Friday, August 5, 2011

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

The original recipe for this is actually a little too chocolaty for me--I am not of the "death by chocolate" persuasion--but I just love the texture. Feel free to increase the amount of chopped chocolate to your liking! This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. I ran out of dark corn syrup and ended up using some molasses, which I thought provided a slightly more complex flavor, though CI does not approve of the molasses-chocolate combination.

1+1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa (orig. recipe calls for Dutch-processed)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup for coating
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (orig. recipe calls for 4 ounces)

Whisk dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugars (only 1/3 cup of white sugar) until light and fluffy. Add corn syrup, egg white and vanilla, and beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds. Stir in dry ingredients and chopped chocolate, dough will be quite soft. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Grab enough dough to make a ball about 1.5 inches in diameter, and roll in remaining white sugar. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Dough will spread so place about 2 inches apart, probably not more than 8 or 9 per sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes, rotating sheets mid-way, until cookies have cracked, but still look wet in between the cracks. Cool cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.