Brookies (half brownie, half chocolate chip cookie)

B's and my week long vacation got postponed this week.  While I had been looking forward to it, I know it was for the better (knowing that it has only been postponed and not canceled also makes it better).  Something else that makes it better?  The little escape we planned for the end of the week!

I had thought that I'd take two days and go into work and help out, since it's the pre-school rush at the office, but when I called in to tell them that the trip was postponed yesterday, they told me to -- get this -- take the days off as planned!

So what to do with a SURPRISE day off?!  With literally NOTHING on the agenda?!  Honestly, I don't think this has ever happened to me.  I spent most of yesterday afternoon coming up with scenarios of what I could do with today (and tomorrow, but that's a whole other day!), but B kept telling me to "relax" and "have a day for yourself," but frankly, I don't know how to do either of those things...

But one thing I do know how to do is bake!  And with a whole bunch of free time today, bake I did.  "Brookies" -- half brownie, half chocolate chip cookie -- to be exact, because they sounded fun and I wanted to bake cookies.  Cause see, while I have two surprise days off, Wednesday morning I'm boarding a plane for a place which will warrant wearing a bathing suit AND being in public (in said bathing suit).  And I really shouldn't be wearing bathing suits in public.  Especially if I will be baking (and eating) for two days beforehand.  So cookies are also great to freeze and give away -- two huge bonuses!!

Brookies
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:

Brownie Cookie Dough:

1/3 cup butter (5 1/3 Tbsp)
1/ cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp cocoa (I used regular cocoa and I feel like the brownie batter looked kinda anemic -- and less chocolately than the original recipe.  I would try dark cocoa powder next time for an extra chocolately punch)
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:

2/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups light brown sugar
12 Tbsp (1.5 sticks) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips (mini size preferred) -- I used regular, since that was all the store had, and they were fine!

Directions:

Make the brownie cookie dough.
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate chips together, at 1 minute intervals, stirring in between, until smooth and combined.
Stir in the sugar.
Whisk in the eggs and vanilla and mix until thick and well-combined.

Stir in the cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt until no streaks remain.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Make the chocolate chip cookie dough.
In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a handheld electric mixer, cream together the butter and the two sugars until smooth.
Blend in the eggs and vanilla, mixing for 2-3 minutes until the batter is light in color.
Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips until no dry streaks remain and chocolate chips are evenly distributed.

Mine was super soft, probably since the butter was really soft as it's been hot out.  
I had to refrigerate my chocolate chip cookie dough for a while to make it easy to roll into balls.
I scooped it into 1 tablespoon scoops and refrigerated that way, then when I was able to roll them into balls, I went onto the next step.

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line baking sheets with silpat liners or parchment paper.
Set aside.

Portion both sets of dough into tablespoon-sized balls.
It may help to lightly grease your hands with cookie spray is the brownie dough seems to sticky.

Grab one chocolate chip cookie dough ball and one brownie ball and press them together and use your hands to gently form each into a cookie shape, flattening and turning to smooth the edges, and form a flattish but still thick cookie shape (they'll spread out while baking).

Refrigerate the brookies (unbaked) for at least 30 minutes -- they can be kept in the fridge for up to a day.

Bake the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (mine took 9 minutes) until the chocolate chip cookie side is just very sightly browned and the brownie side looks set - they should still be soft and slightly underbaked, if anything.
Remove from the oven and let cook on the pan for 1-2 minutes before scooping onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

(I ended up with a little extra chocolate chip cookie dough, which I could've made into cookies, but instead I ate the dough.  Because it's good and I was hungry, and at that point, a little lazy, too ;-))