Orange Chocolate Brownie Cookies

These chewy spiced chocolate brownie cookies are a real treat, with orange zest, cinnamon and cardamom.

Brownie cookies are like the edges of a pan of brownies, in cookie form. Rich and chocolatey and perfectly chewy. This recipe for spiced brownie cookies has the addition of orange zest, cinnamon, and cardamom and it gives them amazing flavor, and is great for the holidays!

Brownie cookies

Brownie cookies are very much a cookie made from brownie batter. The main difference is that the batter needs to be chilled a bit before rolling into cookies, not poured into a pan like regular chocolate brownies.

Other differences -

The batter has both real chocolate and cocoa powder in it for a deep chocolate flavor. There's also a little baking powder in the cookies to help them rise just a little bit. Brownies often don't have this, so they stay extra fudgy and dense.

The cookies however need a little rising power so they don't become too flat. They're still chewy and fudgy though!

The ingredients

• Chocolate - A good quality semi-sweet dark chocolate.
• Butter - Room temperature butter. Unsalted or salted butter is fine, just reduce the salt in the recipe to ¼ teaspoon if using salted.
• Brown sugar and granulated sugar - Sweetness and the brown sugar brings moisture to the brownie
• Eggs - Structure and moisture
• Vanilla - Use a vanilla paste or good quality vanilla extract
• Orange zest - finely grated orange peel
• All-purpose flour
• Cocoa powder - Dutch processed or natural cocoa is fine
• Baking powder
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground cardamom
• Salt - regular salt for the batter and some flaky salt to sprinkle at the end of baking.

Additions or substitutions

Orange, cardamom and cinnamon go really well together, but there's plenty more you add or substitute to jazz up an ordinary brownie cookie. Try -

• Ground ginger and/or candied ginger.
• Chopped walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts
• Chocolate chips
• Dried cranberries
• Espresso powder

The method

• Begin by melting the chocolate. This can be done in the microwave or over a hot water bath. If melting in the microwave, do it slowly, in 20-30 second increments so that the chocolate doesn't burn. Stir after each increment. If melting the chocolate over a hot water bath, place it in heat-proof bowl and balance this bowl over a saucepan with an inch or two of simmering water. Once melted, leave the chocolate to cool to room temperature.
• In a bowl of a stand mixer or with an electric beater, cream together the room temperature butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and creamy. Add in the eggs, one a time and beat well after each addition.
• Add in the vanilla, orange zest and cooled melted chocolate and beat together.
• In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, spices and salt. Add this to the chocolate mixture and stir it together until well combined. The batter will be very wet.
• Place it the fridge for about 20-30 minutes and pre-heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) regular oven.
• Once the dough has chilled enough to be rolled, line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper.
• Roll the dough into balls of about 1 tablespoon of batter. Space them at least 3 inches/8 cm apart on the baking trays.
• Bake for around 11-12 minutes until the edges of the cookie are baked. The middles will still be soft but they will firm up as the cookie cools and they are what give the chewy and fudgy texture to the cookie.
• If the cookies have spread too much, while they are hot from the oven you can use a large circle cookie cutter to scoot around the cookie to give it a nice round shape.
• The baked cookies can be sprinkle at the end with flaky salt. This is an optional addition but it enhances the cookie flavor greatly.

How long do brownie cookies last?

These spiced brownie cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. The baked cookies can be wrapped up and frozen for up to three months.

You can also make the dough ahead of time, roll it into balls and freeze them for up to three months to bake when you like. The dough can be baked from frozen with no need to thaw.

This recipe is written using grams as the main measurement.

If you don't have a scale US* cup equivalents are also included, however, using a kitchen scale to measure grams will give the best, and most consistent results. *US cup sizes are smaller than metric cup sizes.

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Full Recipe

Spiced Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Yield: 20-24

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Additional Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 42 minutes

These chewy spiced chocolate brownie cookies are a real treat, with orange zest, cinnamon and cardamom.

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Ingredients

• 200g (7 ounces) semi-sweet dark chocolate
• 80g (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 100g (½ packed cup) soft brown sugar
• 100g (½ cup) granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• ½ tablespoon finely grated orange zest
• 125g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
• 20g (2 ½ tablespoons) cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Begin by melting the chocolate. This can be done in the microwave or over a hot water bath. If melting in the microwave, do it slowly, in 20-30 second increments so that the chocolate doesn't burn. Stir after each increment. If melting the chocolate over a hot water bath, place it in a heat-proof bowl and balance this bowl over a saucepan with an inch or two of simmering water. Once melted, leave the chocolate to cool to room temperature.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer or with an electric beater, cream together the room temperature butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and creamy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.
3. Add in the vanilla, orange zest, and cooled melted chocolate, and beat together.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, spices, and salt. Add this to the chocolate mixture and stir it together until well combined. The batter will be very wet.
5. Place in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes until the batter has firmed enough to scoop it.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) regular oven.
7. Once the dough has chilled, line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper.
8. Roll the dough into balls of about 1 tablespoon of batter. Space them at least 3 inches/8 cm apart on the baking trays. You may need to bake these in batches.
9. Bake for around 11-12 minutes until the edges of the cookie are baked. The middles will still be soft but they will firm up as the cookie cools and they are what give the chewy and fudgy texture to the cookie.
10. If the cookies have spread too much, while they are hot from the oven you can use a large circle cookie cutter to scoot around the cookie to give it a nice round shape.
11. Sprinkle with a few pinches of flaky salt after baking.

Notes

These spiced brownie cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. The baked cookies can be wrapped up and frozen for up to three months.

You can also make the dough ahead of time, roll it into balls, and freeze them for up to three months to bake when you like. The dough can be baked from frozen with no need to thaw.

The cup sizes given are for US cups. Note that these are smaller than metric cup sizes. For best results, use grams.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 37Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 75mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 1g