My life has been a little stressful lately and as the world appears to be positively mad too, I sought refuge in baking. Whilst making trays upon trays of brownie cookies is inherently dangerous – I seem to be completely helpless when confronted with a tray of baked goods – I somehow managed to only have a few and to give the rest away. Phew. I enjoy the ritual of baking lots so it feels good to indulge now and again.

These brownie cookies are inspired by these brownies and the fact that more and more people seem to be seeking out eggless recipes because the electoral promises of keeping egg (and other) prices down is going so well. I thought I would help people navigate the eggless baking territory as when you have a good recipe, you are not missing out on anything.

These brownie cookies are quick and simple to make, they use standard brownie recipe ingredients such a good quality of chocolate, cocoa powder, ample of sugar and some butter. They don’t require much process or time. In contrast to most other cookies, these brownie cookies do not require any chilling as the batter is plonked onto the tray as soon as you finish combining wet and dry ingredients.

These brownie cookies are subtly sweet. Dark chocolate and cocoa power balance the sweetness of sugar out nicely but if you like your brownies on a sweeter side, you can of course add more sugar. They have crispy edges and rich and fudgy interior and make for a delightful treat with your afternoon coffee. We took a bunch of them on our hike last week and I can confirm that they taste even better in nature.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

CHOCOLATE: As these are half brownies half cookies, I used good quality 70% cocoa dark chocolate in these cookies to give them chocolatey depth.

COCOA POWDER: To give these brownie cookies even more of a chocolate flavour, I supplemented melted dark chocolate with a few tablespoons of dark cocoa (not cacao) powder. This is the one I used.

SUGAR: I used a couple of sugars in this recipe. Caster sugar, which is simply superfine white sugar as it melts quickly and doesn’t leave that grittiness behind and the same about of dark muscovado sugar. Muscovado sugar contributes a lot of flavour and also helps with the chewy interior of these cookies. I used dark muscovado, but the light version will work too.

FLOUR: All purpose (also known as plain) flour is what I used to make these and this GF flour mix is what I recommend for the gluten-free version.

BAKING SODA: Just a smidge of baking soda is enough to react with chocolate’s natural acidity and give these cookies a gentle lift. These cookies are meant to be gooey not cakey inside so less is better than more. An eighth of a teaspoon is what I recommend, no more.

GROUND FLAX: Instead of an egg, I used finely ground flax in combination with soy milk. I let them sit for 15 minutes, then add sugar and whisk the two until thick and pale. It works a treat.

SOY MILK: I used protein rich soy milk (in combination with ground flax) to mimic an egg. You can use a different plan milk if you are allergic or if that’s your preference – I am pretty sure all of them will work.

VEGAN BUTTER: I used melted vegan butter as the source of fat in this recipe. I used the vegan butter block by a Danish brand Naturli, but any butter (that comes in a block, not the one in a tub) will work well.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

1) WHISK FLAX AND SUGAR

Place flax and soy milk (or other plant milk) in a large mixing bowl and set aside for 15 minutes. Next, add both sugars. Whisk with an electric whisk for a minute or two, until thick, gelatinous and bubbly. Meanwhile, gently melt chocolate and butter in a bowl suspended over a water bath.

2) ADD MELTED CHOCOLATE MIXTURE

Once chocolate and butter have melted, stir them gently together and pour into the flax mixture while whisking the whole time.

3) ADD FLOUR, COCOA, SALT AND BAKING SODA

Finally gently stir in flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Once you are done, drop mounds of the batter (about 3 tbsp worth or scant ¼ cup) onto the prepared baking trays – 5 cookies on each. Bake for 8 minutes, whack the tray against the counter a few times, then return to the oven for another 2 minutes.