Coffee Break

Ahh.. a peaceful moment!  A perfect cup of coffee and ten minutes of pure bliss with the most chocolaty, perfectly rich cookie.  Just what every woman with a hectic life needs.

I mentioned before that I recently bought what I consider the best baking book I ever came across.  The “Sarabeth’s Bakery from my hands to yours” by Sarabeth Levine is a wonderful book.  It may not be right for a starting home baker, as it assumes certain skill, but I found it precisely intelligent and instructive. 

This recipe for Chocolate Chubbies is from this book.  The cookies are moist, rich and intensely chocolate.

1 stick of unsalted butter.

9 oz of semisweet and / or bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped

3 oz of Unsweetened chocolate

½ cup of all-purpose flour

½ tsp of baking powder

¼ tsp of fine salt

3 large eggs

1 ¼ cup of super fine sugar ( I used regular as I was out of the superfine kind)

2 tsp of vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cups of chopped walnuts

1 ½ cups of chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.

Melt the butter and the chocolate over a double boiler.  Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.  Whip the eggs in the standing mixer with a whisk attachment until light and foamy.  Add the sugar and whip until very thick and pale yellow.  Beat in the chocolate making sure it is completely incorporated.  Switch to a paddle attachment and gradually add the four mixture.  Do not over mix. 

Stir in the chocolate chips, pecans and walnuts with a spatula.  The dough will be very soft.

Using a 2 inch scoop portion the batter onto prepared pans about 1 ½ inch apart.  These cookies do not spread much.  Bake right away, if you wait the tops will not come out shiny.

Bake for 17 minutes, making sure not to overbake.  The middle of the cookie will look slightly underdone but the edges should lift cleanly from the pan.

Cool on the cooling racks.  The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days, with parchment paper separating the layers of the cookies.

Although these can be stored 3 days, I very much doubt they will make it this long… these are delicious.

Enjoy a little piece of heavenly chocolate and think peaceful thoughts!!