I love surprises.

The littlest, simplest things easily make me jump for joy and break out in song.

An extra shot of espresso from my barista, a good book, and even ridiculous things, like getting a new BPA-free water bottle from Target or exploring Bed, Bath and Beyond for the first time.

So you can imagine my delight when I saw these:

Yes, friends, there is a secret brownie hiding in that cookie.

Magical, I tell you. Just. Magical.

In fact, when I found the recipe, it was past 10pm, but I made the brownies anyway. I was so excited to make them, that I ran home (caught the bus, actually) during my lunch break the next day, and whipped these bad boys up before heading back to the office.

My coworkers were laughing at me right up until the moment that they tasted one, still warm from the oven. Then they stopped laughing and had seconds!

Here's the step by step:

First, bake a batch of brownies. To save time, you could use store bought mini brownies. I used a boxed mix. I even substituted a banana for egg, because I was trying to be healthy (truthfully, I was out of eggs).

**note: when you use a banana instead of an egg, the brownies come out extremely moist. Which is great for these cookies, but horrible when you’re trying to cut them up and they’re just falling apart all over the place!

In any case, after you cut them up into little 1 inch cubes, throw together some of this wondrous chocolate chip cookie dough.

Super simple. Butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and (of course) a healthy helping of chocolate chips!

Now for the fun part, take about a half cup of cookie dough, plop on parchment paper, and make an indentation in it. Put the brownie piece on the cookie dough.

Go to your new home, my brownie friend!
**squish**

Ignore my strangely red hands and work the dough around the brownie. The dough's sticky, but it's still much more fun and exciting to use your hands to shape the dough into balls. 

Once these are ready to go, throw them in the oven at 350 degrees and watch them puff up.

They bake up HUGE. As you can see, I only put 4 of them in at a time. I didn’t want them to touch and turn into a massive cookie sheet cake. Although, that doesn’t sound so bad! Hahaha.

Watch them carefully. If they start browning too quickly, you can stick a sheet of foil over them so that they cook fully before they turn too brown. Let them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before you transfer to wire racks.

Hellooooo monster cookies.

They seriously were the size of my hand:

But the best part? The Surprise center!

Yum! These also make great gifts, and you can pack them up with the leftover brownies!

The recipe: From Bakrella, who adapted from Southern Living Cookbook!

1 package brownie mix
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used about 2 cups)

Make brownies according to package and let cool. Cut about ten 1 inch squares. Hide the remaining brownies in a safe place, away from hungry family members, and devour later.

Chocolate chip cookie dough:

Beat butter with a mixer until creamy, add brown sugar and beat until smooth.
Add eggs, yolk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in choco chips.

Let dough chill covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (I let it sit overnight)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a measuring cup to scoop batter by the 1/2 cup.
Place dough on parchment paper and make an indention in it.
Press a brownie square in the center and work the remaining dough around the brownie.
The dough will be sticky, but be fearless, use your hands to shape the dough into a ball.
Using a sheet of parchment for shaping and another for the baking sheet help keep mess to a minimum.
The trick to these is cold dough, so if your dough gets too soft, chill the rolled dough balls for a few minutes right before baking.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes.
Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator until it’s time to bake the second batch.
Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.