Baked Brooksters At Last!

My lovely little Bakery Bingo blog started just eight months ago with a trip to NYC.  I was determined to visit Baked, a café/bakery owned by the writers of my all-time favorite cookbook, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.  It was a long trek to Brooklyn, given that we didn’t have a car and taxis did not seem to want to pick us up apparently.  (Read more about our NYC Bakery Crawl here).  But after about an hour journey we made it!  And it was well worth the trip, especially for their incredibly delicious Brooksters – a perfect combo of brownie and chocolate chip cookie. (Hence people also calling this creation the “Brookie.”)

As my father-in-law put it, how many times have you considered the age-old question of “do I get a brownie or a cookie? I just can’t decide!!”  Well Baked made it so you don’t have it.

It really is a brownie then a cookie smashed inside it and Baked till warm, chocolately and amazing.

Since that amazing day of discovery, I have been wanting to create my own Brookster.  The recipe isn’t anywhere in Baked’s cookbooks and seemed impossible to find on the Internet.  So I tried coming up with my own recipe (documented in blog-form here) but it just didn’t work.  It was too much brownie and the cooking times didn’t work.  Fortunately for me, one of my wonderful readers passed along the link with the actual recipe.  I finally got to baking on Sunday afternoon and eagerly waited for the Brooksters to bake their way to perfection.

We ate our Brooksters warm from the oven topped with vanilla ice cream.  It was a great flavor combination of rich brownie with crispy edges and buttery cookie with melted chocolate chips.  Yummy.

Brooksters Recipe (found online at Marthstewart.com)

Time: The recipe takes some time and some patience as it is pertinent that you let both the cookie dough and the brownie batter chill in the fridge to ensure they bake evenly.  But it is worth the time – I promise!

Hands-on Time: 60 minutes: 25 minutes for brownies, 20 minutes for cookies, 15 minutes prep

Total Time: 4 hours including baking and chill time

Servings: Makes 6 Brooksters if made in 4″ pie tins (like these http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Pie-Pans-Set-4/dp/B00180VISY), or about 10 if made in regular muffin tins.

Chocolate Chip Cookie:

The cookies need to chill longer, so prepare this first.

Ingredients:

• 1C plus 2T all-purpose flour
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2t baking soda
• 1/2C (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2C packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4C granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1t vanilla
• 6oz semisweet chocolate chips

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and both sugars until smooth creamy.  Scrape down sides of the bowl using a spatula; add egg and beat until well combined.  Mixture should be light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and beat until just incorporated, about 5 seconds.
3. Add half of the flour mixture and beat until just combined, about 15 seconds.  Add remaining flour mixture and mix until fully combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Cover bowl and refridgerate at least 3 hours.

Brownies:

Ingredients:

• 1/2C (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1” pieces
• 3/4C all-purpose flour
• 1T dark cocoa powder
• 1/2t salt
• 5oz dark chocolate (I used 60%), coarsely chopped
• 3/4C granulated sugar
• 1/4C light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1t vanilla

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, stirring frequently so the chocolate doesn’t burn.  Turn off heat but keep bowl over water, whisk both sugars into chocolate mixture. Stir until sugar have mostly dissolved.  Remove bowl from water and let cool to room temperature.
2. While chocolate mixture is cooling, butter bottom and sides of six 4” pie tins or ten muffin tins; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and cocoa powder; set aside.
4. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined.  Add vanilla and stir until combined. Fold flour mixture into chocolate mixture until just a trace amount of the flour mixture is visible.  Be careful not to overmix.
5. Fill each prepared pin or muffin tin halfway with batter. If using pie tins, place them on a large baking sheet and transfer to refrigerator.  Let chill for at least 1 hour.

 

Prepping the Brooksters:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Using a 1/4C ice cream scoop with a mechanical release, scoop chilled cookie dough, about 1-2T. Using your hands, shape dough to form perfect balls and gently form into a round disk that is slightly domed at the tops. Disks should be slightly smaller than the top of the pie tins.
3. Remove pie tins from refrigerator and gently press 1 disk of cookie dough into each tin of batter. Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake until cookie is golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Rotate baking sheet halfway through cooking time.
4. Serve warm with ice cream for an even tastier Brookster!