Madagascar Hot Chocolate Cookies

I had purchased a cinnamon-chili pepper chocolate bar from Madécasse, my favorite Brooklyn-based Madagascar chocolate purveyor, and wanted to make some cookies for a party. What I craved were brownie-rich cookies with a velvety texture and spicy chocolate chunks. I made what seemed like a lot, yet they disappeared with a quickness. Every so often, I bake cookies and proclaim them the "best I've ever made." This was one such time.

makes around 28 cookies

Ingredients

 

1 stick butter
1 bar 80% chocolate
1 bar 71% chocolate
1 bar Madécasse cinnamon & chili pepper chocolate
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

Process

Preheat oven to 325. Line some baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a double boiler or pan-within-a-pan-of-boiling-water, melt the butter and the broken-up bar of 80% chocolate. Toss in two squares of the 71% chocolate. When you see only a few lumps, remove the pan from the heat. Allow the lumps to gently become one with the chocolate-butter broth, stirring occasionally.

Chop the Madécasse and four to six squares of the 71% chocolate, depending on how chocolatey you want to go. I like to chop fine rows in the chocolate, and then turn them 90 degrees and chop again so as to produce small chunks.

In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add sugar and vanilla extract and mix until uniform.

Pour in the cooled chocolate mixture and combine.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix these together, then gently fold into the wet ingredients.

Add chocolate chunks and fold them into the batter.

Refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes.

Using your fingers, scoop the batter onto your baking sheets in 1 1/2-inch rounds. You can also use a scoop, but where's the fun in that?

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Cookies will be very soft and gooey, yet will "bounce back" when poked.

Cool on a wire rack.

Notes

• This finicky combo of chocolates produces a deep, bittersweet taste. Of course, you can go with a different blend of chocolates, as long as they equal 9 to 10 ounces.
• If you lack spicy chocolate, simply add cinnamon, ginger, and a dash of cayenne to the batter.
• I used bourbon barrel-aged Madagascar vanilla from Kentucky. So yummy!
• Refrigerating the batter causes it to spread more slowly in the oven, resulting in a thicker, gooier cookie. But these cookies taste just as good spread thin. You'll just have to bake them for less time.
• I needed three baking sheets' worth of cookies, but I put them in the oven in two installments. I've found that more than two baking sheets' worth of cookies lengthens the baking time and negatively affects the results.

Verdict

These might have to take 5.5 stars.