Chewy, chewy chocolate-on-chocolate

It turns out the word "midterm" is somewhat of a misnomer in business school, because here I am in week seven of a 10-week quarter, wrapping up my last midterm... Finals in three weeks, anyone? 

I don't have a team meeting this week, but I really wanted to make these little double-chocolate monsters. I tried a recipe for flour-less chocolate-on-chocolate cookies a few weeks ago, but I was disappointed by the texture. They were egg white + powdered sugar based, so they resembled meringues with a slightly more chewy center. 

I had my heart set on a more... substantial... cookie, shall we say, so I started hunting around for something that combined the best of creamy fudge, chewy cookie, and gooey chocolate chunks. I'm pretty happy with the result; these turned out to be much closer to what I originally envisioned.

I adapted this recipe I found on Mel's Kitchen Cafe, and I thought I'd share a couple of observations. 

1. One of the funny things about trying new cookie recipes is it's sometimes hard to anticipate the "spread factor" -- you know, how much the cookie will flatten out in the oven. I grossly misjudged the "spread factor" of the cookies... which is essentially 0. The recipe instructs you to roll the dough into 1.5 inch balls and place them 1.5 inches apart, which to me suggested medium spread-age. Not the case. My first tray came out looking like a tray of brown golf balls.

I flattened the second batch a little more, but I think I could have gone even thinner. 

2. They weren't as chewy as I would have hoped, but they definitely fell on the high end of the fudgey index. Pretty dense, super smooth. I think this may have been because I subbed agave nectar for white sugar -- I do that sometimes for inexplicable reasons.

3. You can never go wrong with chocolate on chocolate.

For inquiring minds, here's my adaptation to the Mel's Kitchen Recipe: 

Thick and Chewy Double-Chocolate Cookies 

Yield: roughly 2 dozen 

INGREDIENTS: 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1/4 cup baking cocoa 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I chopped up "two and a bit" bars of TJ's super dark organic chocolate. I'm becoming obsessed with those, but if you like a milder chocolate flavor, maybe try for a lower cacao bar.) 

2 large eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature 

3/4 cups packed light brown sugar 

1/4 cup agave syrup 

3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS: 

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Melt the chocolate in a small sauce pan on low heat. Stir gently, being mindful not to overmix. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla lightly with a fork; set aside. 

I don't have a mixer, so I creamed the butter, brown sugar and agave by hand, using a fork. Gradually beat in the egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds. Add the chocolate in a steady stream and beat until combined, about 40 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Finally add the chocolate chips. Do not overbeat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the consistency is fudge-like, about 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners (this is pretty important – if the cookies are baked on a greased baking sheet only, they will probably stick). 

Roll the dough into 1 ½ inch balls, flatten them to desired thickness, and place them on the cookie sheets, about 1 ½ inches apart. 

Bake until the edges of the cookies have just begun to set but the centers are still very soft, about 10-11 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets about 5 minutes or until set and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.