The
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
Food Section - Page E5
by
Lisa Yockelson,
Globe Correspondent
Lisa Yockelson is the author of the
award-winning "Baking by Flavor."
The holidays are not the time for an
ephemeral, lightweight kind of sweet
but rather for an intrepid
confection with expansive flavors that make a
statement. The high impact of chocolate does just that.
The swarthy style of a brownie square or
bar, in all their moistness,
meets
the luxury of a dense chocolate cake in this easy drop cookie,
which
I have been fine-tuning for some time now.
The dough is actually a reasonably thick
batter, made from a minimal
amount
of flour, a little cocoa, a luxurious amount of bittersweet and
unsweetened
chocolate, semisweet chips, and enough butter to build its
character
and determine the overall baked consistency. A gurgle of
vanilla
extract and a little salt are added to bring out the deep,
rounded
flavor of the multiple chocolates. The
straightforward dough
bakes
into fudgy, intense pools of richness, uninterrupted
by nuts or
fruit. These are cookies for those who dote on the
straight and
unswerving
flavor of chocolate alone. Even the most casual holiday baker
can easily gather the ingredients
for them.
In creating the batter, the dry
ingredients -- flour, cocoa, baking
powder,
and salt -- are sifted together to aerate the mixture. Eggs,
sugar,
and a minimal amount of light corn syrup are mixed and beaten
before
melted butter and the melted chocolate are combined. The flour
mixture
is sifted once again, this time directly over the batter, which
will give the baked cookies a
gossamer texture. Then chips are stirred
in as a final fillip. The dough is set aside for 5 to 10 minutes to
firm
up slightly. The key to baking these cookies is to watch
the timing in
the oven. They should be softly set throughout. Then cool them on the
parchment
paper sheets to preserve their shape.
Before you pack the holiday tin, taste a
cookie. You may find yourself
dipping into the stash a few more times
before tying the ribbon and
parting with them.
RICH AND FUDGY
CHOCOLATE COOKIES
1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon
all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons unsweetened
alkalized cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking
powder
teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated
sugar
2 teaspoons light corn
syrup
8 Tablespoons unsalted
butter (1 stick),
melted and
cooled to tepid
9 ounces bittersweet
chocolate,
melted and
cooled to tepid
3 ounces unsweetened
chocolate,
melted and cooled to tepid
2 teaspoons vanilla
extract
1
1/2 cups semisweet
chocolate chips
1. Set the oven at 325 degrees.
Line several cookie sheets with
parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
3. In an electric mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, and corn syrup on
moderately low speed for 1 minute.
Blend in the butter,
bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, and vanilla. Beat
on low speed until smooth and no patches of
egg mixture show.
Scrape down the mixing bowl often as the elements come together.
4. Resift the flour and cocoa mixture over the chocolate mixture and
blend it in on low speed.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the chocolate
chips. The batter will be soft
and glossy. Cover the bowl with
plastic wrap and let it stand for 10 minutes.
6. Place 3-tablespoon mounds of dough onto the lined sheets, spacing
the mounds about 3 inches apart, arranging 9 mounds to a sheet
(do not crowd them).
7. Bake the cookies for 13 to 14 minutes or until they set. Begin
checking them after 12 minutes.
The baked cookies will be soft but
stable, and the tops, when set, will no longer seem like wet batter.
Let the cookies stand on the sheets for 1 minute. Then slide the
parchment onto a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely on
the paper. Use a wide metal
spatula to remove them from the sheet
and store in an airtight tin.
Makes about 20 cookies.
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