911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies

911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies - made August 6, 2012 from Sticks and Scones by Diane Mott Davidson

One of my worst habits is leaving books lying around.  Some of which I'm in the middle of reading so I want them accessible, others I'm moving from one bookcase to another in the vain hope of trying to find room to fit them all and when I can't, they lie wherever I last had them before I got distracted by something else (squirrel!!).  Sometimes I'm also flipping through a book and a recipe catches my eye that I plan to make "someday" so I put a marker on the page (I never dog-ear a book's pages, that's sacrilege) then I put the book on my "look at me first for some reason" shelf.  Such is the case with this recipe.  It's from an old Diane Mott Davidson culinary mystery book in her Goldy Bear series (that's the name of the caterer character - really) and I must've been in a chocolate mood when I first read it because I put a bookmark on the page, put it on the aforementioned shelf then forgot about it for awhile.

I finally got to it though and made these cookies.  I made them the normal cookie way that's advocated in the book, although I did leave off the vanilla frosting listed with it.  But because the dough was soft, I also made them in little square muffin tins (my brownie bites pan) and put half a Cadbury Milk Chocolate Caramel (still going through my stash from Europe) in the middle.  I baked the brownie bites pan a little longer than the recipe called for had I been baking them as regular cookies so they really did come out more like mini brownies than cookies.  Still tasted good though.  The ones baked as cookies were a bit like baked fudge or very fudgy cookies.  Make them small as they're a bit rich but if you like chocolate, these'll satisfy any kind of chocolate craving you have.

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened and divided

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1.     In the top of a double boiler, melt the chips, chopped chocolate and 4 tablespoons butter, whisking smooth.  When melted, set aside to cool briefly.

2.     Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

3.     In a large mixing bowl, beat the remaining 4 tablespoons butter with the sugars.  When the mixture is the consistency of wet sand, add the eggs and vanilla.  Mix in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture, beating only until combined.  Stir in the flour mixture, mixing only until no traces of flour appear.

4.     Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 25 minutes, until the mixture can be easily spooned up with an ice cream scoop.  Don’t overchill it or it’ll become hard to scoop. After scooping into dough balls, freeze until firm in the freezer (30 minutes or more) or chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

5.     When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

6.     Place the dough balls evenly spaced on the cookie sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes, just until the cookies have puffed and flattened. Do not overbake; the cookies will firm up upon cooling.  Allow the cookies to cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to racks and allow to cool completely.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday