Cookie Dough Brownies

My sister-in-law turned 15 a few weeks ago. Ugh, that makes me feel old considering she was a little older than Blockette is now when we got married.

Anyhow, I guess as she is getting older more of her extended family is forgetting her birthday. We went out to visit her and I thought I should bring some sort of Birthday goodie. But what to bring??? I went through my recipes and everything I wanted to make was just not conducive to traveling over an hour in the hot hotness of the car, no matter how high the AC was cranked.

My first choice was to make Peabody's chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake, but warm cheesecake is icky icky poo poo. So I thought, why not make the cookie dough balls from that recipe and stick it in brownies?

The cookie dough was a pain in the butt. It was so humid that the balls did not want to retain their shape. They kept spreading and oozing into one another in hopes of making one giant cookie dough amoeba. I got them in the freezer as quick as I could, and rolled them again once they had congealed.

Be forewarned...the cookie dough recipe makes a lot. The cookie dough is evil! Evil I tells ya. I guess it is OK sort of evil though. I mean there is no egg in the recipe, so you can't gack from ookie bacteria or nuthin. No, you'll just die from the bliss of a sugar coma because you try to eat the whole batch in one sitting. MMMM sweet sweet cookie dough bliss.

Anyhow, I used my small cookie dough scooper to portion out the balls, then I cut them in half and placed them a top the brownie batter. (And why yes, I used a box mix cause I happen to like box mixes, especially when they are on sale and I have a coupon so there food elitists!)The brownies really puffed up around the cookie dough. I was surprised how much they had risen. Ultimately, I found myself wishing that there was a higher cookie dough to brownie ratio. If I make these again, I will stir some cookie dough balls into the batter and then put more cookie dough on the top for decoration. I'll also use mini chips in the cookie dough. Then the chocolate chips will be more evenly distributed throughout the whole cookie dough balls.

Chocolate chip cookie dough balls from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
½ cup chocolate chips

Using a stand mixer (or a bowl and beaters), cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla. With speed on low, slowly add flour, alternating with condensed milk, beating g well after each addition. Fold in chocolate chips. Shape balls into 1-inch balls and place into an air tight container. Store in freezer for at least 3 hours.