Here's the recipe for the delicious chocolate cookies that I served at my daughter's Snowflake Dinner Party. These are a chocolate lovers dream cookie with deep chocolate flavor but with a delicate texture. I tried a few recipes and many used cocoa instead of melted chocolate. This recipe was my favorite and it is one with melted chocolate. Rolling the raw dough in granulated sugar before rolling it in confectioners sugar is the key to getting the white topping to adhere to the cookies. Here's to a new favorite cookie at our house and they are quite pretty, too!
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| All dressed up and ready for the "Think Pink" Bake Sale! |
Adapted from several recipes
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I prefer Callebaut)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
To prepare cookies for
baking: 1 cup confectioners
sugar AND 1 cup granulated sugar
Use a whisk to mix the
flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Place the chopped
chocolate and butter pieces into a medium heatproof bowl and place bowl into a
wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until the
chocolate is almost completely melted and mostly smooth. Remove the bowl
from the skillet and stir in the espresso powder. Set aside. See method here.
In a large bowl, whisk
the eggs with both sugars and vanilla extract until combined (no lumps of brown sugar remaining). Stir in chocolate mixture with the whisk or a large spatula. Using large spatula fold in the flour
mixture until just combined.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill overnight in the refrigerator or up to 3 days. (This is important - the dough needs time to rest and chill.)
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill overnight in the refrigerator or up to 3 days. (This is important - the dough needs time to rest and chill.)
Set racks in upper and
lower thirds of oven and preheat to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with
parchment paper. Place granulated sugar
into a bowl and place confectioners sugar into another bowl. Roll chilled dough
into 1-tablespoon balls, drop each ball into bowl of granulated sugar and coat
completely. Next drop coated ball into
the confectioners sugar and coat completely. Arrange 12 balls evenly on each
baking sheet, then place remaining dough back in the refrigerator. Bake the
cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until puffy. Cool the cookies on the pans for a couple
of minutes, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with
remaining cookie dough. Store the cookies in an airtight container up to 5 days. These cookies freeze beautifully.
