Cute Brownie Cookie Ideas You Can Make Yourself

Still wondering what to give your loved ones this New Year? This is it! Here's a cute New Year cookie idea you can make yourself, and the best part is just how adorable they are.

The New Year festival is coming round again, and as keen cooks and bakers we couldn't miss the chance to share a cute cookie recipe. Cookies aren't too difficult to make, so let's look at the recipe and an easy example.

Brownie Cookies

The familiar square brownie becomes a bright, adorable brownie cookie: shaped into rounds and given cute little eyes, with our secrets for a glossy, shiny-topped brownie cookie that looks irresistible.

Brownie Cookie Ingredients

• 120 g 70% dark chocolate
• 30 g unsalted butter
• 1 egg (size 0)
• 40 g brown sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 25 g caster sugar or regular granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 35 g all-purpose flour
• 5 g cocoa powder
• 2 g baking powder
• 30 g dark chocolate chips (regular chocolate chips are fine if you can't find them)
• White chocolate chips

Note: this recipe uses white chocolate for the eyes, but we don't recommend it if you're making cookies to sell. Thailand is very hot, so it melts easily. Sugar candy eyes from a bakery supply shop are a better choice for decorating.

How to Make Brownie Cookies

1. Melt the unsalted butter and chocolate together. You can use the microwave, but be careful not to use high power.
   • Tip 1: to stop the cookies spreading flat, use real chocolate, not compound chocolate. Compound chocolate contains a lot of oil, so it melts in the heat of the oven and the cookies spread out flat. Compound is much cheaper, but it won't work here.
   • Tip 2: after melting, keep an eye on the chocolate so it doesn't set. It must stay glossy at every stage, so keep the bowl in warm water to hold the temperature. If it starts to set, you won't get the shiny top.
2. Beat the egg and brown sugar together until the brown sugar has completely dissolved. Then add the granulated sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt and beat at high speed for about 5 minutes. Before beating, the mixture will be dark brown from the brown sugar; after 5 minutes it will be noticeably fluffier and paler.
   • Tip 3: the brown sugar must dissolve completely to get the shiny top.
3. Add the melted chocolate and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and fold until no white streaks remain. Add the chocolate chips, mix just until combined and stop. Overmixing will spoil the texture.
4. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough and spread it into a round. The dough should look glossy. With a professional or convection oven, bake at 180°C for about 10 minutes. A small countertop oven can bake only one tray at a time (this recipe used a 21-litre countertop oven).
5. If you want crackled tops, bake at about 190–200°C for the first 2–3 minutes, then lower to 160°C for about 7–8 minutes. Because small ovens have less stable temperatures than high-end ones, the cracks won't be as pretty as in a professional oven. With a small oven, keep watch and lower the temperature as soon as the tops crack.
6. With a small oven that bakes one tray at a time, make sure the dough stays glossy while the first tray bakes. In this recipe we kept it in warm water while waiting, so there's no risk of the first tray having a shiny top and the second tray losing it. Decorate with white chocolate.

So what do you think of these brownie cookies? They're a cute New Year gift idea that's easy to make, delicious and adorable, and perfect as a present.