When I started work on the perfect recipe to lure people to the dark side with cookies, I knew it might take a while to get it right. By working off the base of known-to-be-yum recipes, I managed it in two tries.
It’s not that the first recipe attempt was bad. In fact, the First Reader preferred it to the second recipe. The problem lay in the cosmetics – it just didn’t photograph as pretty as the second. They were a lighter brown, and I was aiming for as dark as it gets without resorting to food dyes. But the flavor packs a punch, and they actually have nuts in them, and…
They taste good, they aren’t pretty. But then again, are you gonna look at that cookie, or eat it?
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) butter
- 3/4 c (600 g) white sugar
- 3/4 c (600 g) brown sugar
- 2 eggs (large)
- 1 tsp (13 g) vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp (15 g) baking cocoa
- 1 tbsp (6 g) espresso powder
- 12 oz dark chocolate chips
- 8 oz chopped hazelnuts in milk chocolate
- 1/2 c (95 g) walnut meal
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 1/2 c (250 g) white flour
- salt – if butter is not salted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 C).
- Prepare baking sheets with either a silicon mat or parchment paper.
- Cream butter until smooth.
- Slowly add in the cocoa and espresso powders.
- Cream in the sugars, then add eggs and vanilla.
- Finally add in the flours and baking soda slowly.
- As soon as it is fully incorporated add in the chocolate candy, and chocolate chips.
- Spoon onto the cooking sheet in large spoonfuls (about a soup spoonful).
- Bake for 11 minutes. Allow to cool on pan for 2-3 minutes, then remove to rack to complete cooling. This recipe makes about 3 dozen.
The coffee flavor in this is not predominant, but the flavor is very dark, almost (but not quite) bitter. Like super dark chocolate. The First Reader says they are sweet but not overpowering, excellent chocolate cookies.
We’ll be making these again – he’s not prone to rave over chocolate recipes!
Comments
3 responses to “Darkside Cookies II: The Prequel”
[…] this wasn’t the first batch I did. But the first batch wasn’t quite dark enough, and although the flavor was great, they weren’t what I had envisioned. But don’t […]
Good timing. November is NaCoBakMo. In this household…
Does anyone know whether Trader Joe’s carries the espresso powder, though? I am pretty sure that my “normal” chain supermarket does not. (There are not a great number of niche stores down here.) Or maybe recommend a good brand from Amazon?
YOu can get it – or I did, anyway – at Walmart. But this one from Amazon is similar in price and a good brand. Expresso powder is different than instant coffee. http://amzn.to/1MN84Jz