Ooooh la la. A dainty dessert.

Mmmmm.

The original recipe for these brownie cookies is from PDX Food Love, but being the dainty little dessert gals we are, we had to change it up to make it more. We really make all the recipes for our blog and take the pictures ourselves. We got together the other day to make a few of the recipes for future posts. We don’t live THAT close to each other. We’re what my mother calls: ” G.U.’s” (geographically undesirable). Anyway, when we get together we try to make it count. These brownie cookies were yummy and almost so soft you couldn’t hold them….and so the brownie ice cream sandwich was born.

Better-than-Brownies Chocolate Cookies

Makes 24 large cookies

You will need:

• 8 ounces semi-sweet baker’s chocolate (don’t use chocolate chips! They have stuff like paraffin in them and aren’t as good).
• 2 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 + 1/6 cups sugar (amount is weird because I halved the recipe, but it’s pretty easy to eyeball one half of a 1/3 cup scoop)
• 1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract (again, use the real thing for true decadence)
• 1/4 cups AP flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

Start by melting the chopped chocolate and the butter in a heat-safe bowl in a double boiler (put the bowl over an inch of water in a pot. Try to get similar sizes so the bowl is pretty steady on top of the pot). Keep the temperature on medium low – ideally this will go pretty slowly so no burning takes place.

While the chocolate is melting, use a whisk to mix together the sugar, eggs and vanilla separately. When the chocolate and butter have melted into a smooth liquid, take it off the heat, and temper with the egg by adding a teensy bit of chocolate to the egg at a time, so you don’t get chunks of cooked egg. Eventually you will be able to just add the rest of the chocolate. Be careful – the bowl will probably still be warm.

Stir in the flour and baking powder, and drop onto cookie sheets with either parchment or silicone baking mats (don’t skip this on these cookies). I would also do no more than 6 to a sheet, because they do spread quite a bit. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees, and allow to cool on the tray, ideally set on a baking rack.

While the cookies were cooling, we allowed some vanilla ice cream to soften a bit. When it’s soft enough to handle, scoop out a chunk and form it to fit the cookies. Truthfully we put a plastic bag on our hands and formed the ice cream to fit the cookie. Wrap each cookie in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. You could even roll the edges in sprinkles to make them fun for a party. Peppermint,cherry chocolate,chocolate chip, orange sherbet. Go nuts…. Mmmmm. Nuts. Those would be good too.

* Makes 12 ice cream sandwiches