I've been on a mission to find the best cookies in Austin, and this week Todd brought home one of my old favorites -- a Black Gold Cookie from Upper Crust bakery. It's big, fat, and stuffed with walnuts, but I couldn't eat the whole cookie in one sitting so I put it away. The next thing you know it was stale. To make up for it, I made the Black Gold Cookies clone recipe off Recipe Goldmine.
I'd made this one in the past, but couldn't remember anything about it other than it had a ton of nuts, much like the original. What I forgot was just how important it is to use great chocolate. I used "okay" chocolate (not the worst quality, not the best) and I got "okay" cookies. The cookies were good, but would have been so much better with something like Scharffen Berger or Green & Black's. So if you make these cookies, use high quality chocolate. Update: Here's a new photo with unsweetened Callebaut and Trader Joe's semisweet chocolate pieces. With the new chocolate, the cookies went from good to great!
If you want to try the recipe but aren't necessarily excited about spending all that money on chocolate and nuts, this recipe can be scaled down to ⅔ or ⅓ pretty easily. That way you can make a small batch and if you like it, make the full. Also, the Recipe Goldmine version doesn't say anything about chilling the dough, and if you let your chocolate cool completely before adding it to the batter then you might not have to. I tend to get impatient waiting for chocolate to cool, so I sometimes have to chill the batter until it is thick enough to scoop.
Source: The Upper Crust Bakery - Austin, Texas and Recipe Goldmine
Recipe
Black Gold Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick ½ cup plus ½ tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 9 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups 9 oz chocolate chunks or semisweet chips
- 1 ½ cups walnuts toasted and chopped (you can use more or less)
- 1 ½ cups pecans toasted and chopped (you can use more or less)
Instructions
- In a medium size microwave-safe bowl or a 2 cup Pyrex measure, melt the butter on high for about 30 seconds. Add the chopped unsweetened chocolate and semisweet chocolate. Stir well and microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted. Set aside to cool slightly
- In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar for about 4 minutes or until light and fluffy and slightly thick. Add espresso powder, vanilla extract and chocolate mixture, beating until smooth.
- In a small bowl mix together flour, baking powder, and salt and add to chocolate mixture, beating until just combined. Stir in the nuts. Chill for about 20 minute or just long enough to cool down the mixture (only if it is warm). When mixture is no longer warm, stir in the chocolate chips or chunks. If mixture is still soft, return to the refrigerator until it is scoopable.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Scoop dough into 12 equal size mounds and arrange the mounds on a foil lined plate. Keep chilled until ready to use (or put them in a zipper bag, freeze them and bake as needed), or arrange 3 ½ inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 20-25 minutes on center rack (check sooner if you made the cookies smaller).
- Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until tops begin to crack (do not overbake). Cool cookies on a rack.
Mackenzie@The Caramel Cookie
Mmm these look good! I agree, using better chocolate in recipes really does make a difference
Anna
Martha, I think it just refers to the richness of the cookie.
Martha in KS
Just curious - where does the Black Gold name come from? Does it have to do with the cost of the chocolate? Thanks!
Darlene
Louise, your perspective on the cost of ingredients is very thought-provoking.
Cindi
Anna,
Aren't *your* cookies the best cookies in Austin?! 🙂
Anna
Yes! I emailed the winner Saturday morning.
TxPepper
Off-topic.....did you ever make a selection in the food scale give-away?
On-topic.....they look yummy to me!
Lisa Ernst
Looks like a good recipe. Yes, the better the chocolate the better the cookie, especially when chocolate is the star ingredient. 🙂
Emily
Beautiful!!
Gloria
This recipe is almost identical to the Black Angus cookies our Whole Foods store makes....the BEST chocolate cookies ever! I have them on my list of things to bake. They are almost like brownies. I agree you need to eat them fresh because they do seem to get stale fast. I wonder why??