*crispy waffle*

Happy Valentine Day! This is the time to bake chocolatey desserts. I thought that the best place to start was with the recipe from a recent LA Times Culinary SOS: Milk's ooey gooey double chocolate cookies. I read the description and was totally sold.

But something wasn't quite right -- I wasn't liking all the unsweetened chocolate the recipe called for, and I felt like (is this possible?) that there was too much chocolate for the chocolate chunks -- I mean, really, a whole pound for only 18 cookies is kind of ridiculous; I'd sooner eat bon bons. The reason I don't like unsweetened chocolate is that it can be a difficult element to control. There are lots of options out there for excellent bittersweet and semisweet chocolate, but there are few choices for unsweetened. And, on top of that, I can't easily find it where I live.

I tried the recipe anyway and was pretty disappointed by the texture. The melted chocolate was great, but the cookie part was disappointing -- no chew and it actually had a bit of a, I don't know, gritty texture. I was convinced that just cramming as much chocolate into a cookie as possible does not a great cookie make.

In the end I found a great Martha Stewart double chocolate cookie recipe with better proportions of sugar, flour and chocolate. (Chocolate and cocoa add quite a bit of starch to a recipe, so a good chocolate recipe will automatically look as though it has too little flour). I bumped up the amount of chocolate chunks for this recipe, and replaced all the milk chocolate with bittersweet for a darker, less sweet cookie.

They came out perfect -- the cross between a brownie and a cookie that I was looking for, with lots of gooey chocolate chunks. Bake them right after you've mixed them -- for some reason, the texture was better before I left the dough in the fridge (unusual with most drop cookies). These are best warm out of the oven. Skip the chocolate souffle and bake these for your sweetie!

Gooey double chocolate chip cookies
makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
4 ounces (150g) bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick, or 110g) butter
2 large eggs
1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup (130g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups (8 ounces, or 300g) chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 C). In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Melt the butter and 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate together over low heat. Remove from heat and add the vanilla.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine the eggs and sugar and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Lower the speed to low and beat in the chocolate mixture until well combined.
Add the flour and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
Drop 1-1/2 tablespoon portions 2-inches apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for no longer than 13 minutes -- they should be slightly underbaked so the interior stays chewy and soft. Remove the whole sheet of parchment to a cooling rack and cool until just warm and set.

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

posted by sheryl | 9:51 PM | | share: facebook | tweet this!

The chocoholic in me is drooling right now! Too sweet or not, I would love these.
By

Maris 2/14/09 4:27 AM

I came for the waffles, but these cookies will do just fine! :)
By

Waffles 2/14/09 7:04 PM

Hello! I have your cookies in the oven and can't wait until they emerge!

Also, your directions don't indicate when the vanilla is to go in so I forgot to add it. Nevertheless, the batter still tastes sinfully wonderful!

Thanks for posting the recipe :)
By

Jill 2/17/09 5:54 AM

Jill -- thanks for the tip! I will modify and add when to put in the vanilla (it's into the melted chocolate when it's taken off the heat.) :) Enjoy!
By

sheryl 2/17/09 9:19 AM

Thanks for responding :) These cookies were absolutely wonderful coming hot from the oven, so with the vanilla, I can't imagine how much better they'll be. My head might explode from the divinity!

You're an angel for posting this recipe!
By

Jill 2/17/09 11:08 PM

I have been looking for an awesome chocolate cookie, and you just showed me the way! Anything with the words gooey and chocolate in the recipe name sounds good to me! I cannot wait to try these!
By

Elyse 2/18/09 4:58 AM

I look at that top picture, and, seriously, my mind goes blank. Love.
By

Shannalee 3/3/09 8:46 PM

Thank you for doing this! I get the LAT and made these when I read the recipe, but I similarly felt they were far too chocolatey and didn't like how they failed to spread (in fact, the dough stayed in my fridge for a while and I had to keep baking it off to give away). Can't wait to try this version!
By

Christine 3/12/09 6:12 PM

Just made these with mint chips instead of chocolate chips and turned out so good! Thanks for posting such a great recipe! I posted about it on my blog as well.
By

pookiepantry 4/1/09 5:56 PM