Friday, December 10, 2010

Sinfully Delicious Triple-Chocolate Cookies

In preparation for the onslaught of holiday parties in the upcoming weeks I knew it's that time of year again: cookie baking season. I started with easy homemade peppermint bark and began considering cookies to compliment - would I go for the classic sugar cookie this year? I think not. I wanted something with a little more panache.

So when I saw the segment of Nigella Lawson featuring her recipe for "Totally Chocolate Cookies," I knew I had found my winner. The premise of the clip is that Nigella makes these intense chocolate cookies for friends who have suffered bad break-ups, calling attention to the wondrous healing powers of chocolate. And these cookies layer it on, with melted dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips to reach a higher level of chocolatey goodness. I went about procuring the recipe for these over-the-top indulgent morsels and found, of course, the ingredient amounts listed in European measurements (I must point out that Nigella's British and not using the absurd English measures system so what's wrong with America, really?) so I set off converting the grams to cups, a new skill to add to my cooking ability repertoire. Then I made my own tweaks, substituting dark brown sugar for light, using a little less white sugar than called for, choosing a dark chocolate truffle bar (you can find this at Trader Joe's) for melting, and a mix of both semisweet and milk chocolate chips for fun. I doubled the recipe and baked about two thirds of the batter this way, and added white chocolate chips and tart dried Monterey cherries to the mixture, and cut down on the bake time by three minutes for this alternate version. The verdict? These cookies are to die for. As always, Nigella you are my supreme domestic goddess.

Here's the original recipe: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/intensechocolatecook_87336

*Note the batter becomes increasingly thicker as you scoop it, appearing surprisingly dry and gummy but coming out chewy and soft when baked, don't you worry. Use an ice cream scoop for sure. You'll need milk!

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