Cheer Me Up Crinkle Brownie Cookies

Lockdown day number… who knows? Have you, like me, lost count by now?

Most of the people who I’ve recently been in touch with say that they’re going through constant ups and downs at the moment. It seems that some days we all wake up dreading what the day ahead is inevitably going to bring – a deadly cocktail of worry, anxiety, tiredness and extreme irritability mixed with uncertainty and the general feeling of lack of control of our lives. Other days we greet the day counting our blessings, suddenly work (if we’re lucky to have a job still) seems to be easier, exercise helps us a lot, we get on with our families. We create, cook, bake, plant things, find pleasure in the little things. For a change we manage to get a good night sleep rather than wake up at 3 am and stay awake for hours on end.

We keep hearing that we’re in it together but as individuals we’re going through the pandemic very differently depending on our circumstances and both physical and mental health. Thankfully when some of us are low, others are doing OK, or OK-ish, and can lend us a helping hand.

A few days ago I had one of those up days. I woke up feeling unexpectedly inspired and decided to act on it immediately in fear of the flow of creative juices not lasting long. As you know my kitchen is my happy place. My comfort food is dark chocolate or anything made with it but you may also remember that I’m quite fussy and don’t like my treats too sweet. Encouraged by lots of recipes for crinkle brownie cookies I’ve recently seen all over the internet, I rolled up my sleeves and set to creating my own.

As usual, my goal was to come up with a simple and no-fuss recipe. By test round number three I knew that in order to achieve the mouth-watering crinkle on the outside as well as the right texture on the inside, shortcuts were out of the question and a bit more effort was required. Having said that, once you have all your ingredients weighed out and laid out on the counter, this recipe is actually surprisingly quick and easy. The only thing different to most of my previous “lockdown recipes” is that TIME is absolutely crucial here. Think of these cookies as a soft brownie cake type of mixture divided into smaller portions. This means that ingredients have to be mixed fairly quickly and the cookies have to go into the oven the moment they’re ready. Unlike most crunchy biscuits where dough is rolled into balls and time doesn’t play an important role, here it contributes massively to the final look and texture. In order words, don’t faff around looking for forgotten ingredients or get distracted by your phone! 😊 Prepare all your ingredients and your baking gear in advance, stick to the exact timeframe given and I promise you won’t regret it.

The recipe is a cross between Edd Kimber’s and Martha Stewart’s recipes. I’ve reduced sugar as I find these chocolatey babies rich enough. I’ve also slightly changed a couple of ingredients as well as proportions and I’ve added a bit of coffee.

If today is not your day, you’re feeling low and would do with a home-made pick me up type of treat, this one is for you. Right, let’s do it!

Cheer Me Up Crinkle Brownie Cookies

Ingredients

Makes about 16 cookies (you’ll need two baking sheets to be able to bake them all at the same time)

• 120g plain flour
• 20g good quality cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g dark brown sugar
• 200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa mass), broken up
• 120g unsalted butter, roughly diced up
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee (optional)

Method

1. Grease two baking sheets or line them with baking paper. Place the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, instant coffee (if using) and salt in a bowl and mix them together.
2. Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan with simmering water. (Make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.) Melt the butter and chocolate on low heat stirring occasionally. Once melted, well combined, smooth and glossy, take the pan off the heat and set aside. Try not to dip and lick your fingers in it like I do!
3. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/gas mark 4. In a separate medium bowl put the eggs and sugars together and with an electric whisk beat them for 5 minutes. (I find setting timer on my phone helpful at this stage.) As soon as the eggs are done, slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the beaten eggs followed by the vanilla extract. Mix for another minute.
4. Fold in all dry ingredients which you have (hopefully😊) prepared earlier. Mix only for a moment until all ingredients are just combined. Don’t be tempted to overmix for you will knock out all the air you just created. By now the batter should be sticky and glossy, more like a cake batter than cookie dough.
5. Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon drop the mixture into balls onto the baking sheets. They will spread A LOT so make sure to leave at least 7 cm gaps between them. (I use an ice cream scoop 5 cm in diameter as I find this method the most time efficient. If you use a spoon, try to create fairly round shapes for that perfect circle cookie.)
6. Bake for 12 minutes. Don’t worry if the cookies are domed during the baking, they will flatten later on. Despite looking undercooked and a bit too soft they are ready and need to be left to cool and firm up on the baking sheets for at least 10-15 minutes.

Spread the love if you enjoyed this recipe – give me a like, leave a comment or both. Tag me on Facebook @riseandshinebaking or Instagram @riseandshine_baking and don’t forget to use hashtag #bakewithriseandshine. Thank you and happy baking!

Download the recipe
Enjoy!