Cookie Dough Oreo Brownies

Cookie Dough Oreo Brownies - made April 9, 2021 from If You Give a Blonde a Kitchen

This is a brownie made popular some time back, partly because one of its names is Slutty Brownies. Not sure why and I didn't care to find out much more about it. Because regardless of what it's called, it's essentially a chocolate chip cookie layer topped with Oreos and covered with a brownie layer. All good things and, separately, certainly what I like to bake and eat.

Put together, however, I'm not sure I loved it. There's nothing wrong with it and, in fact, this is great in flavor and texture regarding the chocolate chip layer and the brownie layer. It's rich and fudgy.

But for me, I think I'm not in love with it because the Oreos got lost in it. I've learned over and over (yet I seem to need to keep learning) that baking Oreos into something loses what I like best about Oreos, not just their flavor but also the crispness and crunchiness of the chocolate sandwich part of the Oreo. Because the Oreos get sandwiched (haha) between the chocolate chip layer and the brownie layer, it softens and blends into the brownie. You can also tell from the pictures that you can hardly tell there's an Oreo in the middle. That's because I (wrongly) ignored the original recipe to use Double Stuff Oreos. I used regular Oreos and the sandwich filling got mostly lost in the brownie. So if you want the oreo filling to be more pronounced, use the Double Stuff version. 

Cookie layer

7 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Brownie layer

5 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 1/4 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

16 Oreos (use the Double Stuff Oreos)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Cookie layer: Cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined. Add eggs and vanilla; mix to combine. Add flour, baking soda and salt; mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Evenly spread cookie dough in bottom of prepared pan. Smooth top.
4. Brownie layer: melt chocolate chips and butter in the top half of a double boiler until melted and smooth. Whisk in cocoa powder.
5. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs and granulated sugar. Add vanilla extract and whisk to combine. Add melted chocolate-butter mixture and mix to combine. Add salt and flour; beat until just combined.
6. Arrange Oreos in 4 x 4 rows on top of cookie dough layer. Cover with brownie batter and smooth top.
7. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted at an angle in the brownie layer comes out with moist crumbs, not raw batter. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.