Tuesday, September 16, 2008

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers

This week's Cookies with Dorie recipe is for Chocolate Chunkers, selected by Claudia of Fool for Food. Okay,okay, it's really Tuesdays with Dorie, although since I joined this awesome club, four out of my first five recipes have been cookies. That's fine with me, of course, because I love cookies! And cookies don't frighten me in the way that, say, brioche does. As it turns out, this week's recipe is not really a cookie at all, but an insanely decadent cluster of fine chocolates, nuts and dried fruit. When I first read the recipe, I thought it was the oddest cookie recipe that I had ever seen. Now granted, it is not like I am some cookie-recipe connoisseur. Before joining TWD, I would have characterized my baking habits as "quarterly," not "weekly." But I know an unusual cookie recipe when I see one, and this, my friends, is an unusual cookie recipe. Only one third of a cup of flour. And a measly three tablespoons of butter!! I am certain that the spell checker on Dorie's cookbook typewriter started smoking, convulsing and beeping furiously in confusion when it encountered a quantity of butter that small in one of Dorie's recipes.

What this recipe has is chocolate, and lots of it. While I do not like single-purpose grocery runs, I ended up making one to pick up the chocolate that I needed for this recipe. I had forgotten my list and was not 100% sure of exactly what kind of chocolate I needed, but I was pretty sure that it was something like "every kind of chocolate," and I was right! Bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, powder chocolate, solid chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate chips -- all in my shopping cart. And that's ALL that was in my shopping cart. Just chocolate. I got several strange, concerned looks from fellow shoppers, and even though I happened to be in a very peaceful place emotionally while doing this shopping, the whole experience got me thinking that this should really be a Life Rule: if you see a woman alone at the grocery store with nothing but 42 different kinds of chocolate in her cart, slowly . . . back . . . away.

Chocolate, as far as the eye can see:


I am so glad that I followed the tips on the P&Q board and melted really good quality bittersweet chocolate with the unsweetened chocolate and butter. I used Sharffen Berger. This forms the foundation of the cookie, so I'm glad that I didn't skimp here. On the other hand, I used regular old Toll House white chocolate chips, and they tasted great to me.

Look at this dough. Are you kidding me?

It was amazing. I got a little dough happy, and had to walk away and pop an Altoid to make me stop.

The finished cookies were irresistible.


After producing a string of flat cookies (and flat cakes, for that matter) since joining TWD, I am proud to present photographic evidence that my cookies were not flat:

As you can see, they measured in at a generous 1 1/4 inches high, although I will officially list them at 2 inches for NBA draft purposes (that one's for you, David).

I was rather, um, effusive last week discussing the Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops, so I'll try to restrain myself a bit here so as to not get the reputation of being the yappy little puppy dog who loves anything. These are truly spectacular cookies, however, and it is killing me to remain cool about them when what I really feel like doing is renting a plane with a banner on the back that says "MAKE CHOCOLATE CHUNKERS. PAGE 70, DORIE GREENSPAN'S 'BAKING'," and flying it back and forth along the shoreline. The recipe is not a normal cookie recipe, and the finished product is really not a normal cookie. It is rich, complex, and as elegant as a cookie can possibly be. The nuts and raisins add interest and balance out the intense chocolate nicely. I used toasted pecans, but I have no doubt they'd be wonderful -- heck, maybe even better, if that's possible -- with salty peanuts. Warning: this cookie is extremely chocolatey, and richer than Warren Buffet. I would not dream of eating one of these without a tall glass of milk at the ready to chase it down. Thank you for picking these, Claudia!

32 comments:

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Ha, another midnight blogger! I laughed out loud at least three times in reading your post. Your grocery store story reminded me of the time I saw Elton John in the grocery store and all he had in his cart was meat and lightbulbs. "Weird" does not begin to describe the vibe he gave off.

These cookies really were delicious. In a rich and decadent way. The WP are a lot more straightforward and simple.

So, did you think these were better than the Whopper Drops?

Marthe said...

I'm glad you liked these cookies, I absolutely loved them too!!

Andrea at Nummy Kitchen said...

I loved reading about your chocolate chunkers and chocolate grocery run, too funny! Glad you finally got some cookies with height and you found another favorite Dorie cookie :)

Sihan said...

i ate mine with a tall glass of milk too! they were awfully chocolatey which i loved till the max. great job on the cookies though!

Lady Baker said...

I hear ya-the lady in the grocery store looked at me funny when I came up with 4 types of Ghiardelli, 2 bars each. (Plus the raisins and peanuts). And the look got even 'funnier' when she realized I just spent $35 on chocolate alone.

