Box brownies will never hold a candle to homemade brownies when it comes to quality and taste. I had a box of brownies that I wanted to use up somehow, but I didn’t want to make a plain batch of brownies. The easy solution? Bake them on top of chocolate chip cookies.
I did make a few additional tweaks to the brownies. I added espresso powder, to enhance the chocolate flavor. I also added walnuts, so walnuts would be in both the cookies and brownies and tie the two levels together.
The best baking dish for these combo bars is a 10×15-inch jelly roll pan. It will be a tight fit, but the pan will hold everything perfectly. A larger pan, like a half-sheet pan (13×18 inches), is too wide and the layers will be too thin.
This is a very basic recipe, of course, but it pays big dividends. These finished bars taste a lot fancier than simply two desserts spread on top of one another.
Ingredients:
- 1 batch chocolate chip cookies
- 1 batch box brownies
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the cookie batter out into the pan. The cookie dough goes on the bottom because it is much harder to spread.
Step 2. Mix up the brownies according to the package directions, then add the espresso powder and walnuts. Spread out the brownie layer. It will completely fill the jelly roll pan.
Step 3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick just comes out clean. You still want the brownies to be slightly gooey. See how the risen cookie and brownies came to the edge but didn’t spill over?
Cool completely before slicing. To get really clean edges I find it helps to chill the combo bars in the fridge.
