Author Notes
Here’s an easy ultra chocolaty drop cookie laced with chips or chunks of any kind of chocolate you like—white, milk, or dark. Follow the slightly quirky mixing instructions and take cookies out of the oven when they are still soft to the touch; they will firm up as they cool and but remain moist slightly gooey. —Alice Medrich
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
-
4 tablespoons
(30 grams) unsalted butter
-
8 ounces
(225 grams) dark chocolate with 70%-72% cacao
-
1/3 cup
plus 1 tablespoon (50 grams) gluten-free flour
-
1/8 teaspoon
baking soda
-
1/4 teaspoon
salt
-
3/4 cup
plus 2 tablespoons sugar (175 grams) sugar
-
1/2 teaspoon
pure vanilla extract
-
2
large cold eggs
-
1 cup
(115 grams) walnut or pecan pieces, broken or very coarsely chopped
-
6 ounces
(170 grams) chocolate chips or chunks
Directions
-
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
-
Melt the butter with the chocolate in a medium stainless steel bowl set directly in a wider skillet of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth and fairly hot to the touch.
-
Meanwhile, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together thoroughly and set it aside.
-
Remove the chocolate bowl from the water bath. Stir in the sugar and vanilla. Add 1 egg, and stir briskly until it is incorporated. Repeat with the second egg. Add the flour mixture and stir until you can no longer see it. Stir the batter vigorously with a wooden spoon or spatula until it is smooth and shiny and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It may start to slide around the bowl as you stir—just keep stirring until it is thick and cohesive and no longer slides in the bowl. Stir for a few more seconds for good measure. Be sure the batter is completely cool to the touch, and then stir in the nuts and chocolate pieces.
-
Scoop slightly rounded tablespoons of batter 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Scoop all of the batter onto the parchment sheets right away, rather than letting it wait in the bowl, even if you are baking later. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and a little crackled on the surface and feel soft and tender—but not squishy— when touched with a fingertip. Rotate the sheets from upper to lower and front to back about halfway through the time to insure even baking. The cookies will firm up as they cool.
-
Set the pan on racks to cool, or slide the pan liners from the baking sheets on the racks. Cookies keep in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
My career was sparked by a single bite of a chocolate truffle, made by my Paris landlady in 1972. I returned home to open this country’s first chocolate bakery and dessert shop, Cocolat, and I am often “blamed” for introducing chocolate truffles to America. Today I am the James Beard Foundation and IACP award-winning author of ten cookbooks, teach a chocolate dessert class on Craftsy.com, and work with some of the world’s best chocolate companies. In 2018, I won the IACP Award for Best Food-Focused Column (this one!).
See what other Food52ers are saying.