Nutella and Cookie Butter Stuffed Brooksters {Brownie + Cookie}

Nutella or Cookie Butter Stuffed Brooksters… you don’t have to choose between brownies or cookies.  Have them both by baking chocolate chip cookies into brownies with this brookster recipe, and then stuffing them with gooey nutella or cookie butter because, well, we can 🙂 

I like brownies.

I like chocolate chip cookies.

So naturally, it only makes logical sense to combine them.  And I wish it was my idea.  But it was theirs.  And when I first tried the Brookster at the Baked NYC stand within The Great GoogaMooga Food Festival last year, I was suprisingly disappointed.  I mean, it’s obviously a great idea.  Brilliant concept.

Although my anticlimatic and underwhelming first encounter with the kinda dry, chewy-fudgy-chocolately lacking Brookster, I stored that genius brainchild away in the memory bank for a future kitchen adventure.  And that time is now, only it’s been amped up a bit with the addition of stuffing the little buggers with either nutella or cookie butter 🙂

You probably thought I was done with the whole cookie butter phase, didn’t you?  I definitely had my fill of the stuff over the past month.  In Crack Pie.  Pretzel Coated Truffles.  Puppy Chow.  Caramel and White Chocolate Blondies.  And even stuffed within Brown Butter and Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies.

In all honesty, I had no intention of using cookie butter for these Brooksters.  My plan was to stuff them all with nutella. But apparently the same elves that have been shrinking my clothes this past month have also been eating all the nutella.  cough Asheley cough.

So if you are in the nutella mood, stuff them all with nutella.

Have stock in Trader Joe’s cookie butter like we do apparently?  Go crazy with the addictive gingerbreadish spread (and if you don’t have access to cookie butter, biscoff or speculoos spread are equal substitutes).

Or if you are a person that enjoys sophisticated variety in life, stuff some with nutella and others with cookie butter.  And if you’re really daring, don’t label which are which so it’s a surprise when you bit into them.  Oh yea… I like to live dangerously over here.

And, just thought of this… you could, could, use peanut butter if you swing that way.

A few words of advice before you embark on your first Brookster cooking adventure:

• line your cupcake tins with liners.  I didn’t and a few of my Brookster boys got stuck in the pan.  I was able to do reconstructive surgery on a couple to save them, but some sadly didn’t make it.  If you are going to be all rebel-like and go without the liners, make sure you grease your tins like crazy with butter or another nonsticking agent of choice.
• sure you could use a homemade brownie recipe, but I’m a fan of the Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownies (which is what I use in the recipe below).  They are so rich of fudgy, chocolately, chewy goodness.  Feel free to substitute your favorite fudgy brownie mix or homemade recipe instead.
• it’s important to refrigerate both the brownie batter and cookie dough as prescribed in the recipe.  Don’t try to get all fancy and try to skip that step.
• make sure to push the cookie dough into the brownie batter slightly so that they fuse together in the baking process.

Nutella and Cookie Butter Stuffed Brooksters {Brownie + Cookie}

• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: Approximately 18 Brooksters 1x

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

for the Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups good quality semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

for the Brownies*

• 1 Box Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 egg
• *or your favorite brownie mix (follow directions on box) or homemade recipe.

for Brookster assembly

• Brownie Batter
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Nutella
• Cookie Butter (alternatively, Biscoff Spread or Speculoos)

Instructions

for the Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Combine flour, baking soda, and Kosher salt in a small bowl. In your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electic mixer, beat butter, sugars, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Gradually mix in flour mixture, and then stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate until well-chilled, about 1 to 2 hours.

for the Brownies

1. Place water, oil, and egg in a medium mixing bowl and stir until fully combined. Add brownie mix and stir until fully incorporated, about 50 strokes.
2. Fill 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Alternatively, generously and thoroughly coat the bottom and sides of each cupcake cavity with butter or nonstick cooking spray (but I suggest the liners… I tried butter and some of them got stuck in the pan).
3. Divide brownie batter among the cupcake liners, filling each one with about 3/4″ of batter. I only was able to fill 18 using the Ghirardelli batter. If using a different brownie mix, you may be able to make more/less.
4. Refrigerate until very well-chilled, about 2 hours.

to Assemble the Brooskters

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Remove cookie dough and brownie-filled cupcake pans from the refrigerator.
2. Drop appoximately teaspoon-sized amounts of either nutella or cookie butter on top and in the center of each of the brownies.
3. Scoop cookie dough by heaping spoonfuls, roll into ball, and flatten into discs slightly smaller than the size of each cupcake liner. Gently press cookie dough discs into the brownie batter and sealing the nutella/cookie butter inside.
4. You will have leftover cookie dough. When life gives you cookie dough… you know what to do.
5. Anyway, bake Brooksters for approximately 20 minutes, until the cookie is golden brown.
6. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before devouring.