Chocolate Cookies

I like chocolate. A lot. I got into cookies once when I watched the Matrix again (for the nth time)... The scene where Neo first goes to see the Oracle, and she's baking cookies.



So while I lived in Salt Lake City I went to Avenues Bakery --- they have amazing cookies. I got a bit addicted. Its a nice little cafe, but after paying $ for cookies a number of times, a person like me starts searching for a way to make them at home. As I made different cookies over the years, I kept some notes.

So then I moved away, and I didn't make cookies for a while. We had a child, there hasn't been a lot of time... So a few days ago I was looking through my copy of



which is an inspiration... I lived in Los Angeles for 14 years and the La Brea Bakery was one of my favorite spots there. Some of the recipes are a little over my head, but I've made several and everything I've tried came out very well. Silverton's chocolate chip scone is wondrous, as is the Crottin de Chocolate, and it was in the scone that I began dumping more and more chocolate.

I write pastry recipes that I work on or develop on the inside cover of my copy, and so when I wanted cookies a few days ago, I started following along the recipe I wrote there years ago. Its Tollhouse by way of Avenues by way of Silverton by way of... my chocolate obsession. I did a double-take when I saw how much chocolate I was adding, but I plowed on --- how bad could it be? So here goes... hang on to your hat. Frankly I don't even really claim the cookies taste like cookies should, nor that they're good in the way we generally want of cookies. They've got so much chocolate that I think they're kind of half-truffles, and extremely dark ones at that. So these are a bit about appreciating 99% chocolate itself, not sugar, not flour... baking chocolate and butter... everything else is secondary in this recipe.. And make sure you have a glass or 2 of milk... I can't eat more than 2 cookies in a sitting because of how much chocolate there is...

Chocolate Cookies

You will need 1C nuts, 2 sticks butter, 1.5C brown sugar/white sugar/honey/molasses, 2 eggs, 2C unbleached all-purpose... baking soda, salt, 1 pound of good quality 100% chocolate, 1/2 vanilla bean (optional), 1C rolled oats

Preheat to 375. Chop 1 cup of nuts (I like walnuts) and slightly roast them in the oven as it preheats --- from time to time check and take them out if they're fragrant. Chop and ``cream'' 2 sticks of butter (if they're from the fridge they will loosen up as you work.) Add 1.5 cups of brown sugar (white sugar works also), beat in the 2 eggs. Now take a tablespoon, fill it about halfway with baking soda and then carefully add water until its almost full, mix and put into the dough (normal people probably use a small bowl and don't try to save on dishes this much.) Mix in the 2 cups of all-purpose.

Get a cutting board, serrated knife (bread knife works well) and the 1 pound of chocolate (if its in a block... if yours is already chopped or chips then skip this step.) Gradually press the bread knife into the chocolate block, it should give and break. Keep chopping the chocolate until you've got chocolate pieces that are bite-size or smaller.

If you're adding it, slice open the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the dough. Take the chopped roasted nuts out add to the dough. Dump in the 1C rolled oats.

Now mix until the dough starts coming together. Try to make sure the butter pieces get somewhat mixed --- they don't have to be completely mixed, but they shouldn't be big chunks separate in the dough either.

From this dough, I pull off 4 cookies and bake for 15min in a small brownie pan (dishes again.) I divide the rest of the dough into 8 batches, roll each batch into a small log, saran wrap and freeze. These can be baked later, about 15-18 minutes at 375.