Spiced Orange Rum Brownie Cookies

Could anything be more perfect for a winter treat than these festive spiced orange rum brownie cookies? Such a warming combination of cinnamon and nutmeg flavours combined with orange and spiced rum, and most important of all – chocolate!

These brownie cookies are great warm and fresh from the oven, or after they've cooled and gained that gooey chewy texture.

One of my favourite things about these fudgy brownie cookies is that they make an amazing gift. This is especially true for Christmas and the Holidays! They slot perfectly into a food hamper, or look adorable gift wrapped and tied with some festive ribbon.

Alternatively, enjoy them as great festive party food, or just snaffle them all to yourself. All equally great ideas in my opinion!

Jump to:

• ✏️ Making a tasty and easy recipe
• 🥘 Ingredients notes
• 🔪 Equipment notes
• 🍱 Storage
• 💭 Top tips for success
• ♻️ Alternatives and substitutions
• 🧁 Other goodies
• 📋 Recipe

✏️ Making a tasty and easy recipe

Brownie cookies (also called brookies) are the delicious hybrid of a brownie and a cookie. It's basically a chocolate chip chocolate cookie with extra fudginess and crackly top like a brownie.

I love chocolate orange, and a Terry’s chocolate orange is such a classic stocking filler. It just makes me think of snowy Christmases and opening gifts under the Christmas tree. These spiced rum chocolate orange brownie cookies are such a perfect winter treat. They’re like an orange rum cake and a chocolate brownie cookie had a love child.

I started with a recipe for the ultimate gooey chocolate brownies and then tweaked them. They needed to better hold their form when baked, despite the addition of the spiced rum. Throw in some chocolate chips, orange flavour and spices and you’ve got a chewy brownie cookie to dream about!

I won’t lie, it took me at least 4 test batches before I got the right flavour for these brownies. They have quite a punchy heat when fresh. But don't worry, they tend to mellow out a little over the next few days (if they’re still around for that long!).

I like to make these chewy chocolate cinnamon orange brownie cookies as easy as possible. To do this, I use orange extract or orange essence to flavour it. So much simpler than grating your fingers zesting a real orange! They're also super quick and easy to make, ready in less than 30mins!

🥘 Ingredients notes

Using high-quality ingredients will make a huge difference in the taste of your brownie cookies. I’ve tried using several different brands of chocolate, and you can tell the difference between a cheap brand and a quality baking chocolate.

I use Callebaut Belgian chocolate for this recipe for both the dark chocolate melted into the brownie mix and for the milk chocolate chips and it’s delicious!

When measuring your ingredients, I always recommend using weights rather than cups where possible for greater accuracy.

🔪 Equipment notes

I like to use digital scales for weighing my ingredients as it's easier and more accurate than other scales. I'm a fan of these KitchenAid or Salter ones!

Use measuring spoons for your tsp and tbsp amounts where possible. I used to think you could use actual teaspoons and tablespoon from your cutlery drawer, but this isn't the case!

🍱 Storage

You can store your brownie cookies in an airtight container. They should keep for up to 4 days stored at room temperature.

If you like your brownie cookies to be a bit firmer and chewy, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge. They should keep refrigerated for up to 5 days in the fridge.

💭 Top tips for success

• When these bad boys come out of the oven, they’ll be quite soft, but don’t panic! Like real brownies, these will firm up as they cool to give that fudgy chewy goodness in the centre. They'll still have the crispy edges like a cookie though. If they’re still not firm enough for your liking, you can pop them in the fridge to set further before serving.

• These brownie cookies are pretty hard to pick up straight off the tray when they come out of the oven. Allow them to cool on the tray for 10mins or so before moving them to a wire rack. Otherwise, you’ll risk them all breaking in half as you try to move them.

• To portion out my cookies, I like to use a ¼ cup scoop for the brownie batter. Simple scoop and upend it onto your lined baking tray. Don’t worry too much about them not looking as smooth as cookie dough, they will still look nice once baked. If possible, try to keep them roughly ball-shaped mounds, the taller the better! They will spread a little so be sure to leave a few inches of space between scoops.

• If you want your cookies to look extra pro, you can save 2-4 chocolate chips per cookie and add them to the top of your cookies as soon as you take them out of the oven. These will melt slightly onto the top of your brownie cookies and give them that professional finish.

Troubleshooting help:

If you’ve got any specific questions on making these festive spiced orange rum gooey brownie cookies, please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try my best to help out!

Alternatively, you can get in touch via my Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest – I’d love to hear from you!

♻️ Alternatives and substitutions

For an extra chocolate orange treat, you can put a slice of Terry’s chocolate orange on top of your cookies when they come out of the oven so it melts onto it. You can also have these with or without the chocolate chips – delicious either way!

If you’d like a more gooey molten centre, you can turn the temperature of the oven up a little and bake them the cookies about 2-3mins less. Let them cool a little before tucking into your deliciously warm cookies!

This recipe is for spiced orange rum brownie cookies from scratch, but you can also buy a boxed brownie mix. If doing this, follow the instructions on the box and add your spices, orange extract, rum and then an extra 2 tbsp plain flour and ½ tbsp cocoa powder.

I like my spiced orange flavour to have quite a warming kick (they do mellow out a little over time though). If you’re not into very spicy flavours, (i.e. if you’re a lemon and herb on the Nando’s heat scale), I’d recommend reducing the heat - only put in two pinches of cinnamon, as opposed to the whole ¼ tsp per the recipe.

As with all my boozy bakes, I recommend using your favourite brand of alcohol for this recipe. There are so many great types of rums to choose from, such as Tortuga rum (used for world-famous rum cakes). Or you can go for a nice Jamaican rum, Caribbean rum or any spiced rum of your choice really!

You can also use a dark rum instead, or if you’ve got a light / white type of rum on hand already, add an extra pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon to your brownie cookies to up the delicious spice flavour.

🧁 Other goodies

I definitely recommend that you whip up a batch of these easy Christmas spiced orange rum brownie cookies! But as an avid home baker, I’m sure you’re asking yourself “what next?”.

Well if you’re feeling festive, then why not take a look at my collection of Christmas & The Holidays recipe ideas – so many festive treats to choose from! These recipes are great to enjoy on Christmas day or give as gifts to friends and family, such as a mason jar vegan cookie mix Christmas gift.

If you’re into a boozy bake (and let’s be honest, why not treat yourself) then you might be interested in my recipe for a boozy Baileys Irish cream chocolate cheesecake or bourbon pecan chocolate chip cookies – so much sweet mouth joy!

Looking forward to some new recipes? Check out my Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages for a few sneak peeks and some sweet inspiration! Or if you’d like to hear about our latest recipes, why not subscribe to our newsletter?

📋 Recipe

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