Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Chocolate Chunkers (TWD)


This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food: Chocolate Chunkers. I already said last week that I'm not a big fan of chocolate cookies, but Dorie proved me wrong with her Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops, so I went into this with an open mind.


These definitely earn their name of "Chunkers" as they're chock full of chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, nuts, and raisins. There are actually more add-ins with this cookie than dough! I made some changes to the recipe, by decreasing the amount of nuts and increasing the amount of dried fruit. I hate nuts and usually omit them from all recipes, but I thought that I might not notice the nuts in these since they have so much going on with them. So I tried them with the nuts, just less of them.


I thought these cookies were okay. I'm just not a chocolate cookie fan. I didn't care for the nuts at all and wish I had just omitted them, and added more chocolate and dried fruit instead. I'm probably in the minority, though, because these seemed to be a really big hit among most of the other TWD bakers.



I've included the adapted recipe below, as I made them. If you would like the original recipe, you can find it here (with recipe tips here). Make sure you visit the TWD Blog Roll to see how everyone else enjoyed these chunky treats.

Chocolate Chunkers
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp salt (alternatively, you can use 3 tbsp unsalted butter with 1/2 tsp salt)
3 tbsp salted butter, cut into 3 pieces
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 ounces white chocolate chips
1 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped (I would omit these next time)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup finely chopped moist, plump dried apricots (I would add 1 cup next time to make up for the volume lost by omitting the nuts)


Center the rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add the butter, 6 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate and heat, stirring occasionally, just until melted--the chocolate and and butter should be smooth and shiny but not so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the heat and set it on the counter to cool.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until they are pale and foamy. Beat in the vanilla extract, then scrape down the bowl. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the melted butter and chocolate, mixing only until incorporated. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl, then, on low speed, add the dry ingredients. Mix just until the dry ingredients disappear in the dough, which will be thick, smooth and shiny. Scrape down the bowl and, using the rubber spatula, mix in the rest of the semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces), white chocolate chips, nuts, and dried fruit--you'll have more crunchies than dough at this point. (The dough can be wrapped in plastic and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days).

Drop the dough by generously heaping tablespoonfuls on to the baking sheets, leaving about an inch of space between the mounds of dough. (These cookies do not spread very much - you may want to press them down a little with the bottom of a glass before baking.)

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes. The tops of the cookies will look a little dry but the interiors should still be soft. Let the cookies rest for 2 to 3 minutes before using a wide metal spatula to transfer them to the racks to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

If, when the cookies are cooled, the chocolate is still gooey and you'd like it to be a bit firmer, just pop the cookies into the fridge for about 10 minutes.


33 comments:

  1. I agree with you. I'm not a chocolate based cookie fan either. I thought these were pretty good considering it is chocolate based and much better than last week's. Nothing beats the butterscotchy and vanilla taste of a vanilla based? cookie in my opinion.

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  2. I normally don't prefer chocolate cookies either (I'm more of a carob girl myself), but those chunkers look INCREDIBLE!!

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  3. Sorry you didn't love them...they still look amazing though!

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  4. i LOVE that photo of all the add-ins, though i don't like fruit in chocolate cookies and prefer nuts. but it's a great photo, so colorful and texture-ful. that should be a word.

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  5. I loved these, but I heart chocolate.

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  6. I would have done what you did. Those craisins gave your cookies a nice pop of color with the white chocolate. Bummer you weren't a fan but better on the hips right? :)
    Clara @ iheartfood4ghouth

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  7. Thanks for posting your changes. Your cookies look great.

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  8. Woahhh... I can't choose which I like best, the soft and chewy look of your chunkers or the appeal of the picture! Either way... both are amazing!
    Great Job!

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  9. Yours look wonderfully chunky. I'm in the minority too - way more chocolate than I can stand, and I love fruit in my cookies. So you're not alone!

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  10. Sorry you didn't like these. I like the idea of a variety of fruits in them. That cookie stack looks fantastic!

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  11. Hey, great for you that you gave these the ol' college try. And it worked last week, right? Your photos are stunning and your cookies wouldn't last long in my kitchen!
    Nancy

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  12. Love the idea to use cranberries in this recipe. Great job! I'm glad you liked the cookies despite being not a big fan of chocolate cookies!

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  13. yummy, these look so good. i want one right now!

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  14. Amazing pictures!
    I'm sorry you didn't like them that much... but, at least they were OK to you and not totally bad, right?

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  15. I thought they were just good too - your cookies look fantastic!

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  16. You cookies look great. Your turned out much lighter color than mine. They look yummy.

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  17. Hi Jaime

    How do you measure 3/8 of a teaspoon.

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  18. there's such a thing as too many add-ins, and i think the line might've been crossed with these. i don't think you're alone among all the twd-ers in not particularly liking these. glorious pictures, though! :)

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  19. Nice pictures of some sweet little cookies. Sorry they weren't a favorite.

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  20. Jackie - you can measure 3/8 tsp by doing 1/8 tsp x 3 :)

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  21. Can I move in? I always want what you made-even if I just made the same thing myself.

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  22. Your cookies look very good. Im glad you made them even though your not much of a cookie lover!

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  23. Your picture of the add-ins is so lovely! Yes, these were really over-the-top cookies. I loved them for just that reason, but I can see why not everyone would. Hope you like next week's recipe better!

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  24. Sorry you weren't crazy about them, but they look great!

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  25. I'm sorry that you didn't like them :( I think I would've loved them - I like my cookies "chunky."

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  26. As always, your pictures are gorgeous. I especially love how your cookies have that crackly brownie skin on top. Nom nom nom...

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  27. Brown cookies are the worst to photograph, but yours look delicious... nice one!

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  28. Now I wish I'd added some dried fruit to mine...maybe it would have cut the chocolate intensity a bit. They look delicious.

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  29. Man your closeup pictures are killing me. I'm jealous.

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  30. I love the apricots in there- YUM! I changed these quite a bit, but did like them in the end~ yours are gorgeous!

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  31. I like all of the bits thrown into these cookies.

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