February 13, 2026

Shiny Crinkly Brownie Cookies

Name: Shiny Crinkly Brownie Cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 9 min
Ingredients: 200g dark or semi-sweet chocolate (cut into chunks (not chocolate chips)); 57g or ¼ cup unsalted butter; 2 large eggs (at room temperature (place them in a bowl of hot water for few minutes to get warm)); 150g or ¾ cups fine granulated sugar; ½ tsp fine sea salt; 60g or scant ½ cup rye flour (all purpose flour, or buckwheat flour); ½ teaspoon baking powder; Add ins or toppings: Chocolate chips (cacao nibs, flaky sea salt, sprinkles, etc.)

Brownie like cookies that have a gooey chocolatey inside and that iconic brownie shiny, crinkle top.

5 from 1 vote

1 comment

Yield: cookies

Jump to recipe

1 comment

My first foray into brownie cookies on this site was a recipe that I simply named ‘brownie cookies; because they achieved in texture what an edge piece of a brownie is like. They are somewhere right in the middle of a brownie and a cookie in terms of texture and flavor. I then shared a dairy free brownie cookie, a bakery style brownie cookie (bigger!), and a sourdough brownie cookie (this relies on using some sourdough discard to achieve a chewy gooey texture). And I’ve always wanted to do a flourless brownie cookie but we’re not there yet… In the meantime I have these for you: pretty low on the flour so they’re quite light overall, mostly reliant on eggs, sugar, and chocolate (rather than cocoa) to make the dough.

But my favorite thing about these is the shiny crinkle top they get when baked – it’s JUST like the top of a brownie (a shiny crinkle brownie one!); thin and shatters the moment it’s touched. These are melt-in-your-mouth so good.

Recipe Origins

This recipe is adapted from Tartine’s buckwheat chocolate cookies – I’d had one in SF and then went to hunt down the recipe which I found in one of their cookbooks. I changed the recipe; first, to have a bit more butter as I wanted more of a spread on the cookies and reduced the chocolate a bit to balance. I also increased the flour a bit, and made the cookies with different kinds of flour to make sure it would work: buckwheat, like the original (good), regular all purpose flour (was ok – a little dry), and rye flour (by far my favorite).

Recipe Ingredients

Chocolate: dark or semi-sweet chocolate. Avoid milk chocolate for this recipe; you’ll want at least 60% cocoa solids (I suggest 70% to get as close to the cookies shown).

Butter: unsalted, cold is fine. Salted is ok too!

Eggs: whole large eggs.

Sugar: fine granulated sugar.

Sea salt: fine sea salt. If you used salted butter you may want to reduce the salt a bit (if you don’t like a salty cookie). Also if you only have table salt, halve the amount as table salt has a saltier flavor than sea salt.

Baking powder: this will help in puffing up the cookies so they crack.

Flour: a medium rye flour was my favorite for these cookies (most of the photos here were the version with rye) but all purpose works too. You could also do a gluten-free 1 to 1 swap flour. Or buckwheat, like the original recipe.

Sea salt or chocolate chips: sea salt for the topping, chocolate chips can go on top or be mixed into the cookie dough.

How to make Shiny Crinkle Brownie Cookies

Make the Dough

Start by gently melting the chocolate and butter together. The chocolate should be chopped up into smaller pieces so it doesn’t take too much heat to melt it.

You can either melt it over a bain maire (a bowl set atop a pot of simmering water) or in the microwave. If using the microwave, set it for 1 minute, stir then set it for another minute. This should be enough to heat it so that when stirred, it fully melts. Set the chocolate/butter mix aside to cool.

In a larger bowl add the sugar, salt and the eggs and use a hand mixer to beat them to the ribbon stage: the mix should become several times lighter and fluffy.

With the mixer on, slowly add the cooled chocolate mix and beat until combined.

Add the flour and baking powder and beat to just combine – no need to over do it.

If you’re adding chocolate chips, stir them in now.

Now leave the bowl uncovered, just to let the dough rest, for about 15 minutes.

Bake the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

You’ll need about two cookie sheets to make all the cookies. Grease the pans then line them with parchment paper (parchment is a MUST here – these cookies will stick to foil or an unlined pan).

Use a cookie scoop or disher to portion the cookies into 1.5 tablespoons dough per cookie.

If you like, top with sea salt.

Bake the cookies until they have puffed and spread, have cracked quite a bit and have set edges and middles, for about 8-9 minutes.

Troubleshooting & FAQ

My cookies didn’t turn out shiny like yours pictured. What did I do wrong?

The shiny exterior of these cookies is a result of beating room temperature eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage. The mix should get very light, pale colored and fluffy. It’s called the ribbon stage because the mix falls into ribbons when you lift the beaters. It’s going to take around 3-4 minutes to get there so be patient!

Something is off with the flavor – it tastes burnt. What happened?

You may have overheated the chocolate and it burned. When you try again, make sure to stir the chocolate often as it’s melting and don’t overheat it – stop when it’s mostly melted then stir stir stir until it’s smooth.

Can I double the recipe?

Yes – but because of the bigger batch you’ll be beating the eggs and sugar longer to reach that ribbon stage. And you’ll want to rest the batter for about 20 minutes.

How do I store the cookies and how long will they last?

Airtight container at room temperature. I find these are best the day of baking as they slowly dry out but you can keep them up to 3 days.

Shiny Crinkle Brownie Cookies Recipe