This is the best cookie on the planet, stop your searching! These fudgy vegan brownie cookies are deeply fudgy on the inside, have a paper thin crackled layer on the outside, and are intensely chocolatey. PLUS no fancy ingredients or difficult techniques!
There are few things in the world I like more than an amazing chocolate cookie. And there are few things that frustrate me more than a chocolate cookie that is dry, or crumbly, or a brownie cookie that is cakey. OR when you find the perfect looking recipe, but it calls for a secret ingredient you know you don’t have at home and isn’t at your local market, or a technique that makes you anxious and worried you’re going to waste time and money on ruined ingredients.
If this sounds familiar, then I am pleased to welcome you to the page for your new favorite cookie recipe. These fudgy vegan brownie cookies tastes like the BEST fudgy brownie you’ve ever had, and is shockingly quick and easy. I made an absurd amount of trial runs at this one before I found the perfect combination of ingredients to make this fudgy on the inside, intensely chocolatey thanks to a mixture of cocoa powder and melted chocolate, and I even worked hard to make the recipe size yield 9 cookies so it fits perfectly on one large pan, since you need to bake them while the batter is still warm!
Get excited, my friends. It’s brownie cookie time.
How To Make Them:
Similar to my main Fudgy Brownie Recipe (or if you’re feeling wild, my Vegan Cheesecake Brownie Recipe), these fudgy vegan brownie cookies come together best if you prep all your ingredients in advance. Better known as “mise en place”, or everything in place, this is crucial here because the batter bakes best when it goes in warm. Aka, you don’t want to pull your chocolate off the double boiler and then realize you forgot to measure your flour.
Here is the prep you need to get together:
- Dry ingredients – mix your flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, and set it aside.
- Double boiler ingredients – get your vegan butter and chocolate into a big bowl that can be used on a double boiler. Not sure what this means? I will explain in this section!
- Have your sugar (see the Ingredients Needed section to learn how to make these sugar free!), vanilla extract, and milk measured out separately and ready to go near your work station. The sugar especially should be next to your stove top as it will go into the double boiler bowl while it’s still on the heat. For the milk it is important that this is room temperature, since if it’s cold it can ruin the temperature of the batter. If you are taking it straight from the fridge, I suggest measuring it into a small bowl then microwaving for a few seconds so it is room temperature or even slightly warmed.
- Line a pan with parchment paper, preheat your oven, and have a 2-tablespoon scoop at the ready (or use a regular tablespoon if you don’t have a scooper, but I LOVE my scooper)
Once the prep is ready..
..it’s time to get that double boiler going. If you have not done this before, it’s very simple! The idea here is you will boil a little bit of water in a pot, and rest your bowl on top of the pot so the steam from the boiling water melts your chocolate and vegan butter together. The most important thing here is to be sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. This is simple, just make sure the bowl is big enough and the pot is small enough, and don’t use a ton of water.
Once the water is boiling, let’s get to melting! Put the bowl on top of the pot and use a rubber spatula to mix together the chocolate and the vegan butter until it’s fully smooth. This will take just a few minutes. As soon as that’s done, add the sugar into the bowl while it is still on top of the pot, and mix it together. Within about 1 minute, the sugar will be fully combined into the liquid chocolate and butter mixture. See the photo below if you want guidance.
Once the melted chocolate comes off the double boiler, I like to check the time and make sure the batter is in the oven about 4 minutes later (a little less or a little more is okay). This ensures it will still be warm, but not piping hot. If it’s too hot, it will spread and not keep the cookie shape. If it’s cooled too long, the cookies won’t spread at all and you’ll get a doughy ball. Don’t be concerned about this, it’s why we prep everything in advance! It will take you the exact right amount of time to get everything ready.
Turning it into batter!
When the chocolate comes off the double boiler, let it sit for 30 seconds or so, then add in the vanilla and the room temperature milk and mix until fully combined. Finally add in your dry ingredients and mix just until they are smooth. Try not to overmix, since it will make it cakier the more mixed it gets.
Scoop slightly oversized 2-tbsp balls of dough onto your pan. Check the photo to make sure the consistency seems right, and aim to get 9 equally sized balls. Like I said earlier, I worked hard to make sure this recipe measures out 9 cookies since that way you can fit them on one pan and get them all into the oven at once, since the batter temperature is so important!
Bake time!
Bake for 10-12 minutes, I find my sweet spot to be a little under 11 minutes. This leaves the inside gooey and fudgy, but still correct cookie firmness. Once they come out, they will need to stay on the pan for about 15 minutes to finish cooking and firm up enough to move to a cooling rack (or be eaten immediately).
Time to eat your fudgy vegan brownie cookies!! Nutritional info can be found in the Notes section below the recipe instructions.
Storage:
After they have cooled, seal fudgy vegan brownie cookies in an air-tight container and store at room temperature. They will stay good around 3 days, but also freeze beautifully if you want to eat them for longer.
