12 Days of Christmas Cookies: Inception Brownies

by Amy Johnson, Managing Editor, HockeyPub.com

PHILADELPHIA, PA — What’s that you say?  You’ve already polished off the cookies from yesterday’s first entry in the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies?  Well that’s okay because we’ve got a really unique and decadent recipe for you today!

Erica (@HabItHerWay), a Staff Writer for AllHabs.net, knows just how delicious these brownies are, since they were one of the first things to sell out at her company’s Movember Bake Sale last month.   So why are they called Inception Brownies?  Erica explains that it references the multiple layers of dreams in the movie “Inception”, and these layers seem just as intriguing as the ones in the film!   Imagine an Oreo cookie, stuffed inside a chocolate chip cookie, which is then smothered in the center of a brownie.  Is your mouth watering yet?  It should be!

And don’t worry, Erica tells us that creating these treats isn’t as complicated as it sounds.  “I took a shortcut and used store-bought mixes to cut down on prep time. If you prefer to make cookie dough and brownie batter from scratch, by all means, go ahead. Just make sure that your cookie dough yields a really thick, almost crumbly dough, and that your brownie batter recipe yields enough batter for this experiment.”

Inception Brownies
Recipe courtesy of Erica (@HabItHerWay)

Prep time: 1 hour
(Makes about 8 servings)

Ingredients:
8-10 Oreo sandwich cookies
1 package chocolate chip cookie mix (the one I used came in a paper bag with enough mix for two batches of 16 cookies, and I used enough for one batch) plus the necessary ingredients to make the cookie dough
1 package brownie mix (again, the mix I used came in a package with enough mix for two batches of 30 brownies, and I used half of it for this recipe)

1. Preheat oven according to cookie dough package directions. Grease the bottom and sides of a pan very, very well. The brownie recipe called for an 8-by-8 inch pan, but I recommend using a slightly larger one to accommodate the cookies as well as the brownie batter.

2. Measure out and then prepare the cookie dough according to package instructions. If the recipe calls for butter, definitely use butter over margarine so that the cookies can hold their shape better. If the recipe calls for water, don’t use very much; you might need that extra water to wet your hands since things are about to get messy!

3. Cover each Oreo in cookie dough. I did this by spreading some cookie dough onto the palm of my hand, placing the Oreo on top, and pushing leftover dough up around the sides of it, then spreading another dollop of dough on the top of the cookie. Place the cookies at least an inch apart in the pan and bake for about 8 minutes, or until they look almost (but not fully) baked. They’ll be going back in the oven, so you won’t want to bake them the whole way through.

4. While the cookies are in the oven, prepare the brownie batter according to the directions on the package. I wouldn’t recommend making it earlier, because if the batter sits for too long, it might thicken, which would make it harder to pour.

5. Once the cookies are out of the oven, let cool if desired. Adjust the oven’s temperature if needed, according to directions on the package of brownie mix. Then pour the brownie batter into the pan, making sure to cover all of the cookies.

6. Bake according to package directions or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean. Cool and cut as desired. I cut my pan into 8 large brownies so as not to spoil the “surprise” but you can cut them into smaller pieces in order to show off the layers of cookie and chocolate.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for our next holiday cookie recipe: Traditional Butter Cookies!  And if you missed any of our previous recipes in this series, be sure to check them out below:

Day 1 – Golden Chocolate-Chunk Nutty Bars

Photo Credit: Erica (@HabItHerWay)

Tags: brownies, christmas, cookies, fans, featured