David Lebovitz's Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies by Tom

If you like chocolate, you will LOVE this cookie recipe.

UPDATED 2019
This past weekend we went to Buffalo to visit our daughter and her family.  Not wanting to go empty-handed, especially with young grandchildren, we found this chocolate chocolate-chip recipe in David Lebovitz's cookbook "Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes".  Although this month's culinary tour is the foods of Spain, this recipe was just too good to not share it.

If you like chocolate, you will LOVE this cookie recipe.  I guarantee it!

        ---Tom

Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies
(from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes)

Makes about 40

1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used the Guittard organic chocolate wafers that come in a resealable bag.  These are very easy to use for melting the chocolate in a double boiler arrangement.  I used 1/2 pound of the bittersweet and 1/2 pound of the semisweet.)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (I used semisweet)
1 cup chopped nuts, walnuts or pecans (I skipped this ingredient)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and insure that your racks are in the upper and lower one-third of the oven.

Add the chocolate wafers and butter to a large heat-resistant bowl.   Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and is smooth.  With the wafers, it only took a couple of minutes to fully melt.  Once melted, remove the bowl from the heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla on high speed until the mixture forms a well-defined ribbon when the beater is lifted.  This will take five minutes or more.

Now with the mixer running on low speed, mix in the melted chocolate-butter mixture until it is well incorporated.  Use a spatula to stir in the flour mixture and chocolate chips.  Add the chopped nuts here as well, if you are using them.

Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes to get it firm.

You can follow one of two paths at this point. 

The harder path is to roll the dough into two logs, each about 1 1/2 inches in diameter by 10 inches long.   You can then slice "cookie patties" about 1/2 inch thick.  This will give you a uniformly finished cookie after baking.

I followed the easier path.  That is, after refrigerating the dough, using two tablespoons plop (a technical baker's term) about a tablespoon full of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Make sure you have some space between each spoonful of cookie dough.  The cookies will not be as uniform, but that is part of the allure of home baked cookies.  Fill two cookie sheets with this method.

Place the parchment lined baking sheets into the oven in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  After 5 minutes, rotate the baking sheets.  Continue baking for another 5 minutes or so.  The edges of the cookie should be just slightly firm.

Remove from the oven after the 10 minutes of baking time, and let cool on the baking pans for about 10 more minutes.  Once firm enough to handle, transfer to a wire rack either with a spatula or your hands.  Let further cool.

David Lebovitz says the dough can be refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for up to a month.  The baked cookies will keep in an airtight container or bag for about 4 days.  But if you are like us, they will not last that four days as they will be all eaten up.

The grandkids loved them!  These are very rich but surprisingly light cookies.  You will be surprised at how filling two of these actually are.

    --Tom