Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Last evening I was in the mood to bake something sweet. Mary recommended I make these Chewy Chocolate Cookies from Cooks Illustrated. She made chocolate chip cookies from CI and gave me one and I was thorougly impressed with the size (mine usually don't stay thick). I was not disappointed with this recipe! Mary recommended that you use a 1/4 cup to measure out the size of the dough balls. I did and I got 16 cookies from the dough, exactly what the recipe calls for. I baked mine for 10 minutes. Make sure you let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before you move them to the cooling rack, otherwise they will easily fall apart.

Mary and I were just talking about the complexity of CI recipes. CI recommends fancy, expensive chocolate and they give you instructions on how to chop it. If you're a foodie and you have all day and a ton of money to pour into your baking, I can see how it would be appealing to use the best chocolate chunks and spent lots of time on getting them to be the correct size, but for everyday people who have lots of other things to do, there are ways to cut corners in these recipes - like the use of chocolate chips here - and the results are still wonderfully delicious.

I like that these cookies are so big because one will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth If you're making for a crowd, doubling the recipe would be easy and beneficial.

1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup for coating

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1 large egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , softened

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (here, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips because it is what I had)

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper - I used a Silpat. Place ½ cup granulated sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. Whisk corn syrup, egg white, and vanilla together in small bowl.

Hershey's cocoa powder is always a staple in our house!

CI says that by using the dark corn syrup, it cuts back on the amount of white sugar in the recipe.

2. In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low, add corn syrup mixture, and beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bowl once with rubber spatula. With mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture and chopped chocolate; mix until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Chill dough 30 minutes to firm slightly (do not chill longer than 30 minutes).

The dough is very dense. By refigerating it, it makes forming the balls easier and less sticky.

3. Divide dough into 16 equal portions; roll between hands into balls about 11/2 inches in diameter. Working in batches, drop 8 dough balls into baking dish with sugar and toss to coat. Set dough balls on prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart; repeat with second batch of 8. Bake, reversing position of the baking sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and front to back), until cookies are puffed and cracked and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), 10 to 11 minutes. Do not overbake.

I don't know if the picture does the size of the dough balls justice. They were huge! I don't think I've ever made a single cookie with so much dough. I also got a ruler out to make sure they were 1.5 inches.

4. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature.

The cookies don't end up being huge but they are very heavy. Still chewy though!