December 2018 Recipe of the Month: OMG Triple Chocolate Cookies

Now that the weather has turned cold and gray (thanks, Seattle), I find myself buying new pajamas and more baking supplies than ever before. There's something about frosty days that makes me want to fire up the oven and bake truly decadent and festive desserts. We all feel the pressure to impress people with our #bakingskillz around the holidays, but Pinterest-style ambitious desserts are a drag (because let's face it, I mostly just want to read on the couch while my kitchen wafts with the scent of cookie dough). 

I have made a lot of cookies in my life, and let me tell you, nothing compares to this one. In The Ingredients of Us, my character Elle makes them for comfort. I make them to impress people at parties or, even better, eat them in my pajamas alone where people won’t judge me for having more than one.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips, plus extra

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

  • ¼ cup cocoa powder

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still firm

  • ¾ cup packed light brown sugar

  • ½ cup granulated sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder

Steps:

  1. Turn on music with some heart — Adele, Whitney Houston, something that elicits some impassioned (albeit out of key) singing. Put on an apron—cocoa powder has a funny way of getting all over everything.  

  2. Heat the chocolate in a glass bowl on half power in the microwave, about 3 minutes, stirring halfway through. Eat extra chocolate chips, obviously.

  3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. I know, I know. It’s messy and inconvenient. But I promise it’s worth it.

  4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  5. Cream the butter with an electric mixer on high speed until it’s fluffy. Ideally, you have a fancy-pants KitchenAid mixer. Sadly, I do not, so I use a hand mixer (and will definitely put that KitchenAid on my wish list).

  6. Add the sugars and beat until the mixture is a pale cloud of sweet buttery goodness.

  7. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add one egg at a time, beating after each.

  8. Add the vanilla and espresso powder and revel in that amazing smell that’s now wafting through your kitchen.

  9. Add the melted chocolate to make the smell swoon-worthy.

  10. Now on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients.

  11. Obviously, you’ll want more chocolate in these cookies, so add a cup of extra chocolate chips for texture.

  12. Now, using an ice cream scoop, spoon, or fingers, shape the dough into golf balls. Place dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet with plenty of space between each.

  13. Bake the cookies for ten minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through. The cookies will appear undercooked when you pull them out of the oven and you’ll wonder, “Jenni, what the hell are you thinking, baking these for only 10 minutes?” Just trust me.

  14. Slide the cookies onto a cooling rack with the parchment still underneath them for support. If you have leftover dough, repeat the baking process.

  15. The cookies continue to firm up as they cool. These are brownies in cookie form. Crispy edge, gooey middle. Eat one immediately.

  16. Take them to a party to impress. Or freeze them and microwave one at a time to eat with vanilla ice cream. On second thought, don’t go to that party. Definitely stay home and keep all the cookies for yourself.