Double Chocolate Cookies

As I’ve mentioned before, I love to give out cookies for the holidays. Don’t laugh, I refer to them as the “twelve days of cookies”. For weeks I bake cookie recipes that have caught my eye, or that just seemed to scream “I’m delicious!” The cookies that I love go into a “Yes!” pile. The “yes” pile has to meet certain criteria besides being yummy. One of the big deal breakers is when a cookie is not shippable. You see, most of the cookies are shipped across the country. So they must arrive intact, no crumbs allowed. Which brings me to this lovely cookie.

This cookie is the result of a sugar cookie and a brownie merging together to create a new dessert life form. The cookie is soft and buttery, like a sugar cookie, but the center is chocolate-y and fudgy like a brownie. It’s like two desserts rolled into one! The recipe is also very easy to make and has very few ingredients. I did make one variation from the recipe. Instead of melting the butter with 4 ounces of milk chocolate I used bittersweet. It gave the cookie a more “brownie” taste to them. The chocolate that you fold in, I did keep as milk chocolate. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from Holiday Cookies (2005)
By Martha Stewart Makes about 3 dozen

1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened dutch cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 ounces of good-quality milk chocolate ( 4oz. cut coarsely chopped, 4oz. cut into 1/4" chunks)
1/2 cup of butter
1 & 1/2 cups of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 325'F degrees. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt; set aside. Melt 4oz. of the coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly. (I melted mine in the microwave on a low setting.)

2. Put the chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

3. Using a 1.5-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough unto parchment lined baking sheets, (must use parchment cookies will stick) spacing two inches apart. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (cookies will be soft). let cool on parchment on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of wax paper in air tight containers for at room temperature for 3 days.