My husband mocks me because I constantly have around 500 open tabs on my cell phone web browser. I this an insane about of tabs to have open? Yes. But did you know that roughly 85-90% of them are recipes that I want to try? Or have baked but kept open so that I can write my blog post about them (I know, I know...I suck on that front!)?
One of those recipes was a cookie that I'm sure I either got an email about or saw on Instagram. I'll get back to that cookie later on, but that cookie led me down a rabbit hole to find the original recipe, which led me to Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Blog. Deeper into the rabbit hole, I wanted to make like all of her recipes, and then even deeper, I ended up buying her cookbook.
The gateway cookie, so to speak, was her Pan-Banging Ginger Molasses Cookie. I've made them a few times, they're always delish, and to say I was hooked after the first time may be the biggest understatement ever.
I currently have a bunch of her cookies in my line up to bake, but this cookie caught my eye, and I thought they'd be great in a box of holiday cookies for our doormen and friends.
These cookies live up to their name -- special cocoa powder, two types of chocolate -- they're decadent and super chocolatey, and also not super sweet. And get this -- they're super easy to make, too!
By Sarah Kieffer, of The Vanilla Bean Blog
Ingredients:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup Ghirardelli Majestic Cocoa Powder (she said you need to use this cocoa powder. I got mine on Amazon)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
9 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used light)
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
5 oz Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate wafers, chopped
2 oz Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate wafers, chopped (I read this wrong when I made them and used 3 oz of milk chocolate wafers. My mistake, but seeing as these cookies were amazing, I'm going to keep it at 3 oz going forward)
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling, if desired (I'm sure this would be AMAZING, but seeing as I was freezing my cookies to give away at a later visit, I didn't know if the salt on top would affect it, so I skipped this step)
Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle of the oven.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda.
Set aside.
Cream butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
Beat on medium until creamy, about 1 minute.
Add in sugars and salt.
Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
Continue beating until smooth.
Add in dry ingredients, and beat on low until just combined.
Add in chopped chocolates and mix on low.
Use a rubber spatula to give the dough one last mix.
Form the dough into balls, about 2 Tbsp each.
Place 8 cookies on each sheet pan.
Sprinkle with flaky salt, if using.
Bake one pan at a time, rotating halfway through (oops, forgot to rotate....).
Bake the cookies until the tops are golden brown (I couldn't tell if they were golden or not, since the cookies were so dark) and the cookies are slightly puffed and starting to crinkle, 9-11 minutes (mine were perfect after 9 min).
Remove the baking sheet from the oven.
Use the back of a spatula to gently press the top of each cookie to flatten it.
Let the cookies rest on the sheet pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
* According to the author, the cookies are best slightly warm but can be stored at room temp for up to 3 days, and will get softer the longer they sit.
* Dough can be put in the fridge or frozen after being rolled into balls. Take them out of the fridge when the oven preheats, or if baking from frozen they may require an extra minute of baking time.
* I decided to try freezing the cookies fresh out of the oven (after they cooled) to see if they could be baked ahead before gifting.
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