Triple Chocolate Cookie Brownies

I made these yesterday for the end of the dance term for a tasty teacher gift and it's the first time I've made them in a while. This recipe works with any chocolate-based biscuit - I've used Bourbon's before, or even chocolate chip cookies but we love the look and taste with these Oreo style cookies - (although I actually bought the Neo biscuits, which are a cheaper copy from Lidl).

They are super rich and the extra chocolate chunks plus the cookies mean these are a real squishy, fudgy treat - delicious.

Triple Chocolate Cookie Brownies

Here's how:

• 200g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
• 185 salted butter at room temperature
• 80g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 3 eggs
• 275g caster sugar
• 100g white chocolate
• 100g milk chocolate
• 1 pack Oreo or Neo (or alternative) cookies

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, fill and boil the kettle and then grease and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper. 

Using the just-boiled water, place into a small saucepan and in a bowl that rests on top of the saucepan, add the butter and the dark chocolate, broken into small pieces. Allow this to gently melt until it is a liquid lava of chocolate and then remove the bowl from the heat and allow to cool whilst you get everything else prepared. 

Chop the chocolate into small chunks and set aside. Also break about half of the cookies up into small pieces either by hand or by chopping and also leave to the side for the moment.

In a small bowl sift in the plain flour and cocoa powder. 

In a mixing bowl add the caster sugar and eggs and begin to whisk. This  is the most laborious part of the process - you need to work this quite hard to get as many bubbles in there as possible to allow the brownies to rise up. The final mixture should be light and fluffy and full of bubbles - do at least six minutes of whisking if doing by hand, and of course, take breaks if you need to.

Once you are satisfied, remove the whisk and grab a wooden spoon; now gently pour in the melted chocolate and butter into the bowl, and slowly fold in the mixture - be as gentle as you can to try and not whack all of the air out of the batter. 

Once this is combined, repeat the process with the flour and cocoa - use the figure of eight folding method if you can.

Finally add the chopped pieces of chocolate to the batter and mix to distribute well.

Now pour in half of the brownie batter into the baking tin. Now carefully scatter or place in the broken pieces of biscuits into the batter so they are evenly distributed. 

Triple Chocolate Cookie Brownies

Pour the remaining half of the batter over the biscuits so they are completely covered.

Finally take the remaining, whole Oreo/Neo biscuits and place neatly across the batter just on top - I try to keep one for each piece or portion of brownie. 

Once complete, place into the oven and bake for exactly 28 minutes - this timing works every time in my oven, which can be quite fast compared - so if you're unsure, use the skewer method to see if it comes out dry - if so it's done, if not return to the oven for a few more minutes, then test again.

When you remove from the oven give the tin a bang - this will make it easier to extract the brownies. 

Triple Chocolate Cookie Brownies

Leave to cool for as long as possible - it can be difficult when the kitchen is filled with an intoxicating chocolate aroma, but you'll thank me for it, when you're able to cut into neat squares. If you can't wait (we usually can't either) then be prepared for slightly more rustic brownies, with scruffier edges. Either way it won't impair the taste - enjoy!.