Oatmeal Brookies
Half fudgy brownie, half chewy oatmeal cookie, baked together in one pan. Gluten-free and vegan — the bakery brookie, scaled down for your kitchen.
Skip to recipe ↓A brookie is exactly what it sounds like: a brownie on the bottom, a cookie on top, baked as one slab. This is the oatmeal version — a fudgy gluten-free vegan brownie under a chewy oatmeal cookie, so every square gives you both textures at once.
The trick isn't two separate recipes stacked and hoped for. It's getting the two layers to bake in the same window: a brownie batter that stays fudgy, and a cookie dough that sets and browns in the same 30-odd minutes without drying out.
How the two layers get along
The brownie is built on melted chocolate, not just cocoa. Chocolate chips melted with coconut oil make the fudgy base, and Dutch-process cocoa — not natural, it matters for a deep, smooth chocolate — backs it up. Dates and applesauce do the binding and moisture a brownie would get from eggs, and a little pea protein with the starches gives it body, no leavening needed.
The cookie layer is the same oatmeal dough I use on its own — creamed butter and brown sugar for chew, oats and oat flour for structure — just scaled down to blanket the top. Because it sits on top and browns in the oven's dry heat, it reads as a proper cookie, not a soft topping.
Leave gaps. Don't seal the cookie dough into a solid lid. Press it on in clumps so brownie peeks through — that contrast is the whole appeal, and it lets the brownie release steam instead of steaming the cookie soft.
Oatmeal Brookies
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- 8×8-inch pan + parchment
- Microwave or small saucepan (to melt the chocolate)
- Two bowls (one whisk, one mixer)
- Spatula
Brownie layer
- 140g chocolate chips
- 105g oat milk
- 64g cane sugar
- 36g pea protein
- 28g Dutch-process cocoa powder (not natural)
- 27g coconut oil
- 22g rice flour
- 18g walnuts, chopped (optional)
- 16g water
- 15g unsweetened applesauce
- 12g soft dates, mashed
- 7g potato starch
- 4g tapioca flour
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 pinch cinnamon
Oatmeal cookie layer
- 75g certified gluten-free rolled oats
- 55g brown sugar
- 54g vegan butter, softened
- 37g cane sugar
- 35g oat flour
- 9g unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp xanthan gum
- 1 pinch cinnamon
- 50g chocolate chips or raisins (optional)
Method
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C). Line an 8×8-inch pan with parchment, leaving an overhang so you can lift the slab out later.
- Melt the chocolate. Gently melt the chocolate chips with the coconut oil — short microwave bursts or a double boiler — until smooth.
- Brownie batter. Whisk the cane sugar, mashed dates, oat milk, water, applesauce, and vanilla into the melted chocolate. In a separate bowl whisk the pea protein, Dutch cocoa, rice flour, potato starch, tapioca, xanthan, salt, and cinnamon. Fold the dry into the wet into a thick, glossy batter, then fold in the walnuts. Spread evenly into the pan.
- Cookie layer. Cream the softened butter with the brown and cane sugar until light, 2 minutes. Beat in the applesauce. Add the oat flour, baking soda, xanthan, salt, and cinnamon; mix to combine. Fold in the oats and optional chips or raisins.
- Layer them. Drop the cookie dough in clumps over the brownie and press gently to cover about three-quarters of the top, leaving brownie peeking through the gaps.
- Bake. 340°F for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cookie top is golden and set and the center no longer jiggles. A pick in the cookie part comes out with moist crumbs, not wet batter. Tent loosely with foil if the top browns before the center sets.
- Cool, then cut. Cool completely in the pan — they finish setting as they cool. Lift out by the parchment and cut into 16 squares.
Common failures and fixes
Gummy in the middle. Almost always cut too soon. These are a thick bar; the center keeps setting for a good while off the heat. Let the pan cool completely before you cut — an hour, or speed it in the fridge.
Cookie top browns before the center's done. Tent loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes. Every oven runs a little different, so go by the look of the center, not just the timer.
Want them fudgier or more cakey? Pull a couple minutes early for fudgy; leave the full 35 for a firmer, more cake-like brownie layer.
Keeps in an airtight container at room temperature for four to five days, and freezes well cut into squares.