Gluten-Free Brookies

Part decadent brownie, part chocolate chip cookie, these Gluten-Free Brookies are a delicious decadent treat that gives you the best of both worlds in every bite! 

One thing about me? I LOVE a good mashup. Combining two things I love into one can be such a fun way to mix things up, whether its’s stuffing peanut butter cups into brownies, making a classic recipe mini (squee!), or finding a way to have two of my favorite desserts at once.

These delicious brookies are that last one.

Brookies = brownies + cookies!

We’re combining fudgy brownies with chewy chocolate chip cookies in one amazing cookie bar recipe. The end result looks impressive, but they’re remarkably easy to make. Here’s all you need to get started on this easy recipe…

Simple Ingredients For These Two Delicious Layers

1. The Cookie Layer

We’re looking at classic cookie ingredients–softened butter, brown & white sugar, egg, vanilla, gluten-free flour, baking soda, salt & chocolate chips. EASY, right?

2. The Brownie Layer

Lots of overlap here! You’ll need butter, chocolate chips, sugar, egg, vanilla, gluten-free flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and salt. That’s it!

How To Make Gluten-Free Brookies, Step By Step

First, Make The Cookie Layer:

1. Preheat Oven & Prep Pan. To start, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a metal 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. 
2. Cream Butter & Sugar. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar 2-3 minutes until light, fluffy, and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
3. Add Egg & Vanilla. Next, add the egg, then the vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated. 
4. Add Dry Ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add gluten-free flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until almost fully blended, with just a few floury patches left. 
5. Add In Chocolate Chips and mix until just fully combined and no dry patches remain. 
6. Divide Dough. Using rough estimates (this doesn’t need to be perfect), divide the dough so you have 2/3 of the dough set aside for the bottom layer and 1/3 of the cookie dough for the top. 

Then, Make The Brownie Batter

1. Melt Butter & Chocolate. In a small saucepan on low heat, or in a microwave-safe bowl, gently melt the butter and chocolate until completely smooth and glossy. (I prefer to do this on the stove) 
2. Beat Sugar, Egg & Vanilla. In a medium mixing bowl, combine granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and mix for a full 2-3 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should be lighter in texture and color, and if you rub the mixture between your fingers, you shouldn’t really feel any grains of sugar. DON’T RUSH this step or your brownies will not have glossy tops. 
3. Add Chocolate Mixture to Egg Mixture and stir until fully blended. 
4. Then, Add Dry Ingredients. Next, add the glute-free flour, cocoa powder, and salt and stir until just blended and no dry patches remain. 

Assemble & Bake Your Brookie Bars:

1. Start With Cookie Base. Use 2/3 of the chocolate chip cookie dough and pat it out into as even a layer as you can in the bottom of your prepared pan. (The dough will not perfectly cover the bottom, and small gaps or openings are totally fine.) 
2. Cover With Brownie Batter. Pour the brownie mixture over the cookie dough base layer and smooth the brownie batter into an even layer. 
3. Top With Blobs of Cookie Dough. Then, divide the remaining 1/3 of the cookie dough into small 1-ish Tablespoon sections and flatten them out with your fingers into small discs, about 1/4-inch thick or so. (Irregular shapes are totally fine!) Press these little dough discs down on top of the brownie batter so the surface is fairly even. These cookie dough blobs should look like little islands in the brownie batter. 
4. Sprinkle With 2 TablespoonsChocolate Chips. 
5. Bake Uncovered 20 Minutes. Place the pan in the oven and bake uncovered for 20 minutes. The tops of the cookie sections will be golden brown at this point. 
6. Loosely Cover With Foil & Bake 4-6 Minutes More. To prevent the cookie from burning, loosely cover the pan with foil (no need to seal the sides!) and bake an additional 4-6 minutes to let the cookie bars finish baking. I like my brookies to have a fairly fudgy texture (like brownies!), so I pull them out on the earlier side. If you want yours more cooked through, you can bake them longer.
7. Cool Completely Before Slicing. Let the bars cool in the pan on a wire rack until completely cooled before cutting them into bars with a sharp knife.
8. Serve & Store. Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container 2-3 days at room temperature or 2 months in the freezer. 

FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The BEst Brookies

Try Not To Over-Bake. Keep in mind that the center is mostly brownie batter, and we’re going for that fudgy brownie texture, so over-baking will dry these cookie bars out. I usually pull my brookies out after the 24-25 minute mark of baking, but if you prefer your centers more done, you can wait till 26-27 minutes instead.

Turn It Into a Sundae! For the ultimate treat, serve your brownie cookie bars with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (and maybe a drizzle of chocolate sauce or hot fudge!)

Can I Just Make 2 Layers Instead? I much prefer to be able to see both layers at once, so having some of those dollops of cookie batter on top of the brownies makes each bite part cookie part brownie. I also find the layers bake better this way.

Can I Use A Box Mix Instead? The timing & technique of this recipe was specifically catered to our homemade recipes. If you’d like to experiment with a boxed brownie mix + store-bought cookie dough (especially gluten-free!), your bake time will likely vary from mine.

🌟 Leave a star review below when you try our Gluten-Free Brookies recipe! We can’t wait to hear what you think!

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