minxy_baby's Chocolate Brownie Cookies

[fitfool]

minxy_baby made me drool when she posted a recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cookies which my boyfriend and I finally got a chance to try tonight much to our delight. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

Yield: It's supposed to make 5 dozen cookies. I got 3.5 dozen. I think the different yields are due to how much batter you put down. Also, the smaller the heaping teaspoon of batter, the fluffier the resulting cookie. When I dropped a bigger teaspoon of batter down, the end cookie was flatter and thinner.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon brewed espresso
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 ounces extra-bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
   
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
   
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, briefly whip the eggs to break them up. Add the sugar, espresso, and vanilla and beat on high speed for 15 minutes, until thick. [I'm impatient but I think you need that full 15 minutes of beating to get the egg mixture thick with air]
   
4. While the eggs are whipping, place the butter in the top of a double boiler, or in a metal bowl suspended over a pot of simmering (not boiling) water, and scatter the extra bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate on top. Heat until the butter and chocolate melt. Remove the boiler top from the water and stir the butter and chocolate until smooth.
   
5. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until partially combined (there should still be some streaks). Add the flour mixture to the batter and carefully fold it in. Fold in the chocolate chips. If the batter is very runny, let it rest until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. [I think letting it rest even if it's thick is useful. My final batches where the batter had a chance to rest were better than the first batches where the batter was thick but still slightly runny comparatively.]
   
6. Drop the batter by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake until puffed and cracked, 8 to 9 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing from the baking sheet.
   

Notes:
If you don't have freshly brewed espresso, make double strength instant coffee.

These cookies make good ice cream sandwiches.

For a variation, substitute 1/2 cup chopped toasted nuts or dried sour cherries for an equal amount of the chocolate chips.

Thread at Food_porn
Also, summereats made it here and here

Comments

[snarkactual.livejournal.com]

OMG! You are a bad influence. :-p

Those look scrumptions and play to my chocaholic condition.

[(Anonymous)]

i tried them once (and i'm a great cook) and i failed HORRIBLY !

:(

[snarkactual.livejournal.com]

Do you recall what might have gone wrong?

Chocolate is pretty touchy about temperature. But, perhaps it was something else?

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Of the 3.5 dozen batches I made, they got progressively better with each batch (I put in just 1 dozen at a time). The first batch was very flat and slightly burnt. I think I made the heaping teaspoon of batter too big so that it flattened out more and had left it in for almost 9 minutes. The second batch and third batch came out well...I baked it for less time (exactly 8 minutes) and made the batter drops a little smaller. But then the final batch with just enough batter to make 6 cookies was the best batch. Since there was so little batter left, I made each drop even smaller and then those cookies came out the closest to looking like the original pictures. Also, while the batter sat there waiting to be used, it continued to thicken and I think that that helped. The first batch's batter was still on the runny side compared to how thick the batter was by the end of baking.

[snarkactual.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that about cookies in general that the first batch always comes out lame. Although I think you may have something with letting the batter sit for a while to thicken. Also, the time/temperature is a big deal with cookies. So I'll take those under advisement when I try the recipe next time I get home for a while.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Cool. My boyfriend doesn't do much baking because of the time/temperature stuff. Says that savory items are much more forgiving if you cook a little too long or too little. But I love baked goods and I can be anal and fussy when I'm in the mood so I'm on a quest to expand my repertoire.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Don't blame me...blame minxy_baby and the other livejournalers who then posted their pictures over the past few weeks. Every time I thought of cookies, I thought of these cookies even though I'm not even much of a chocaholic.

[snarkactual.livejournal.com]

Ok, I won't blame you, although you're the only LJ friend I have who shares my passion for cooking.

Although if you're interested in being blamed again, it's a good thing to appeal to my addictions. :-)

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend pretty much got me into cooking so I have him to chatter away with about food but....on Livejournal there are a bunch of communities with members who are more than happy to hash out recipes. You should check them out. I should've mentioned that when you were tweaking the wonton recipe I posted; that's when I first thought, "oh and he cooks too!" It's funny though...of my real life friends, I know far more men than women who enjoy cooking.

[snarkactual.livejournal.com]

I think more men tend to cook as a form of recreation than women. I don't know why but that just seems to be the case.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's not as expected for men to cook so they feel more free to think of it as a fun activity? I think I shied away from cooking before because I didn't want to fall into the stereotypical woman's role of doing all the cooking.

[cwhf.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to make those. They look heavenly.

[evilbeard.livejournal.com]

I've made these before and have had mixed results as well. They are very hard to get just right and with all the chocolate required not cheap enough to make all the time to get better at. Still, I plan to someday have them in my arsenal of trivially easy yet delicious cookie recipes.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

These are only the 2nd time I've attempted to make cookies and I was surprised by how simple it was to put together. (and also surprised by how little flour was involved!) To ease the ding on my wallet I cheated on the chocolate and just got 2 of the 3 chocolates called for: one bar of unsweetened chocolate ($2.35) and one bag of chocolate chips ($1.69). I've got most of the bar of unsweetened chocolate left so I can use that again at least. Maybe I should start including prices of the ingredients...that would be interesting to see the breakdown of my food costs.

[dikubu.livejournal.com]

That looks SOOOOO good!