Bake 52 Week 52 - Thick & Chewy Triple Chocolate Cookies

It's our last week of the year and my turn to host.  I thought I'd end the year on a chocolate high and this recipe certainly does that! 

I started out by prepping a couple of pans (in the end I did three pans so I could rotate through and get them all cooked quicker). 

The recipe called for 16 oz of semi-sweet chocolate (melted).  I decided to use a combination of various chocolate I had on hand. 

I used the double boiler method to melt the chocolate. 

It takes longer than the microwave but you don't have to worry about scorching the chocolate. 

All melted now so I set it aside and got to work on the cookies. 

It's a pretty typical cookie recipe.  I started with the dry ingredients. 

After whisking them together I still had lumps of cocoa.  I decided I'd sift it into the wet ingredients.  But next time I make it all just sift them as I dump the ingredients into the bowl. 

Next I whisked the eggs with vanilla.  I left out the coffee.  I don't drink coffee and while I've heard that it enhances the chocolate flavor I don't even like the smell of coffee.  So I'm not going to ruin my chocolate with coffee! 

 Then I dumped the sugars and the butter into my stand mixer. 



I creamed the butter and sugar.  I don't know that it ever got light and fluffy.  But I read once that you really should only beat your butter and sugar to light and fluffy for a cake.  A cookie just doesn't have a the structure to support the air that you whip in, so you cookies just end up flattening out anyway.  So after I read that I just mix my butter and sugars until it is well combined. 

Next I add the eggs and mixed.  Finally the chocolate.  I thought it was interesting how the chocolate all sunk to the bottom of the batter as soon as I added it in.  You can hardly even tell that there was chocolate in it!

After I mixed with my stand mixer for a while I scrapped the bottom with my spatula.  You can see there was quite a bit that didn't get blended in. 

Now it was time for the dry ingredients.  I used my fine sieve to add them to the bowl. 

It made a mess....  Really, next time I'm going to sift first...

Last came the chocolate chips.  

The recipe calls for you to let the dough sit for 30 minutes.  I don't know if it really does what they say but I'm ever obedient to a recipe.  :-)

After 30 minutes I rolled 3 tablespoons (approximately) into balls.  Since I ended up with about 28 cookies and the recipe says you get approximately 30 I figure I was pretty close. 

The dough was still really sticky and messy.  I only got three cookies on a pan - they were big cookies!

Right out of the oven... you really have to let them sit for the 10 minutes or they just fall apart when you try and take them off.  I forgot that step on the last pan until I tried and mangled the first cookie. 

Look at how rich and chocolately these are! 

I really liked these cookies.  I love the chocolate chips with the chocolate cookie, those two textures and flavors of chocolate together are one of my favorite things.  You'll want to have a large glass of milk to wash these down - they are rich.  But for a chocolate lover they really hit the spot! 

THICK AND CHEWY TRIPLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

MAKES about 30 cookies

You can omit the chips, if desired, which would make these double chocolate cookies.  The dough must sit and thicken before it is rolled into balls, otherwise it will be too soft and will spread too much during baking.  Be sure to let one of the baking sheets cool before baking the second batch of cookies. 

2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour

½ cup (1 ½ ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons instant coffee (I left this out)

10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups packed (10 ½ ounces) light brown sugar

½ cup (3 ½ ounces) granulated sugar

16 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

 

1.      Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.  Whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla, and instant coffee (I left this out) together until the coffee is dissolved. 

2.      In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.  Beat in the egg mixture until incorporated, about 30 seconds.  Beat in the melted chocolate, about 30 seconds.

3.      Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds.  Stir in the chips until incorporated.  Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the consistency is scoopable fudge-like, about 30 minutes. 

4.      Working with 3 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart.  Bake the cookies until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking.  (The cookies will look raw between the cracks and seem underdone.)

5.      Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Repeat with the remaining dough using a cooled, freshly lined baking sheet. 

To Make Ahead

The bowl of cookie dough can be wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days; let soften at room temperature, then portion and bake as directed.  The dough can also be portioned and shaped into balls and frozen; when they are frozen solid, transfer them to a large zipper-lock bag.  To bake, arrange the frozen cookies (do not thaw) on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake as directed, increasing the baking time to 12 to 17 minutes.