Dark, rich, and decadent and made with big chunks of bittersweet chocolate — these cookies are for serious chocolate lovers only. I needed a good solid chocolate sweet to go with all my fruity desserts the other night. I scoured my books and blogs and finally decided on a recipe from Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies. The recipe is one that she got from Robert Scharffen Berger (yes, Scharffen Berger chocolate) so I assumed it would be good with a pure chocolate focus – and it was! The little bit of coffee in the recipe adds extra something to the flavor which I just loved. I’m really not sure how everyone who tried them felt – what I do know is that they were all gone at the end of the night!
robert’s chocolate cookies (slightly adapted from Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies):
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (Scharffen Berger would be ideal!)
5 ounces premium-quality bittersweet chocolate cut into coarse chunks
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs, room temp
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso (or 1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground fresh coffee)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces (optional)
Place unsweetened chocolate and butter in a metal bowl set over a pot of an inch of barely simmering water. Melt – stirring here and there and once melted remove from heat.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a tiny bowl and set aside.
With the whisk attachment of your electric mixer (or handheld beaters) – beat the eggs with the sugar, coffee, and vanilla until pale and thick. About 5-7 minutes.
Fold the melted chocolate/butter into the batter and when almost incorporated fold in the flour as well – and finally mix in the chocolate chunks. Oh, and walnuts if using.
Cover and refrigerate until firm – about an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop a tablespoon of batter or even 2 tablespoons (if you want big cookies) about 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are puffed, dry and crackled a bit on the top but soft and gooey inside (mine didn’t really get crackly). This should take 8-10 minutes for the small ones and 10-12 for bigger cookies. Remember to rotate the pans as you bake. And don’t over bake!
Cool and enjoy –
