Pillow Cookies

This post is for my niece Kayla who seemed to think it was the neatest thing to have a brownie inside a cookie. Kayla and I spent some time at my parent's together a few summers ago, it was really nice to have some one on one time with her, and in keeping with family tradition we did some baking together.  I kind of like the idea of the new generation making memories in the kitchen and it was fun to be a part of it with her.  When Kayla talks about these (and I'm so pleased she remembers them and mentions them on occasion) she calls them Pillows Cookies, and it does look like the cookie version of a blanket of dough pulled up over a pillow of brownie, and more than one cookie I suppose means more than one pillow, so I guess she is correct in her naming of them.

  

This is more about technique than a given recipe, but we made chocolate chip cookies over chocolate brownies.  One thing you have to be careful about, if your brownie is too rich and squishy it won't stay firm and look like a pillow it will sink in the second baking and form a thin layer inside the cookie instead of forming the 'pillow', if it is too cake like it'll dry out in the second baking. 

 
See my previous post for the cookie dough recipe.  I halved the following recipe and it still made more brownie than I needed for the cookies.

 
Chocolate Brownies

 

Pre-heat your oven to 350^F (177^C)

 

Cream together

1/2 cup butter

2 squares of melted unsweetened baking chocolate

       (baking chocolate is 1 U.S. oz per square so that's approx 28 grams per square)

1 cup sugar

 

Then add in and mix well

2 eggs

 

Finally stir in

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips (this was Kayla's idea, and a good one it was)

 

Spread into a greased and flour dusted 8 inch square pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

 
Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes and it will pull away from the sides, then you can turn it out onto a wire rack and let it cool down completely.  Then trim the sides and cut it into 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch squares.  I love the fragile, crackly top of a good brownie.

 
Scoop up about 2 tbsp of cookie dough and form into a ball, then press the brownie down into the ball until the top is flush with the dough.

 
Then take another table spoon of dough and spread it over the top of the brownie, make sure the brownie is sealed tight inside the ball of cookie dough and put it on a baking sheet.  Place the cookies a good 5 inches apart because these spread out big time.  Once you have a sheet full of cookies put it in the fridge for 10 - 15 minutes, if your dough is stiff enough you don't have to do this but if not, the cookie could spread too fast and you don't get the blanket over the pillow, you end up with an exposed brownie on top of a cookie.
 
Bake for 7 - 10 minutes, same as a normal chocolate chip cookie, remember the brownie inside is already cooked so doesn't actually need to be baked again.

 
They are monstrously huge with a distinctive bump of the brownie pillow in the middle.  You can see how big they really are when they're side by side with some regular chocolate chip cookies on the right.  But if you've read this far, what you're probably interested in seeing is the inside, check it out!

 
You’re limited only by your own imagination, chocolate brownie in a blanket of chocolate chip cookie is heaven but imagine peanut butter cookie or vanilla cookie, how about a white chocolate ‘blondie’in a blanket of double chocolate cookie, take your two favourite combinations and start merging and if you come up with an amazing combination, let me know!