Honey Chocolate Brownie Bites

With back to school upon us, I thought a cookie for lunch boxes or after school snack might be in order. These cookies are about as close as you can get to eating a "raw" cookie dough cookie (without it actually being raw). They are very soft and have the consistency of a chewy brownie.  They were a big hit among potluckers dining here a few weeks ago.  The recipe comes from the July 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. The original recipe, called "Double-Chocolate Brownie Bites," includes 7 ounces (1 1/2 cups) of semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped, but as I've mentioned on the blog before, Robert hates chocolate chips, so I left them out.  No one missed them and truth be told, I think the chips would have taken these cookies over the top (and not in a good way).   The cookies puff up and their tops crackle--a sign they're ready to pull out of the oven.  When they cool, they flatten back down again.

Honey Chocolate Brownie Bites
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 325.  In a medium size bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, soda and salt and set aside. Beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until very fluffy--about 3 or 4 minutes.  Add the honey and beat again until fluffy and light.  Lower the speed and slowly add the flour/cocoa mixture until very well combined.  If you're adding chocolate bits, now would be the time to do that.  Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes (this will make them easier to form into small balls).

Take about a teaspoon of dough and roll it into a ball--aiming for a little less than the size of a walnut.  Drop the balls into the granulated sugar and roll again.  Place the sugar-coated balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing about 1 inch apart.  Bake for about 9 minutes until the tops are puffed and cracking and just set.  Cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or so then transfer to a cooling rack.  Makes about 30 and the cookies will keep at room temperature in an air-tight container for about three or four days.