Brownie Cookie Dough Sandwiches

Though I make homemade ice cream quite a bit, we still eat store-bought from time to time. One of our favorites is Ben & Jerry’s Half-Baked, a combination of chocolate and vanilla ice creams packed with chunks of fudgy brownies and balls of chocolate chip cookie dough. It’s as good as it sounds! When I saw these brownie cookie dough sandwiches on my friend Nicole’s site earlier this year, that ice cream immediately sprang to mind and I knew I wanted to try the recipe. I bookmarked the page but as spring turned to summer, it got lost in the excitement of fresh berries, sweet corn, ripe tomatoes and so many of the other delicious things that make summer amazing. In the midst of a marathon baking session over the weekend (during which Shane kindly volunteered to go out not once, but twice, for miscellaneous ingredients I’d forgotten to pick up during my weekly shopping trip), something triggered the memory of this recipe, and I got to work making it before it got pushed aside for another seven months!

I love making whoopie pies, and these cookie sandwiches are sort of a spin on that idea, and since they combine the flavors of brownies and cookie dough in one treat, I was pretty sure they couldn’t be anything but delicious. The recipe starts with intensely dark and rich chocolate cookies. They’re baked just until set on the edges which means they wind up relatively soft and chewy once cooled. They’re still sturdy enough though to support the filling without any problem. Speaking of the filling, it’s an eggless chocolate chip cookie dough that features a surprising ingredient – marshmallow creme. The creme holds the filling together and adds sweetness since the filling doesn’t otherwise have a lot of sugar. I used a cookie scoop to portion the dough so the cookies all baked to relatively the same size and were easy to pair up. The consistency of the filling made it easy to sandwich between the cookies without any problems either.

By the time I finished putting these brownie cookie dough sandwiches together, I’d already eaten way too much and couldn’t handle the thought of another sweet. Earlier in the day I had sampled one of the cookies that didn’t have a mate and enjoyed it, but I relied on Shane to try the finished product and report back. He didn’t say anything as he ate the sandwich, and I was worried he didn’t like it, but when he finally spoke he told me he might need to try 2 or 3 or 4 more before he could render a verdict 🙂 Safe to say there were a hit! I’m told the filling did taste a lot like cookie dough, and something tells me it won’t be long before these are requested again.

By the way, Happy Halloween! I hope it’s a safe, fun night for all of you!

Brownie Cookie Dough Sandwiches
from Heat Oven to 350

Brownie Cookies
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookie Dough Filling
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 13 oz container marshmallow creme
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in two addition, beating until just combined. The batter will be very thick.

Portion the dough into 1 -1 1/2 tablespoon balls. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. With damp fingers, slightly flatten the balls of dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are set and the tops are puffed and cracked (but still soft). Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before removing them to the rack to cool completely.

To make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the brown sugar and beat until well combined. Mix in the flour until incorporated (the filling will be almost crumbly). Add the remaining ingredients and beat until the mixture is smooth and thick.

To assemble the sandwiches: Match the cookies in pairs by size. Scoop about 2-3 tablespoons of the filling onto the flat side of one of the cookies in each pair. Put the other cookie on top and press to push the filling to the edges.

Makes about 20 sandwich cookies