These are like thin, crispy little brownies, like those bits you get on the edges of a brownie pan. If you bake them for 6-ish minutes, you’ll get a soft, chewy brownie cookie, or, for a more traditional snap bake for the full 9-10 minutes. This recipe is designed to use an entire box of brownie mix and thus makes a lot of cookies, feel free to halve both recipes if you’re not baking for a crowd. 

Ingredients:

2 cups boxed brownie mix 

1 cup all purpose flour 

⅓ cup cocoa powder 

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened 

⅓ cup sugar 

1 large egg 

½ teaspoon kosher salt

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Method:

-Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 

-In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups brownie mix, flour, and cocoa powder until fully combined, set aside. (This recipe is designed to use 1 box of 16.3 oz. brownie mix between the cookies and the caramel – so make sure to reserve the rest of the brownie mix for later).

-In a large bowl using a spatula, mix the softened butter and sugar together until combined. Continue mixing for a further 2 - 3 minutes, until butter and sugar is totally incorporated and a shade or so lighter in color. We’re not looking to add a ton of air into this or anything – so this can be done by hand or in a stand mixer. 

-Add in the egg, mix until well combined. 

-Add in the dry ingredients and mix until no dry spots remain. The dough will be a little sticky, this is normal. 

-The easiest way to roll out these cookies is between two sheets of parchment paper, so cut two pieces of parchment paper the size of a standard sheet pan, and place the dough between them. 

-Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough between the two sheets of paper until it is ¼” thick. Slide the parchment and dough onto a sheet tray and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to firm up before cutting into your chosen shapes (I’m doing hearts, duh). Reshape your scraps of dough into a ball, roll it out, chill it, and cut it out anew. 

-This will be more difficult, but still do-able without parchment. Simply chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling. Lightly dust the rolling surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough, re-dusting the dough and surface as needed. 

-Bake cookies at 325°F for 6 - 10 minutes (see note above). Or until the cookie appears full “dry” on top, and before it has begun to turn dark brown at the edges. 

-Allow to cool to room temperature for at least 30 minutes before assembling. 

-Wafers can be made up to 3 days ahead of time stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

This is a brownie batter and caramel hybrid, of sorts. The caramel gives it both a depth of flavor and a chewy delicious texture – and by using brownie mix we achieve that lick-the-bowl taste and texture we all know and love. Pre-baking the dry mix ensures it is safe to eat, seriously, toasting the brownie mix is not optional. Put on your food safety hat and follow the directions! 

Yields: 

3 cups caramel

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, divided 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter 

1 cup heavy cream 

⅓ cup dark chocolate chips 

1 ½ cups boxed brownie mix (toasted on a sheet tray at 325° f for 15 minutes, or until mix temps at 165° f) 

3 tablespoons cocoa powder 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

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Method:

-Caramel requires all of your attention – so measure all the ingredients beforehand and keep them close by, you don’t want to be scrambling to measure something while the caramel burns! 

-Make a dry caramel: In a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, cook ¼ cup of the sugar over medium-high heat. As soon as the sugar starts to melt, use a heat-resistant spatula to move it constantly around the pan—you want it all to melt and caramelize evenly to a gorgeous amber color. Once the first amount of sugar has taken on color, add an additional ¼ cup sugar to the existing caramel in the pan, repeating the previous steps—cook and stir, cook and stir, until the mixture is once again a gorgeous amber color. Continue adding ¼ cup sugar twice more until all your sugar has become one pretty pan of caramel. 

-Remove pan from heat and stir in the unsalted butter until melted.

-Next, carefully and slowly stream in the heavy cream, whisking all the while. The mixture will sputter and bubble and produce a ton of steam so watch your hands. 

-Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. 

-Finally, add in toasted brownie mix, cocoa powder, and salt and whisk until smooth. 

-Transfer caramel to an airtight container and chill for at least an hour, or until thick and glossy, before assembling the cookies. 

-Caramel can be made up to 4 days ahead of time, stored in an airtight container in the fridge. 

2 cups dark chocolate chips 

2 teaspoon vegetable oil 

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

Decor of your choice, sprinkles, flaky salt, melted white chocolate stripes, go nuts! 

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-Place a metal rack atop a sheet tray line with parchment paper – or, in absence of the rack, simply prep the sheet tray with parchment paper. 

-Melt the chocolate chips and oil together in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each turn, until fully melted and smooth. This should take about 2 total minutes in the microwave. Stir in vanilla extract. 

-Dollop a heaping tablespoon of room-temperature brownie caramel atop each brownie wafer and spread close to the edges of the wafer. You can reheat the caramel to a more workable texture in the microwave 15 seconds at a time, but don’t over do it! We still need the caramel to be thick and luscious and not too thin that we can’t work with it. 

-Drop your snaps caramel-side-down into the melted chocolate, then flip the snap right-side-up with a fork to fully coat the bottom of the snap. 

-Using two forks, one on each side of the snap (or just use one fork, it’s your kitchen) lift the snap out of the chocolate, allowing excess chocolate to drip off. Then place on the drying rack for the chocolate to set. If you’re in a rush, toss them in the fridge to get that chocolate going. 

-Decorate as you wish! 

-You may need to reheat the chocolate as you work, just follow the same instructions above or, opt for a double boiler situation. 

-Snaps can sit out for a few hours at a time, but for longer term storage (IE, more than a few hours) store them in the fridge, wrapped up tightly. Allow to come to room temp before serving. Snaps can be made up to 5 days ahead of time.