How To Turn Boxed Brownie Mix Into Cookies So Good You'll Swear They Came From A Bakery

Of all the many ongoing food debates carried out across the globe, few are as hotly contested as the one between cookies and brownies. While fans of each are quick to defend their dessert of choice, the ideal situation is having the best of both worlds — brownie mix cookies. By modifying the traditional ratio of dry ingredients (the brownie mix) to wet ingredients (eggs), you can make delicious cookies that benefit from the sweet, delectable flavor of the best store-bought brownie mixes.

Because texture is the key difference between making brownie mix cookies and traditional brownies, the main goal is to avoid an overly gooey, fudgy result. The majority of store-bought brownie mixes include the same essential dry ingredients found in most cookie recipes — sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda or baking powder – so adjusting a few of these is all it takes to achieve cookie success. 

Start by adding an extra ⅛ cup of flour and about a teaspoon of baking powder to the brownie mix. Next, consider adjusting the egg amount. Most brownie mixes call for between one and three eggs. If the brownie mix recipe you're using only requires one egg, you don't need to adjust this measurement. However, if your boxed mix calls for three eggs, reducing to two eggs can help thicken the texture of your dough. Stir in any other ingredients the boxed mix calls for, such as oil or vanilla, and in no time, you'll have the cookie version of brownies.

When it comes to baking the cookies, the timing, temperature, and overall method unsurprisingly resemble a standard cookie recipe more than the instructions on a brownie box. Brownies can take over 40 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit to bake, but brownie mix cookies are faster, taking as few as 10 to 12 minutes at 325 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you've perfected this chocolate-centric trick for making delicious cookies, it makes sense to enhance them with the same add-ons you'd normally use. There are countless techniques to make your homemade cookies better, but the most notable is the use of mix-ins. For brownie mix cookies, skipping chocolate chips and instead adding peanut butter chips or nuts will contrast the strong chocolate flavor already present in the recipe. Adding dried fruit can elevate the flavor even more, with dried cranberries arguably the best choice to brighten the fudgy cookies. Adding oats to your recipe can also give your brownie mix cookies a distinctive and delicious texture — you can even combine oats with dried fruit, like in this incredible cranberry oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie recipe. Or, if you want a simple yet effective upgrade for your dessert, coating your balls of cookie dough in powdered sugar before baking them can help emulate a classic crinkle-style chocolate cookie.