TWD: Chipster-Topped Brownies

I'm sure we were all thinking the same thing when we read the description of this week's recipe, a bar cookie that combines chocolate chip cookie dough and brownies:

"Toniiiiight is the niiiiight that two become oooone..."

Don't play coy. You were all with me on the Spice Train, right?



[And also, I'm sure you've all seen the Spice World movie, right, and currently have an awesome mental image in your head of Alan Cumming singing "3 become 1" in a parody, right? ...just me, then? Okay.]

Aaaanyhow. Brownies! Chocolate chip cookies! Two become one, indeed.

These looked pretty sexy, what with the fudgy brownie bottom and the super crispy, chocolate-studded topping. They were a little iffy in the pan (a bit cracked on top, and way past the "golden brown" stage for me) but once cut, they looked much more palatable. And also, enormous. I don't know why I physically can't cut small slices, but it's like a personal failing. Each bar must be at least 3" long. It's like my knife hand has as mind of its own.I was all ready to love these right up, because I'm a simple girl, with simple tastes, and chocolate chip cookies and plain brownies are two of my favorite things. But I think in this case, the final product was a little less than the sum of its parts. Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad, and heaven knows I ate half the pan myself, so I did enjoy them. But I guess at the end of the day, I'd rather have a really well-made cookie and a well-made brownie separately than the two baked together.
But these were a fun little experiment, and I did think the brownie layer was ooey gooey goodness. The cookie layer could have been beefed up a bit more, since all I really tasted was a crackly crust. I think the extremely long bake time was a problem--by the time the brownies were done, the cookies had been baked into oblivion.

Next time I might try baking the brownie layer a bit first, and then adding the cookie layer, so that the cookies stand a chance of retaining a bit of soft texture. And, you know, I would consider adding a touch of cinnamon or something, since they could use a little...spice. Hi-yo!