Bad Day Chocolate Cookies
Alternative Titles: good day chocolate cookies, cookies for when life sucks, cookies for when life’s good, cookies for when you just need chocolate, better-than-a-brownie cookies
Last week I set out to make cookies that had the rich, deep, fudgey chocolate flavor of a great brownie: the kind of cookie that could actually quench my unquenchable chocolate craving. I accomplished my goal with these incredibly dark and rich, fulfilling chocolate cookies:
This recipe is inspired by the West Coast Brownies from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts. No, I don’t consider this book “antique”- it’s only from the 1980s, but when I was searching through my cookbook collection, looking to make something full of chocolate, how could I not choose this book?
Here’s a tip about old recipes: they never include enough chocolate. Yes, even this cookbook about chocolate is guilty of too little chocolate. Maybe the old bakers were being economical, maybe ingredient choices were affected by rationing, or maybe the palates of chocolate-lovers have evolved and we now prefer richer flavor profiles. Either way, the original recipe above only has 2 squares of melted baking chocolate. My recipe has the modern equivalent of 3 squares of baking chocolate, 1/2 cup of rich, unsweetened cocoa powder, and I stirred in a heaping cup of dark chocolate chips.
On the right, you can see flour, salt, baking soda, two varieties of cocoa powder, and a hefty dose of finely ground coffee. Coffee works miracles in deepening and amplifying the flavor of chocolate. On the left we have brown and white sugar, and softened butter.
To our creamed butter and sugar, we add two eggs and some vanilla. I used a fairly young extract that’s been “brewing” in my pantry. A few weeks ago, I split about 5 vanilla beans, covered them in about 3/4 cup of rum, and let it sit. If you try this, you will be amazed by the flavor intensity the extract will have after just two weeks! Both the booze and vanilla flavors work well in these cookies, so I added about three teaspoons.
Once we add our melted chocolate to the wet ingredients, we’re ready to slowly stir in the sifted dry ingredients, and finally add in some chocolate chips and (optional) walnuts.
The dough will look like a thick brownie batter, but if you give it 30 minutes to an hour in the freezer, it will make a perfect cookie dough.
Bad Day Cookies
Makes: approximately 20 large cookies, Time: 15 minutes active, 30 minute chill, 10 minutes baking
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tbsp finely ground coffee or espresso powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 heaping tsp salt, 10 modern squares baking chocolate (in old measurements, this was 3 squares), 3/4 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 3/4 cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract + 2 tsp rum (or 3 tsp homemade rum vanilla extract), 1 cup dark chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. (This can be done by hand.) Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until fully incorporated. Add melted and cooled baking chocolate and stir to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, espresso powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Add gradually to mixed wet ingredients, stirring until a very thick batter forms.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
5. When the dough is completely chilled (it should be difficult to scoop), it is ready to bake. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of dough on to prepared sheet, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes for a soft cookie, or 12–13 minutes for a crispier cookie.
6. Sprinkle warm cookies with a coarse-grain salt. Extra amazing if served warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or a cold glass of milk.
I don’t think there’s a day bad enough that it couldn’t be cured, or at least helped, by these cookies. So whip up a batch for your friend who is having a hard time, or make some dough and keep it in your freezer for the evening after that inevitable bad-day-at-work. Or make some right now because it’s Monday,
