When I bring food to my co-workers I am faced with a timeline. Each person indulges in the dessert at a different time. Saving for later, eating right then and saving until tomorrow poses an issue. Anything that is cold is hard to serve, as well as anything that drys out at room temperature after cut. All I can do is use the company refrigerator and advise when it is best to be eaten.
I am sure that we would all agree that there is nothing quite as tasty as a freshly cut, fudgy brownie. With this cookie recipe, you can forget about the timeline. The thin, crackly exterior protects all the fudgey goodness that lies on the inside, so sitting for several hours has no impact on the texture.
Like brownies, these are delicious served on their own. However, another serving suggestion (from none other than my over-the-top adviser) is to pair these with homemade vanilla ice cream. Be sure to plan in advance, for the dough requires about 3 hours chilling time before baking. This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Chocolate Truffle Cookies
adapted from Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes
Ingredients
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet choc chips or a 12 oz bag
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tbs unsweetened natural cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
confectioners sugar (optional for dusting)
Place butter, unsweetened chocolate and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler and place over medium heat. Once all ingredients are melted, stir until batter is smooth and remove from heat. Set timer for 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, sift together salt, baking powder, cocoa and flour. Set aside.
Add sugar and eggs to another bowl. Beat with mixer on medium high until thick and light in color. It should take about 2 minutes to reach the correct consistency. Add the vanilla extract and beat again until evenly distributed.
At this point, your timer that was set for the melted chocolate to cool should have already gone off. If not, wait for it to complete. Then pour the chocolate batter into the sifted ingredients. Using a spatula, scrape all of the chocolate batter into the dry ingredients and stir until no dry streaks or lumps remain. Lastly, fold in the other cup of the chocolate chips. Cover batter and place in refrigerator to chill for no less than 3 hours. 15 minutes prior to the 3 hour completion, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Once the chilling time has expired, remove a cup of dough from the batch and place the rest of the dough back in the refrigerator. Measure out pieces of the dough for 1 inch balls by using a spoon or scoop. Lightly flour your hands and shape the pieces into circles/ balls. Place each ball about 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes. Cookies will not spread that much. When done, cookies will be set, puffy and cracked on the surface. Let rest on cookie sheet for 4 minutes and transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
Repeat this process with the remainder of the dough. Then, if you choose, dust with confectioners sugar.
Tips and Notes:
1. These cookies are not very large, so I used mini chocolate chips instead of the regular size.
2. They really do not require the confectioners sugar, this option is basically for appearance.
3. The chocolate chip measurement is by weight as well as volume, but with the mini chips I found that the 12 oz bag came up a little short of the 2 cups.
**LAST YEAR: Fudge Swirl Cheesecake Ice Cream**
