Midnights

This recipe was sent to me by Kristin who lives in Nashville, TN. You’ll also find it in The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion, one of my favorite cookie books. The KA book is packed front-to-back with cookie fabulosity, and that is the only reason I can think of for why I’ve waited so long to try this one. Thanks for pointing me towards this recipe, Kristin!

As usual, I made a few minor changes. For those who would like to see the recipe in its purest form, click here to see it printed in the Washington Post. The version below is my adaptation.

In case you are wondering what the changes were, I used a microwave to melt the chocolate. I also skipped the chocolate nonpareils and instead, when the cookies came hot out of the oven, I stuck a dulce de leche filled Hershey’s kiss point side down in the center. This worked out very well. In fact, I think if you added a little cinnamon to the cookie dough and then used the dulce de leche kiss, you’d have a nice Latin American themed cookie. Even if you skipped the kiss completely, the base cookie packs a good punch of chocolate.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the products I used.

For the bittersweet, I used Ghirardelli’s new “extra” bittersweet – it’s 70% cocoa, which means you get a big blast of chocolate and not quite so much sweetness.

And speaking of unsweetened, Ghirardelli makes that too….

I used Ghirardelli’s cocoa as well. If you want a really dark cookie, use Hershey’s Special Dark, which is what Kristin does. I like Hershey’s Dark too, but for this cookie, I wanted to stay with the Ghirardelli theme.
Also, I forgot the espresso powder. Whoops. I use espresso powder all the time and it definitely enhances chocolate, but if you don’t like coffee or just want to skip it, you’ll still have a decadent, very flavorful cookie.
And finally, I used salted butter. If you only have salted butter around (as was the case today), you might want to cut the salt down to 1 teaspoon.

Here’s a picture of what the cookie looked like after cooling for about an hour. The dulce de leche stays pretty soft and oozy. I’m sure by tomorrow the dulce de leche kisses will be more solidified, but either way, their still good.

Midnights

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into chunks
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. espresso powder
10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
OPTIONAL: Chocolate nonpareils, dulce de leche or white Herhsey’s Kisses

Place bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Melt chocolate in microwave for 1 ½ minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir and distribute heat. Use high setting. Set aside and let cool slightly.

In a small bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl. Add vanilla, espresso powder and melted chocolate, mixing until evenly incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover bowl and refrigerate until dough is firm.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. Drop dough by tablespoonful onto the baking sheets. Bake 9 minutes, or until they appear set. Let sit on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.

OPTION: If using chocolate nonpareils, press one pointy-side down into each cookie as son as you remove them from the oven.

Note from King Arthur book: Use the best-quality chocolate you can afford — it makes a difference! If you can’t find espresso powder, buy espresso coffee beans and grind them super-fine.

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