Moist and Chewy Brownie Cookies

Apple Pie Calzones and Other Cookie Recipes by Brekka Hervey Larrew was on display at our library last week. The cover just looked so yummy that Jolie and I had to bring it home and give some of the recipes a try. Honestly, it nearly leapt off the shelf and into my arms.


We picked out a few recipes and headed to the Commissary and got our supplies. Tonight we tried Ms. Larrew’s Polka Dot Brownie Bursts, and were very impressed.


Polka Dot Brownie Bursts –


2/3 C vegetable shortening
1 C light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 T water
½ T vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ¾ C flour
1/3 C cocoa
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 C white chocolate chips

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine shortening, brown sugar, water, and vanilla with a rubber scraper.
2. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and throw shells away. Add the eggs to the large bowl one at a time.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl. Stir with the rubber scraper until all ingredients are blended.
4. Add 1 ¼ cup white chocolate chips to the dough and mix well.
5. Place 1-inch balls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Press 5 or 6 white chocolate chips, flat side facing up, into each cookie.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes [at 375 degrees]. Do not overbake. Use an oven mitt or pot holder to remove baking sheet from oven.

Because we do not cook with shortening, I replaced the shortening with butter. We also used less white chocolate than the recipe called for. The cookies are very moist and very brownie like. The kids loved them. Jolie doesn’t care for the white chocolate much, so she picked out each morsel from her cookie. Next time we might use mint chocolate chips, regular chocolate chips, or maybe I’ll add a little swirl of peanut butter to the batter.


We are looking forward to trying several more of the recipes in this book, as well as checking out some of the other children’s cookbooks in this series: Banana Split Pizza and Other Snack Recipes; Monkey Pudding and Other Dessert Recipes; Oodle Doodles Tuna Noodle and Other Salad Recipes; Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi and Other Party Recipes; Wormy Apple Croissants and Other Halloween Recipes; Cheesecake Cupcakes and Other Cake Recipes; Banana-berry Smoothies and Other Breakfast Recipes.

Larrew, B. H. (2008). Apple Pie Calzones and Other Cookie Recipes. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.