Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Tonight we are going to have dinner with one of my very best friends from high school and her fiance. She is making dinner so I told her I would bring dessert. Even though I am always looking for an excuse to bake, I was for some reason stumped. I had no idea what to make. I thought about cheesecake, but Jesse doesn't really like cheese cake so I knew he wouldn't eat that. I also thought about a regular cake, but that seemed like too much. Brownies came to mind but I feel like brownies can some times ::gasp:: be over done. It seems like everyone is always bring brownies. In the midst of the five minute conversation I had in my head about brownies I remembered a cookie I had just tried this week. A bakery near where I work made these delectable chocolate cookies that tasted almost exactly like a brownie. They were rich with a fudgey center, but they were sturdy like a cookie. So I set out on a mission to find a recipe.

I settled on a recipe from Hershey's website since I have yet to be let down by them. These cookies are very good, but they came out a little more "rough" than I was expecting and lighter in color. Maybe I should have blended for longer? OR maybe I should have used half regular cocoa powder and half special dark? Either way the cookies are very much edible and I will be taking them to dinner, but I am still in search of the recipe for that delicious bakery cookie.....



Hershey's Chewy Brownie Cookies
(Source: Hershey's Kitchen)
Ingredients:

* 2/3 cup shortening
* 1-1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon water
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S Dutch Processed Cocoa
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
* 1/4 cup chopped walnuts(optional)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F.

2. Beat shortening, brown sugar, water and vanilla in large bowl on medium speed of mixer until well blended. Add eggs; beat well.

3. Stir together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating on low speed just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on each cookie, pressing down lightly.

4. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are set. Cookies will appear soft and moist. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 3 dozen cookies

**I topped each cookie with chocolate ganache and confectioners sugar. I also added raspberry extract to half of my ganache along with a few drops of red food coloring. The cookies that are pictured have the regular chocolate ganache.