Double Chocolate (Threat) Cookies

I'm gonna have to run tomorrow morning to work these babies off. Yeah I ate waay too many...and that's an understatement.

I found this recipe on a blog entitled "The Way the Cookie Crumbles." If you are interested in making any type of cookie, this is the blog to search. This particular recipe can be linked to HERE. And her pictures are a little better than mine so you may want to check it out if you aren't drooling enough from looking at my cookie pics.

Thick and Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies
(from Cooks Illustrated September 1999)
Makes about 3½ dozen cookies
To melt the chocolate in a microwave, heat at 50 percent power for 2 minutes, stir, then continue heating at 50 percent power for 1 more minute. If not completely melted, heat an additional 30 to 45 seconds at 50 percent power. Semisweet chocolate chips (12 ounces) may be added for a bigger chocolate punch; if used, they will slightly increase the yield on the cookies. We recommend using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop to scoop the dough. Resist the urge to bake the cookies longer than indicated; they may appear underbaked at first but will firm up as they cool.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso powder
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (1¼ sticks), softened but still firm
1½ cups light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar

1. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost-simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth; remove from heat. Beat eggs and vanilla lightly with fork, sprinkle coffee powder over to dissolve, and set aside.

2. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or with hand mixer), beat butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds (15 seconds with hand mixer). Beat in sugars until combined, about 45 seconds (1½ minutes with hand mixer); mixture will look granular. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds (1½ minutes with hand mixer). Add chocolate in steady stream and beat until combined, about 40 seconds (1 minute with hand mixer). Scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula. With mixer at low speed, add flour mixture and mix until combined, about 40 seconds (1 minute with hand mixer). Do not overbeat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until consistency is scoopable and fudgelike, about 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Leaving about 1½-inches between each ball, scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets with 1 ¾-inch diameter ice cream scoop.

4. Bake cookies until edges have just begun to set but centers are still very soft, about 10 minutes, turning cookie sheets from front to back and switching from top to bottom racks halfway through baking.

5. Cool cookies on sheets about 10 minutes, slide parchment with cookies onto wire rack and cool to room temperature; remove with wide metal spatula.

 In Pictures

 I used 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 3/4 Cup whole wheat flour but you are welcome to use all all-purpose.

Sifted dry ingredients

 I didn't have 16 oz of semi sweet chocolate so improvised and added some milk chocolate chips and some butterscotch chips. Certainly didn't hurt! And then I used the microwave method and not the double boiler one to melt them.

Chocolate! Sugar!

I used folgers instant coffee because I got some for free last year and knew I wanted it for baking later. If you didn't have or want to use coffee you could probably leave it out or use more cocoa powder instead.

Eggs and instant coffee.

Butter and Sugar

Okay this is where it starts to look amazingly Willy Wonka worthy.

Eggs and instant coffee added

Just wait, now look:

Chocolate and butterscotch chips added

Flour and cocoa added

I made a bit of a mess

These cookies got friendly in the oven.

 So these are the first ones out and they really spread out more than I thought they would. Don't get me wrong. They were still amazing and perfect - the outside is crisp while the insides are moist and chewy.  I just wanted to see if I could get the "thick" promised in the name of the cookies. So I put them in the freezer. No not these specifically, the next batch of dough silly.

 
 And then they came out like this:

Even after the freezer they are still getting touchy-feely in that oven.

Perhaps slightly more puffy and with some not fully incorporated melted chocolate from the bottom of the bowl melted on top of few of 'em. If I had really wanted them more puffy I could have added more flour. That generally helps when baking things at a higher altitude but I didn't really want a cakey cookie so I didn't bother trying such things. They are really good as they are. My thighs will be a testament to such things if I don't follow through with said run for tomorrow. : ) Enjoy, try not to eat too many!

What I learned :

1. I always eat way too many cookies in the cookie making process.
2. It's difficult to watch Dexter while baking cookies. 
 

A Preponderance:
If the best things in life are free, but there's no free lunch, then what are the best  things, certainly they are food? So..uh.. from there it should be an obvious conclusion to narrow it down to...Should it actually be that the best things in life are messy or that the best things in life are chocolaty?

Let's have a vote shall we?




Sshh, I know the logic doesn't make sense. You caught me, I really just wanted an excuse to have a vote.