Pin it
Picture these chewy brownie cookies with a hidden creamy chocolate center inside. The outsides are crunchy, the middles are fudgy, and you’ll bite into a silky surprise. Top them off with colorful sprinkles, and they’re perfect for big parties or just hanging out when you’re craving chocolate in a big way.
The first time my crew tried these was at a birthday get-together and now they ask for them every holiday. We’ve even made a rainy afternoon tradition out of baking them together.
Irresistible Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, nice and soft: gives the cookies crisp, but tender edges. European butter works if you want them super rich
- Kosher salt: brightens those deep cocoa flavors but doesn’t actually make anything salty
- Packed brown sugar: brings a touch of chew and a hint of caramel. Fresh, sticky brown sugar works best
- Heavy cream: makes the ganache filling extra smooth
- Large eggs: hold it all together and add richness. Let them come up to room temp before using
- Good semisweet and milk chocolate: these make sure the cookies and center turn out chocolatey and creamy. Grab bars, not chips—they melt better
- Dutch-process cocoa powder: gives a gorgeous dark color and big chocolate flavor. Choose a really dark one if you can
- Rainbow sprinkles: makes everything more playful. Go with confetti-style or long jimmies for crunch and color
- Baking soda: this gently puffs up your cookies and keeps them chewy
- Granulated sugar: gives the cookies their crisp, crackly edge
- All-purpose flour: builds the dough’s structure. Spoon and level for the right amount
- Vanilla extract: softens out all the chocolate flavors. Only use pure vanilla if you’re after big flavor
Easy-to-Follow Steps
- Cool and Firm Up Dough:
- Lay plastic wrap right on top of your dough so it doesn’t dry. Chill it twenty to thirty minutes so it’s not too gooey to work with
- Bake Cookies:
- Slide your cookie trays into a 350°F oven. Bake the cookies for about nine to eleven minutes. You’ll want the tops to look puffed up and lose that glossy shine. Don’t overbake if you want gooey insides!
- Deck Out with Sprinkles:
- Dip the top of your filled dough balls right in a bowl of sprinkles. Spread them out on your baking sheet so they have space to spread
- Finish and Set:
- Once the cookies are out, use a big cookie cutter to gently swirl their edges into a neat circle while they’re warm. Leave them on the tray for ten minutes so they don’t fall apart, then move to a rack to finish cooling
- Shape and Fill Cookie Balls:
- Get your oven hot (350°F) and prep baking pans with parchment. Roll dough into balls, flatten them into fat discs, put a frozen ganache round in the middle, squish another disc on top, and pinch it shut to seal
- Combine Dry Ingredients:
- Mix flour, Dutch cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Whisk so everything blends and you get a cookie that’s even in flavor and texture
- Melt Up Some Chocolate:
- Melt your chocolate bar gently in a microwave or double boiler, stirring often so it doesn’t burn. Let it cool a bit before adding to the dough
- Whip Butter and Sugars:
- Use a stand mixer or beaters to cream together brown sugar, white sugar, and the butter on medium-high. Mix three minutes till fluffy and pale. This helps the cookies get thick and chewy
- Mix in Eggs and Vanilla:
- Turn your mixer to low, drop in the eggs one by one, mixing completely after each. Scrape the bowl down and pour in the vanilla, blending again for a warm fragrance
- Add in Melted Chocolate:
- Pour in that cooled, melted chocolate and mix slowly until your dough is all one gorgeous, chocolatey shade
- Fold in Dry Mix:
- With mixer on low, add your flour mix a bit at a time, just until you don’t see flour streaks. Stop right away so you don’t get tough cookies
- Make Ganache Centers:
- Chop chocolate small and toss in a bowl. Heat up your cream so it steams but doesn’t boil. Pour cream over chocolate, let sit thirty seconds, then slowly whisk from the center until shiny and smooth. Let cool, stirring here and there, until it gets thick like peanut butter—about twenty minutes
- Freeze Ganache Rounds:
- Use a spoon or piping bag to drop two dozen round ganache blobs (make them wide and flat) onto parchment paper. Move these to the freezer so they’re rock solid before you stuff your cookies
Pin it
The creamy chocolate surprise inside always wins me over. True story, my sister would always sneak frozen centers out of the freezer while we baked these. Now it’s our running joke whenever we make a batch together
Best Ways to Store
Keep cookies in a sealed container and they’ll still taste great for a week. For long-term keeping, freeze either filled dough balls or baked cookies. To freeze, let unbaked filled cookies harden in a single layer then toss them in a bag—bake straight from the freezer and just tack on another minute or two in the oven.
Switch It Up
If you’ve only got regular cocoa, you can use that but your cookies will look and taste a bit lighter. Want them sweeter? Swap some semisweet chocolate for milk chocolate. You can also make these totally dairy-free with good vegan butter and creamy plant-based milk; your centers will just be a little softer.
Fun Ways to Serve
Stack these on a plate for parties or birthdays—they always wow a crowd. Wrap them one by one for fun gifts. Pop one in the microwave so the middle goes molten or sandwich ice cream in between for the best brownie cookie ice cream sandwich ever.
Pin it
What’s the Story
Ganache centers come from old-school French pastry tricks usually saved for truffles or cakes. But putting ganache inside a brownie cookie pulls together fancy European and down-to-earth American baking into one extra-fun dessert.
Frequently Asked Questions
- → How do you achieve a gooey ganache center?
Shape the ganache, then freeze it before making the cookies. This trick keeps the middle creamy and soft after baking.
- → What type of chocolate works best for the ganache?
Go for a blend of milk chocolate and semisweet. Quality chocolate melts nice and smooth so the middle comes out dreamy.
- → Can the dough be made ahead?
Definitely. Mix your dough, stash it in the fridge up to one day, or pop stuffed cookie balls in the freezer. Bake when you want them!
- → Why press the cookies with a cutter after baking?
Swirl a cutter around the warm cookies. That tucks in the edges and gets you those perfect bakery-round shapes.
- → How do you keep cookies soft after baking?
Once they're cool, store the cookies in something airtight right on your counter. They'll keep that chewy bite for a while.