Double Chocolate Brownie Bites

When I entered the FAANtastic Divvies Cookie Contest last year, I never expected that my recipe would actually win, or foresaw any of the excitement that followed.  I was just hoping to place and maybe score some Divvies store credit.  It has been an amazing ride, and we haven't even gone on our trip yet.  Spring break, here we come!

Lori Sandler of Divvies took this recipe as inspiration, and created the amazingly fudgey Choco-lot Brownie Cookies.  (No, I don't get a portion of the sales, but the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network does, if you needed another reason to order some!)  Since the Divvies recipe is actually different than the one I submitted, Lori is kindly permitting me to go public with it.

This recipe was the result of many failed attempts to create a gooey, rather than cake like, pan of egg, dairy, peanut and tree nut free brownies, which still eludes me.  When I finally tried to make cookies from the uncooperative batter, the results were fairly unattractive brown lumps.  Incredibly chocolaty but not too sweet, soft on the inside and chewy on the outside, brown lumps.  I hope you enjoy them!

Double Chocolate Brownie Bites

2010 FAANtastic Divvies Cookie Contest Winning Recipe

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
2 ½ C all-purpose flour
1 C allergen free cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 C dairy free margarine, softened
1 C granulated sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz container or 2/3 C plain or vanilla soy yogurt

Additional Ingredients:
10  or 12 oz bag allergen free semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl and set aside.

Beat margarine in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment at medium speed for one minute, then gradually add sugars.  Continue to cream together at least 5 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down bowl.  Reduce speed to low and add vanilla extract and soy yogurt.  Gradually add dry ingredients until mixed thoroughly, then turn off mixer and stir in chocolate chips by hand.

Use a 1 Tablespoon disher or cookie scoop to drop spoonfuls of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets at least two inches apart.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool on sheets for at least five minutes then move to a cooling rack.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

A few notes about the recipe: if you have a hand mixer rather than a stand mixer, you can still make these, but make sure the margarine is softened before you start and allow more time to cream it. A disher is also not necessary, but highly recommended if you are planning to make drop cookies on a regular basis. (And let's face it, if you've got a kid with food allergies, you're probably doing more baking than you planned!) The recipe also calls for plain or vanilla soy yogurt, but feel free to substitute whatever safe nondairy yogurt you can get your hands on. If plain or vanilla isn't on the shelf, go ahead and use a berry flavored cup instead. Cherry is especially good.

You may also notice that this is a fairly large batch of cookies. The proportions do simplify things by calling for an entire cup of yogurt and an entire bag of chips to be dumped in the batter, rather than carefully measured out. Honestly, though, I can't keep up with the demand for these things, mostly from the non food allergic, so too many cookies have never been a problem!

I owe a huge thank you to the wonderful people at Divvies and FAAN, as well as our local Tampa Food Allergy Walk Committee. We are incredibly excited to visit one of the Great Wolf Lodges, and I'll be sure to bring back lots of pictures!

Update: Due to many, many requests, I've created a version of this cookie that can be made both gluten free and free of all the Big 8 allergens. Here's the link. Please consider it a thank you to the wonderful allergy community!