Bake These Cookies.

So.  Here's a secret:

I don't have a huge sweet tooth.  As I've gotten older, fewer and fewer sweets have been appealing to me.

Want to know an even bigger secret?

Included in that is chocolate...  I like chocolate (or at least tolerate) it in small doses.  Like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup?  The peanut butter out-weighs the chocolate, and those aren't too bad...  But I just don't like M&Ms.  Or Hershey Kisses.  Or brownies.

Sorry.

I hope we can still be friends.

With that said, there is one thing that I crave pretty consistently  cookies. Chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal, sugar, or my favorites: snickerdoodles.  I love cookies.  So, since moving to Virginia, I've made about a batch a week for my husband and I...  Is that a lot of cookies??  Don't answer that...  We have shared some with guys on the boat.

This weekend I decided I needed to take a break from eating cookies, but I still wanted to make some for the Mighty Monty crew.  I picked a recipe for some extra chocolaty, brownie-like cookies, that I knew I wouldn't like...  Apparently they were a hit.  And I think you should bake some for someone you love:

I found the recipe on Pinterest (again).  It is by Martha Stewart (who I kinda like... again, I hope we are still friends), and you can see the original here.

... Also...  I didn't get any pictures.  Next time kids.

You need:
8 oz of semisweet chocolate...  Honestly, I estimated using a 12 oz bag of morsels.
4 tablespoons unsalted butter... I wouldn't substitute salted for these.
2/3 cup AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt, plus a pinch... the original recipe called for 1/2, but my cookies ended up just a touch too salty.
2 large eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate! ... the recipe calls for 12 oz of semisweet chunks.  But I ended up using the rest of my bag of morsels, the remainders of a bag of mini chips, and a 60% cocoa fair trade chocolate bar.  The variety of chocolate was really fun for texture in the cookie.  I'd do a mix again.  Use what you've got!

1.  In a bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2.  In another bowl (or your stand mixer) beat together your brown sugar, eggs & vanilla.  Beat it until it gets light & slightly fluffy...  It won't be as fluffy as it would if you had fat in there like butter or shortening...  It'll take a couple minutes.

3.  In yet another bowl, melt your 8 oz of chocolate & the butter.  Either in a double boiler, or in 20 second increments in the microwave.  Stop just before the chocolate completely melts; you don't want to scorch it!  Stir until smooth.

4.  Beat your melted chocolate into your sugar/egg/vanilla mix.  Don't over-do it, but you want them to be totally mixed.

5.  Add your dry ingredients, and mix on low until just combined.

6.  Stir in your other chocolate

7.  Now...  you could bake these right away.  But you'll find your dough is more like a batter, and you will get really flat (but still delicious) cookies.  Or you can wait 15ish minutes for the melted chocolate in it to cool, and you'll get a more truffle-like dough and less-flat cookies!!

8.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes.  I rotated half way through, because my oven isn't very even.

9.  Let cool about 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to a wire rack.

10.  Eat some very chocolaty & chewy cookies!!  You probably should have a big glass of milk handy!