Easy Fudgy Gooey Brownie Bites – Mel Makes

I can’t believe I’m saying this but my ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies got so much love on Instagram that I decided to make another version of a ooey gooey cookie. The gooey brownie bites!

It’s made from a sticky and thick chocolate batter that turns into a soft, fudgy cookie that almost looks and tastes like a brownie, hence the name. Usually I’d mix in chocolate pieces or chocolate chips – my new favourite is the Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Chips, in the cookie dough and bake it, but this time, I was inspired by a few blogs I’d read over the weekend, whereby chocolate chips were planted right after the cookies come out of the oven. And….let’s just say this was a life-changing experience, not to be dramatic, but it made these brownie bites are even more magical than they already were.

I wish I could share some of these freshly baked brownie bites for you to try. But, since that’s not possible, I’ve compromised it with lotsss of *EXACT TO PIC* examples of this chocolate heaven-on-earth cookie! OK, enough writing, let’s get straight into the recipe.

Gooey Brownie Bites

I like to keep things as minimal and as simple as possible. In a medium-sized bowl, put the butter, both sugars, cocoa powder, and salt together.

Set it aside and grab a small saucepan that will allow the medium-sized, heat-proof  bowl to sit comfortably on top of the pot. When you’ve found the perfect sized pot, fill it up ⅓ of the way  with water and heat up on your stove. What you have got is a bain-marie. Now, place the bowl of ingredients over the bain-marie, without letting the bottom of the bowl touch the hot water.  Whisk until the batter is smooth.

Once all the sugars have melted, remove the bowl from the bain-marie and wait about 5 minutes for it to cool down. 

While waiting for the batter to cool down, you can prepare an espresso shot. I always love using espresso in chocolate treats as they help enhance the chocolate flavour. If you’re afraid of using it, I’m here to reassure you that you won’t taste the coffee at all. It’ll just elevate the cocoa flavours to the WOW level! 

Now add the espresso shot and whisk for 1 minute. Add the eggs one at a time followed by vanilla extract. Lastly, add the flour and beat using a handheld mixer for another 3 minutes at high speed.

Now here comes the hardest part of these cookies. WAITING. I apologise in advance for having so much waiting time but trust me these periods of waiting  will make these cookies taste the BEST!  You’ll find yourself with dough that’s slightly runny, so I always recommend refrigerating the dough for an hour to firm it up slightly. And after an hour, you can start scooping the dough, using a small sized ice-cream scoop that’s to be placed on a baking tray lined with a baking sheet. Place the tray in the freezer for another hour. 😭  Ok this is the last (long) waiting step!

P.s. If you don’t mind waiting, you can skip the freezing step entirely by keeping the dough in the fridge overnight. And go straight into baking afterward.

TIP!: Before the freezer timer goes off, preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.

After an hour of freezing, bake these chocolate doughs in your hot oven for exactly 8 minutes.

When the cookies are ready, take them out of the oven and quickly push in as many chocolate pieces. Sprinkle with Maldon sea salt to balance out the sweetness and leave it to cool for about 10 minutes. (I promise, this is the last wait! 🤣)

The time has now come! Scrape these cookies off the tray using a spatula and enjoy this gooey brownie bite or bites!