Double chocolate cookies

I realize this recipe is coming two days late for some of you, who gave up chocolate for Lent.  To you, I offer up my most sincere apologies and the suggestion to bookmark this recipe and save it for, oh, Easter afternoon perhaps.  And a few tasty alternatives:

-No chocolate?  Try ice cream sandwiches, upgraded Rice Krispie treats, or my favorite oatmeal raisin cookie.

-No sugary cereals or breakfast treats?  Try a quiche or healthy homemade granola.

-No meat?  For a satisfying lunch or dinner, try portobello lasagna and sweet potato lentil stew.

For those of you who did not forego chocolate for 40 days, I present to you the chocolate cousin of this cookie.  The chocolate chocolate cookie is oversized, chewy, and bursting with flavor.  The chocolate flavor of the cookie comes from a combination of melted milk chocolate and cocoa powder.  My number one professional taster, who is a not a fan of chocolate (self-professed), actually said it tasted like chocolate ice cream and he even wanted another one.  Gasp!  And then, of course, there are the chunks of milk chocolate stirred into the dough at the end.  And the cookie is so thin and chewy.  The key with this cookie is that it uses milk chocolate, a sweeter chocolate, instead of just straight unsweetened cocoa powder or super dark chocolate.

Really want a chocolate fix?  Try adding some white chocolate chips to the batter along with the milk chocolate chunks.  Or, to really put this over the top, melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler (or microwave) and put the melted chocolate into a resealable sandwich bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle chocolate stripes over finished cookies.  Oh my gosh... can I make the cookies again, please?  Okay, fine, you want the recipe.  I get it.

  

Double Chocolate Cookies
(from here)
-makes roughly 3 dozen large cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (8 oz.) good milk chocolate, 4 oz. chopped to melt, 4 oz. cut into 1/4 inch chunks
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, and set aside.  Melt 4 ounces of chopped chocolate and butter in a glass bowl in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, stir, repeat).  Let cool slightly.

In large bowl of an electric mixer, put melted chocolate/butter mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix on medium speed until combined.  Add half of the cocoa flour mixture, mix on low, add remaining flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  With spatula, stir in chocolate chunks.

Using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, drop 1 1/2" balls of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart (these cookies spread!).  Bake until cookies are flat and the surfaces begin to crack, about 15 minutes.  Don't worry, the cookies will still be soft.  Let the cookies cool on the parchment paper on wire racks.  They can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

Oh, and when you eat this cookie, it's mandatory that you stop whatever you are doing, close your eyes, and enjoy that cookie like it's the last you'll ever eat.  Until you get up, go to the kitchen, and get another, of course.