My usual baking hit rate is birthdays, dinner parties and miscellaneous occasions where I've impulse-bought something that calls for a crumblin'. Two lots of sweet treats in less than a week is some sort of record for me. Alas, a craving for chocolate has struck me down, and combined with a stack of baking ingredients that have been sitting sullenly in my spice rack for the past eleven months (since my last foray into birthday baking for three birthday weekends in a row), I decided to do something about it.
Cookies aren't something that TheBloke and I normally have in the house (choosing to expand our waistlines with jamon et fromage instead), but they're quick to make, don't require me to pull the stand mixer out of the back of the cupboard, and can be easily bagged and tagged for TheBloke to take to work with him. (As an aside, while baking these I got into an internet fight with a random guy on Facebook who took offense at my anti-pornography stance. I've concluded that being called a "femo" as an insult is actually good for the constitution. It gives one an opportunity to ask oneself the hard questions, like 'is it fair to judge intelligence based on an individual's use of poorly thought out sarcasm?'; 'is arguing about ethics in a virtual medium with idiots ever productive?'; 'can you be a "femo" and still bake your husband cookies?'; and most importantly, 'why aren't you finishing off last week's management theory workbook questions?' But I digress.)
The best triple choc cookies I've ever eaten were a batch that my Mum posted to me when I was at boarding school. This recipe is admittedly little more grown up (using 70% cocoa for both varieties rather than copious amounts of sweetened milk and white chocolate), and satisfy in a single (or double... hehehe...) dose, rather than in teenage-sized handfuls. I think there's a time and a place for both, but given my allegedly man-hating womb is still childfree, it's good to make the most of the finer things while the eating audience is just the two of us! Their naughty name is obviously a calculated effort on my behalf to cut down my hard-arsed no-fun femme-core reputation. Der.
Ingredients
Makes two dozen
Basic Batter
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
120g room temperature unsalted butter
200g 70% cocoa dark chocolate, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
Missionary Style
1/4 cup white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup milk chocolate, chopped
Mouth Party Time
2 tbs mixed peel
2 tbs toasted unsalted pistachios
50g Mayan Gold Green and Black Fairtrade Chocolate, chopped
Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line baking trays with non-stick paper.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa into a large bowl. Add brown sugar and mix well.
3. Place dark chocolate and butter in a saucepan. Melt over a low flame until smooth, remove from heat and set aside for fifteen minutes.
4. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in chocolate mixture and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are combined and dough is smooth.
5. Divide mixture in half. Add chopped milk and white chocolate to one half and stir well. Repeat with peel, pistachios, and Mayan Gold with second half.
6. Roll dough into small balls of approx 3cm radius. Place balls on trays, leaving five centimetre gaps between them. Squish balls with a fork. OH HAR!
7. Place trays in oven, bake for ten minutes, switch trays around, bake for another ten minutes. Remove trays from oven, allow cookies to cool on tray for five minutes then transfer to racks. RACKS! OH LE ENTENDRE!
8. Is lucky. Are you getting lucky? No? Try these cookies as bribes.
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