Cookie Dough Fudge Brownies

These brownies are made with a rich, fudgy bottom topped with a cookie dough layer complete with chocolate chips and a chocolate frosting drizzle.

I love making brownies.

No, I mean, I REALLY love making brownies. They are the one dessert you can whip up in no time, and when company is coming you can feel confident that most people will like them. Because, who doesn’t love chocolatey brownies?

Also, if you need to make gluten-free brownies, it’s one of those desserts that tastes pretty amazing with or without the gluten. I have a child who is gluten-free and we’ve made plenty of brownies without all purpose flour for her.

However, whenever I make her a gluten-free dessert, I usually make a highly glutenous (is glutenous a word?) counterpart for the rest of the family. Because, gluten-free flour ain’t cheap.

Basic brownies are quick and easy to make, but brownies are also something that is easy to jazz up a bit with just a little extra work. For example, in October I like to make my candy corn brownies for the kids.

Of course, candy corn is one of those very controversial flavors. Either people love them or they hate them.

However, cookie dough – that isn’t as controversial. Most people LOVE cookie dough flavor. Though, I guess it’s still controversial about whether to eat raw cookie dough or not. I’m going to do the responsible thing here and recommend you don’t eat it raw. I’m not going to lie and say I never eat raw cookie dough.

That being said, you don’t need to worry about raw cookie dough being included in this recipe. First of all, in the cookie dough part, there is no raw egg.

That being said, there is flour. And so, to avoid any issues we are going to heat treat the flour for the cookie dough layer.

I know that sounds like a lot of work, but I promise you it isn’t.

What exactly is heat treating the flour, and how do you do it?

Heat treating the flour is just a way to make sure you are making it safe to consume since it is a raw product. It’s really, really simple to do.

All you do is preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Put your flour in a thin layer on a baking sheet, and bake it for 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. Once it’s done let it cool for 30 minutes before using.

Alternatively, you can buy heat treated flour if heat treating it at home makes you uneasy.

How to reduce the amount of butter in these brownies

I should give you a fair warning – these brownies use a LOT of butter. However, you can reduce the butter in two ways – substitute the butter for oil in the brownie layer (though it will change the texture, but some people love their brownies made with vegetable oil) or make a smaller batch.

I have kids so I made a 9 x 13 pan of these brownies but they are pretty rich so feel free to half the recipe and make them in a 9 x 9 pan.

Chocolate Frosting Drizzle

These brownies are topped with a chocolate frosting I drizzled over with an icing bag, but if that seems a little too much for you then you can just spread the chocolate frosting all over the brownies in a thin layer with a spatula.

Cookie Dough Fudge Brownies

Ingredients:

Brownie layer

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Cookie Dough Layer

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour (*see notes about heat-treating)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Chocolate Drizzle

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 x 13 dish with parchment paper or you can grease the pan instead.

Step 2

Mix the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cocoa, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

Step 3

In a medium-sized bowl beat the eggs. Add the melted butter (but make sure the butter is cooled because if it’s too hot it’ll cook your egg and you’ll have chunks of egg in your brownie and nobody wants that. Add the vanilla and mix well.

Step 4

Mix your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients, but just until it’s all combined. Don’t overmix.

Step 5

Scoop the brownie batter into the baking dish (it will be thick.) Spread it out with a spatula.

Step 6

Bake for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean, with a few crumbs attached to it.

Step 7

While allowing the brownies to cool you can make the cookie dough filling. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.

Step 8

Add the milk and vanilla and mix again.

Step 9

Add the flour and mix until all combined.

Step 10

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Step 11

Spread the cookie dough mix overtop the brownies. I’m not going to lie, this is not as easy as you would think. The dough is pretty sticky. It’s going to take determination and a really good spatula.

Step 12

Stick the brownies in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up that top layer.

Step 13

Make the glaze by adding the chocolate chips and butter to a saucepan on low-medium setting. Stir often to prevent burning.

Step 14

Once it’s melted transfer the chocolate to a bowl and add the icing sugar and milk and use a handheld mixer to beat for 3-4 minutes.

Step 15

Put the glaze into piping bag and pipe icing onto brownies, or just spread a thin layer of it on top of the cookie dough layer, whichever you prefer.

Step 16

Cut and serve!