There are times when chocolate is called for, and when the need arises, I say, go Big or go home! These cookies will assuage any chocolate craving, however long you’ve had it and no matter how badly you deserve to be compensated. Chocolate is often about compensation: something that was supposed to happen didn’t – and so you need chocolate. Or something you never wanted to happen did – and so you need chocolate. It can’t be a daily occurrence; it’s the very nature of an indulgence to be somewhat rare.
But when those moments arise, taking the time to bake something chocolate can be more satisfying than buying a 24-ounce candy bar for the road, because there is the process of baking to enjoy. The chocolate has to be chopped into small pieces, some of which really should be tasted. Then there’s the melting of the chocolate, and more tasting, because you wouldn’t want it to be burned. The cookie dough provides another soothing chocolate-tasting opportunity, and there’s the smell of baking chocolate to tease the tastebuds until the cookies are ready. Then, and only then, will the fudge cookies be ready to eat. By that time, you’re nearly sated. The whole chocolate process has been extended and massaged until that one perfect cookie caps the experience. And, suddenly, the world is a happier place.
This fudge cookie has the potential to change your outlook on life. It won’t change reality, but it will make the one you’re living in seem much better than you had realized before you pulled that bar of baking chocolate out of the cupboard. So indulge yourself. You deserve it.
Fudge Cookies
Prep time: 45 minutes
Serves: 3 dozen
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup Droste unsweetened cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 16 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken into small pieces
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar, tightly packed
- ½ cup white sugar
- 12 tablespoons butter, unsalted
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together on to waxed paper and set aside.
- Gently heat the chocolate chips over a double boiler, or in a saucepan set inside a larger pan with one inch of simmering water in the larger pan. When chocolate is melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer, combine both sugars and butter and beat at medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, while still beating the mixture, and add the vanilla.
- Add the melted chocolate and beat just long enough to incorporate into mixture, and add dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes for ingredients to emulsify.
- Spoon a tablespoonful of dough on to a parchment or Silpat-covered baking sheet and bake for no more than 10 minutes. (Don’t overbake or cookies will be dry.)
- Allow cookies to cool 10 minutes, then dip half the cookie into the ganache frosting and allow to drain on a raised cooling rack.
- There is so much chocolate going on here that I didn’t dip every cookie, allowing for it to be enjoyed both with and without the ganache frosting.
For the ganache frosting:
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
To make the ganache:
Directions
- In a double boiler, mix the chocolate chips and whipping cream and allow to melt.
- Stir to combine.
