Chipster Topped Brownies

Like many of the Tuesday's with Dorie bakers, I had no idea what a "chipster" topped brownie was. When I finally did look it up in Baking, From My Home to Yours, I could hardly contain my excitement: a chocolate chip cookie on top of a brownie - what could be better???!!!

Alas, perhaps my expectations were too high, but the chipster topped brownies were not all that I had hoped they'd be...

The two different components were easy enough to put together, they just didn't work so well once in the oven...

I knew from reading the P&Q that baking times were presenting some problems, and that baking the brownie layer for a bit before adding the cookie dough seemed to help. So, I baked my brownies for 10 minutes by themselves, as one baker had done with perfect results. I had immediate reservations when I started plopping my dough on my partially baked brownie batter - the dough started sinking, and the batter was rising up  everywhere. It helped when I flattened each piece of dough before laying it down. So, back in the oven it went. After another 40 minutes, The whole thing had ballooned up - much more than I had expected it to - and was nowhere near done. I actually lost track of how many more times I set my timer for 10 more minutes, but it was at least 3. Finally, it appeared to be done, so I removed it from the oven, and it was looking pretty tasty, I must say. However, once it had been on the counter for a minute or so it caved, and I saw in the enormous crack that ran the length of it that the thing was still runny on the inside. Back  into the oven it went for another 15 minutes. 

Once cooled, we had a slice with some vanilla ice cream. It was pretty good, but not amazing. The brownie part was delicious, but the cookie part was quite a disappointment. Way too crunchy, not very cookie like at all. 

I will try this again, because I think it could be incredible, and because several of the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers (of which I am still not officially a member, by the way - can't get an email response to save my life...) had great results. I think the brownie layer needs more like 20 minutes on its own. 

Thanks to Beth of Supplicious for choosing this recipe.