Cookie Dough Topped Brownies

I'm sure I'm not alone in LOVING Melanie's blog over at My Kitchen Cafe. I found this recipe on her blog earlier this week and knew that I HAD to try it for our church's BBQ today. I had never heard of this recipe before and was salivating while reading her post. I was not dissappointed in the least with the final results. How could anything topped with cookie dough be bad? I honestly wanted to just sit down and eat the whole bowl of cookie dough while I waited for the brownies to cool. The brownies were perfectly soft and chocolately and the cookie dough on top was such a decadent, yummy finish. There were at least a couple of dozen desserts brought to the BBQ and this one was the only one that had every single morsel gone--with many requests for the recipe. Thanks, Melanie! I'll definitely be making these again.

Cookie Dough Topped Brownies from My Kitchen Cafe

Brownie Layer:

1 12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 2 C)
1 cup (2 cubes) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and remove from heat when chips are fully melted. In the same pot, blend in the sugar. Then add eggs, blending fully one at a time. Add flour and salt and beat until air bubbles form in the batter. Pour into a greased 9 X 13-inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 325 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes.Cool completely and then top with the cookie dough layer.

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown Sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls over cooled brownies; carefully spread over top (this can be tricky but I found the best way is to slightly wet my hands and pat the dough down gently so it doesn't pull up the brownies). Cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Tips: UPDATE: I double the cookie dough and it makes it less of a frosting and you can taste it more.  And how could more cookie dough be bad, right?

I followed the directions to the tee and they turned out perfectly cooked. I did, however, leave the cookie dough topping sitting out while I let the brownies cool in the refrigerator. I think that made it even more difficult to spread it over the brownies. So I put it all in the fridge (after the cookie dough was on in teaspoon full portions) and once it had chilled a bit it made it significatly easier to pat down on the brownies. Also, I didn't have dark brown sugar (just the "regular" kind) and it still tasted awesome.