Pro Tips & Tools:
- Flour – Make sure you are measuring your flour either by weight or using the spoon and level method. Do not scoop directly from the container, as you will wind up with too much! This is so important! If you want to buy a pre-made gluten free flour blend, make sure it’s King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour, it is BY FAR the best one for my recipes, NOT Bob’s Red Mills or any others. If you want to make a homemade blend, here is a link to the one I use.
- I always keep a large round cookie cutter or a mason jar lid next to my oven, that way when the cookies come out if they are misshapen I can quickly use the round lid to help reshape the dough before it has firmed up.
- I use these chocolate bars for my melting chocolate, and this cocoa powder. Yes I buy both in bulk.
- Get a 2-tablespoon scoop!! I slept on this for too long and kept thinking it was the same if I just used a tablespoon to measure things. The scoop is SO much easier, and it’s fun.
Ingredients Needed:
- Flour – Make sure you are measuring your flour either by weight or using the spoon and level method. Do not scoop directly from the container, as you will wind up with too much! This is so important! If you want to buy a pre-made gluten free flour blend, make sure it’s King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour, it is BY FAR the best one for my recipes, NOT Bob’s Red Mills or any others. If you want to make a homemade blend, here is a link to the one I use.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking powder – though you should never use any leavening agents in actual fudgy brownies, since they can leave them too cake-y, here it helps the dough ball form the cookie shape. Also, I recommend using baking powder that has no added aluminum. This one is my go-to.
- Salt
- Vegan butter – I use Earth Balance sticks.
- Vegan chocolate for melting – I use these chocolate bars for my melting chocolate. You can use any you want, but if you are using chocolate chips I strongly recommend weighing them to make sure it’s the right amount, as this recipe is specific on measurements. If you don’t use this exact one, try to stick to something around 56% cacao.
- Granulated sugar – If you want to make these sugar free, I love using this Monkfruit Sweetener in place of granulated sugar.
- Non-dairy milk – use any that you like, I tend to use soy or almond.
- Vanilla extract
What To Bake Next:
- Want these in brownie form? Try these Vegan Fudgy Brownies, or go wild with these Vegan Cheesecake Brownies.
- Want more chocolate cookies? Try these Vegan Copycat Thin Mint Cookies, or these Vegan Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
- Want more chocolate on chocolate? Try these Vegan Copycat Entenmann’s Donuts, or these Vegan S’mores Cupcakes, or this Vegan Triple Chocolate Cake.
Vegan Fudgy Brownie Cookies (Gluten Free option)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup + 1 tbsp gluten free flour can sub all-purpose if desired. This links to my favorite store bought gluten free flour blend that works best with all of my recipes, or see "Ingredients Needed" section for further info.
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 oz chocolate see notes
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- ½ heaping cup granulated sugar *if you want a sugar free option, this links to my favorite sweetener, you can substitute it 1:1 in place of regular granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp room temperature non-dairy milk see notes
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a large pan with parchment paper.
- I’d recommend reading the “how to make them” section of this post if you have the extra few minutes, otherwise here’s the shortened version! The most important thing here is to prep all your ingredients in advance BEFORE beginning any baking, since the success of the cookies relies on the batter still being warm when it goes into the oven.
- In a small bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Make sure you have your sugar, vanilla extract, and milk at the ready. Milk MUST be room temperature, if it is not measure it into a small bowl and microwave for a few seconds until it is room temperature or even slightly warm.
- Add your chocolate and vegan butter to a large bowl. Once everything is prepped, put the bowl of chocolate and vegan butter onto a double boiler (explained above if you’ve never done this), and use a spatula to mix until it is melted.
- Once melted, add the sugar directly into the bowl while it is still on the double boiler, and mix for another minute or so until fully combined. Check the photo above if needed.
- Here is where we begin to move quickly and the prep is important – from the moment the bowl comes off the double boiler to when the cookie dough goes into the oven should be around 4 minutes. If the batter is HOT, it will spread too much. If it has cooled for longer than about 5 minutes, it runs the risk of not spreading enough.
- Once the chocolate mixture is off the double boiler, let it sit for about a minute so it isn’t piping hot anymore. Add in the vanilla extract and milk and mix until fully combined. Then add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, try not to overmix. Then scoop oversized 2-tbsp sized balls onto your baking sheet, you should get exactly 9.
- Put in the oven for 10-12 minutes, I find my sweet spot to be just under 11. The cookies will be undercooked in the middle and need about 15 minutes to firm up on the pan before being moved, this will give them that perfect fudgy texture once they are ready.
- Eat and enjoy!
Notes
- Chocolate for melting – In the “pro tips and tools” section I link to the chocolate bars I use for my melting chocolate. You can use any you want, but if you are using chocolate chips I strongly recommend weighing them to make sure it’s the right amount, as this recipe is specific on measurements
- Milk – make sure it is room temperature. If it is coming straight from the fridge or still cold, measure into a bowl and microwave for a few seconds to make sure it is room temperature or even a bit warm before using it.
NUTRITION INFO
Total amount: 9 cookies
Serving size: 1 cookie
Per serving amounts:- Calories – 176
- Grams of fat – 6.8
- Grams of carbs – 26.6
- Grams of protein – 3.4