My stepmother was a wonderful artist. She made marvelous collages out of thick, chunky pieces of colored glass , backlit with tiny lights. She made stunning collages of reverse image black and white copies of her knee x-rays when she had her knee replaced. And, boy, did she have a sweet tooth! This is her favorite of all my recipes - a double chocolate and chile cookie, about 5 inches across. Rich, fragile, and delicious. You can skip the chile if you want, but I think it brings a nice little tingle to your tongue.As I said, these are fragile cookies, at least until they're totally cool. Even then, handle them with care, especially if you're moving them elsewhere, like a picnic.
To make:
Preheat oven to 335F.
Line two baking sheets with foil or parchment.
In a mixing bowl, add:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted, room temperature butter, cut up
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar, plus 1 T. more
1 t. good vanilla
1 egg
Mix well for a few minutes.
Then add:
1 1/3 cups King Arthur flour
1/3 cup good powdered, unsweetened cocoa
1/2 t. baking soda
pinch cayenne pepper(optional)
1 grind of pepper from a peppermill(optional)
pinch cinnamon (optional)
Mix well. Then add:
1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix briefly.
Taking an ice cream scoop, scoop out a ball of firmly packed batter and place on baking sheets, 6 to a sheet. This recipe makes about 10 giant cookies.
Baking one sheet at a time, place in upper third of oven and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove hot baking sheet to a cooling rack. Do not remove cookies. Cool 10 minutes.
Carefully remove cookies to another cooling rack, and let cool another 15 minutes, at least.
Bake second batch the same way.
I know you'll love these!
7 comments:
Okay, now you are just torturing your readers! Chocolate chip cookies of any kind are pure bliss - but it's 90 degrees here and I can't bear to turn on the oven - maybe in a few days. And I'd love to see the collage of your step-mother's knee. Very imaginative - I don't think I would have ever thought of something like that!
By the way, I forgot to mention that I love the photo of the Gerbera daisies in your last post - one of my favorites flowers (okay, I love all flowers, but some are just extra special!)
Thanks.
Barb - I wish I had one of those knee collages - but her show sold out ( and I should've bought one, or pleaded with her - she was a generous woman)- truly remarkable artist.
I knew this recipe would bring out the sweets-and-chocolate lovers, of which you are obviously one!
And Gerberas are just stunning flowers - graphically colorful and pleasing to the eye, I think. I had it on the doorstep, where it immediately sagged over, not liking the sun so much, so I brought it inside the house where it just glows.
As always, I love your stopping by.........
I was thinking of my son when I posted this - he who loves sweets of any kind, and spent years testing hot sauces. I sent him the recipe and, as I thought, replied "mmmmmmmmmm".
See? Perfect!
I love all the chocolate-y bumps in those cookies!
Joe! One of my favorite bakers! Those bumpity-bumps are part of the deliciousness of these cookies, I think - combined with a somehow delicate crumb and of course, the zing of the cayenne. I do hope you try them!
Melissa, I certainly hope that was a general comment,- I'm racking my brain, thinking, did I ever give someone named Melissa a cookie, or a cake, or a helping of ratatouille? Thank you for your offer, though - today my favorite Postmaster ( that's what Mike is officially called) certainly brightened up when I showed up with one of these cookies - clearly, he prefers chocolate over lemon. Melissa, if you're in the neighborhood, you get a cookie. Thanks so much for dropping by!
Post a Comment