I came close to just blurting out, "What?! I'm baker, dammit!"

Great job, Cath! Great height on those chunkers!

Pamela said...

I like the picture next to the ruler! Neat idea. These were really good cookies, and I'm excited that I still have some in the freezer. Must...keep...myself...away!

Di said...

I love the ruler picture! =) I agree, these cookies were fabulous.

Jules Someone said...

Nice looking cookie! I definitely needed milk. I wonder what it says about me that I had all the chocolate in the house already. And then some....

Prudy said...

I was really looking forward to your post today, and not just for the sure to be delicious cookies. You have the most clever comments and one liners. Hilarious! YOu can be a yappy little puppy dog with me anytime. Even the comments you leave on my blog are witty.

Laura said...

After you're done with that banner, could I borrow it for the mid-west? LOVED these cookies! Congrats on achieving the heights you so richly deserve (that photo with the ruler is classic!). I will be making these many, many more times. I just hope I can control myself a little more the next time (yeah, right!)

Anonymous said...

although i prefer pecans, i went ahead and used the salted peanuts. they were actually pretty good! they have such a different crunch than pecans. love the photo of all the chocolate stretching out ahead.

Peggy said...

Cathy truly you make my day with your cute comments. Your cookies look fabulous. And they tasted good too. I loved mine. This was a good week for cookies.

chocolatechic said...

You are so right.

These cookies WERE irresistible. So, I didn't resist.

Anne said...

I'm so glad you liked them! It's funny we've made so many cookies lately since it seemed before we were making everything BUT cookies.

I had a good laugh about your chocolate shopping trip. I've done that before, so funny.

Great job Cathy!

Jamie said...

Now that is one tall cookie, girl!!! I know what ya mean about the Cookies with Dorie!!! ;)

Spike said...

I think everyone loved these cookies!

La Bella Cooks said...

You are too funny! I enjoyed these cookies as well. How could we not with all of that delicious chocolate?

Flourchild said...

Wow you got a lot of chocolate! Your cookies look wonderful and thick. I loved them to and will make them again asap!

Anonymous said...

Your post is so funny. These cookies really were awesome. I know how you felt about buying that much chocolate... fortunately I had other things in my cart when I bought all of mine!

NKP said...

You forgot chocolate bunnies and chocolate santas. Ok, I think that's all of them.
Glad you loved the chocolate cookies - we have had a string of them - must be a back to school thing.
Great work on the NBA height - no flat cookies for you this week.

Eleganza Strings/ The DeLadurantey Family said...

They are not flat at all! Good job, they look perfect@

Engineer Baker said...

Quite a funny writeup on these - I think if I ran into a woman with that much chocolate (and only chocolate) in her cart, I'd back away too. And I love the idea of flying around with that sort of banner - too awesome!

Libby said...

I'm with you about the banner. I feel like these cookies need their own blog. The certainly have enough heft to get one going!

hoagiefest 2020 said...

Hooray! A super-tall 2" cookie to play point-guard on your baking team! Chocolate runs are the textbook reason for the "self-checkout" lines that have popped out at grocery stores. I've made enough of them to know that (and embarrassingly, they weren't for baking)!

Kimberly said...

Heee! I like your woman-with-chocolate-in-the-grocery-store warning...a good one to keep in mind :) Your cookies are gorgeous! Your husband just doesn't know what he's missing, does he...poor fellow with his ill advised chocolate aversion.

Thank you for your sweet compliment of my cookies! Made my day for sure, b/c I was so frustrated with those things...even if they tasted ridiculously rich and delicious.

Kimberly said...

Also: actually I have to admit I had every type of chocolate I needed already on hand...I did say I was a bit of a candy freak..

Maria said...

Just found your blog. Love it! The cookies look super tasty!

Peggy said...

I'm just leaving this comment as a test Cathy about what we discussed earlier!

Anonymous said...

There was a LOT of chocolate in these. Glad your cookies redeemed you this week. It's funny. Until, you started I think we had done maybe one cookie - shortbread.

Julie said...

I always feel smarter when I read your blog. I'm pretty confident I don't have the same effect on folks. hahaha.

Bungalow Barbara said...

Loved your post -- “insanely decadent” and “richer than Warren Buffet.” So true!

I think if I saw a lady in the store with nothing but chocolate in her cart, I'd try to make friends with her immediately! (As long as it wasn't all totally cheapo stuff...)

Cathy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
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