the cookie dough

For the chocolate chip cookie side, you’ll want to use true room-temperature butter. If the butter is too warm, the dough will spread too much, leaving you with a flattened cookie pool around a brownie mound in the center. Cut it up and blend it with the sugars until it looks like wet sand. It doesn’t need to be fluffy or fully creamed — just combined.

Step 3: Form and bake the brookies

Once both doughs are prepared, measure out even tablespoons of each and line them up in pairs on two baking sheets (a spring-loaded cookie scoop is your BFF here). Working quickly so the doughs don’t become too warm, gently roll one blob of each dough together until they are just married into a rough ball with distinct sides. Place the ball seam-side up on the baking sheets so you can see a brownie side and a cookie side.

Bake until the edges of the chocolate chip side are golden-brown and the brownie half is cracked on top. Then, enjoy them with your favorite brownie-lover or chocolate chip cookie-lover — it works both ways.

Brookies

Serves 24, Makes 24 cookies

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