Gluten-Free Brookies
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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
Half Brownie, half cookie, these gluten-free brookie bars look fancy, but they’re made from really simple pantry staples. Let’s take a look at each layer:
- 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!
Key Ingredient: Gluten-Free Flour
We’re using a simple 1:1 gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum for these gluten-free brookie bars. We HIGHLY recommend King Arthur Measure-For-Measure Gluten-Free Flour Blend for this recipe (and all our cookie + brownie recipes!). If you use another brand (like Bob’s Red Mill), just make sure your flour blend has xanthan gum, or the texture will be all wrong. Do not use coconut flour, almond flour, or oat flour here.
Also: MEASURE CAREFULLY! We recommend weighing with an inexpensive kitchen scale for the best, most consistent results, but if you don’t have one, be sure to use The Scoop & Level Method so you don’t pack too much flour into these cookie bars.
How To Make Gluten-Free Brookies, Step By Step
As always, you can find the full recipe, with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.
First, Make The Cookie Layer
- 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.
- 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.
- Add Egg & Vanilla. Next, add the egg, then the vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated.
- 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.
- Add In Chocolate Chips and mix until just fully combined and no dry patches remain.
- 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
- 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)
- 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.
- Add Chocolate Mixture to Egg Mixture and stir until fully blended.
- 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
- 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.)
- Cover With Brownie Batter. Pour the brownie mixture over the cookie dough layer and smooth the brownie batter into an even layer.
- 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.
- Sprinkle With 2 Tablespoons Chocolate Chips. Adding a few extra chocolate chips makes these bars look polished & beautiful!
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Serve & Store. Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container 2-3 days at room temperature or 2 months in the freezer.
Our Go-To Pan
A Light-colored aluminum pan conducts heat more gently and evenly. Ceramic or glass pans can cause the cookie bars to creep up the side, so I don’t recommend them here. This pan is my go-to for brownies & cookie bars!
FAQ + Tips And Tricks For The Best Gluten-Free 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.
Recipe Card
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Gluten-Free Brookies
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12–18 Bars 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Part fudgy 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!
Ingredients
For The Cookie Layer:
- 6 Tablespoons butter, softened (85 grams)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (100 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (25 grams)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons gluten-free measure-for-measure flour* (105 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips (85 grams)
For The Brownie Layer:
- 4 Tablespoons butter (57 grams)
- 1/3 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips (57 grams)
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup gluten-free measure-for-measure flour* (30 grams)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural NOT Dutch processed) (28 grams)
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
To Top The Bars:
- 2 Tablespoons chocolate chips
- flaky sea salt, if desired (optional)
Instructions
First, Make The Cookie Layer:
- 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.
- 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.
- Add Egg & Vanilla. Next, add the egg, then the vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated.
- 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.
- Add In Chocolate Chips and mix until just fully combined and no dry patches remain. The cookie dough will be softer than what you might be used to, but DON’T add extra flour! This softer, more batter-like texture is what helps it bake evenly.
- 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
- 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)
- 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.
- Add Chocolate Mixture to Egg Mixture and stir until fully blended.
- 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:
- Start With Cookie Base. Use 2/3 of the cookie dough and pat it out into as even a layer as you can in the bottom of your prepared baking dish. (The dough will not perfectly cover the bottom, and small gaps or openings are totally fine.)
- Cover With Brownie Batter. Pour the brownie batter over the cookie dough base layer and smooth the brownie batter into an even layer.
- 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 into the brownie batter so the surface is fairly even. These cookie dough blobs should look like little islands in the brownie batter.
- Sprinkle With 2 TablespoonsChocolate Chips.
- 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.
- 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.
- Cool Completely Before Slicing. Let the bars cool in the pan on a wire rack until completely cooled before cutting them into bars.
- Serve & Store. Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container 2-3 days at room temperature or 2 months in the freezer.
Notes
- Gluten-Free Flour. We highly recommend King Arthur Measure-For-Measure Gluten-Free Flour blend for this recipe. If you use another 1:1 blend, be sure it contains xanthan gum, or the texture won’t turn out properly. Do not use coconut flour, almond flour, or oat flour.
- MEASURE CAREFULLY! We recommend weighing with an inexpensive kitchen scale for the best, most consistent results, but if you don’t have one, be sure to use The Scoop & Level Method so you don’t pack too much flour into these cookie bars.
- Pick The Right Pan. We recommend a light-colored aluminum metal 8×8 pan for this recipe. Another type of pan, like ceramic or glass won’t bake as evenly and will also impact the bake time.
- Butter. I usually use salted butter, but feel free to use unsalted butter.
- Sundae. For the ultimate dessert, try serving these brownie cookie bars with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce or hot fudge!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
planning to make this weekend for my GF boss… if you 2x the recipe, should you change to 9×13 pan?
Hi, Kristen! Yes. You’d double the recipe and use a 9×13 pan.
This was the first time I’ve made brookies and I’ll definitely be making them again! Super fudgy and delicious, with a slight nutty taste since I melted the butter and chocolate on the stove (I also recommend this method). I made them in a circular 8 inch diameter aluminum metal pie pan and baked for 20 + 6 under foil and they came out perfectly. Thank you for the yummy recipe!
Delicious! Thanks for sharing your tips using the 9-inch round pan, too!
This is a great recipe, my son has celiac and loved them! Have you tried making them in a round baking pan to make a brookie cake? I’d like to try it, thinking a 9” round so it’s a bit flatter
That’s a fun idea! You’d have to fiddle with the bake time, but a 9-inch round pan would likely work. (An 8×8 square pan and 9-inch round pan can hold the same volume, so the recipe should fit. It just may bake slightly differently because of the different shape/materials of the pan.)
It’s so hard yummy gluten free recipes that my whole family can enjoy, but I made these for my family yesterday morning and everyone loved them. My family had eaten all of them by the time I went for seconds, which never happens when I bake gluten free! These are definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
So glad you loved them Sonya!
Just curious…have you tried Bob’s 1-1 and prefer King Arthur? Is there a reason you prefer it? Just trying to find the best AP GF flour. I have it narrowed down to these two and also Pamela’s. Just curious about your thoughts.
Hi, Jessica! Yes! I’ve tried pretty much all the brands in different baking projects over the year, and I’ve found that I just get the most consistent results with the best texture with the King Arthur Measure-For-Measure gluten-free flour blend.
Bob’s is a great alternative, but it can run slightly more gritty to me and doesn’t always absorb liquid from the batter as uniformly as I find King Arthur’s blend does. That’s why I’d put the King Arthur as my top choice, and Bob’s as my second.
The other thing to consider is that gluten-free measure-for-measure and 1:1 blends aren’t identical in their ratio of whole grain flours to starches, so while they can often be fairly interchangeable (as long as they contain xanthan gum or similar binder), I generally use whatever flour is recommended in the recipe since the recipe was usually formulated around how that individual flour blend behaves.