Cocoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

I saw someone I knew reading a Dan Brown book. I asked, "You're Christian?" He said "Ya." I thought "Christians and Dan Brown don't go too well together". He laughed and said "I like him, do you like reading?". "No I like baking." And he said he want to try my cookies...and made further jokes that he wants to try them when he calls me up again. Well I don't know why people instinctively associate baking with cookies, and I know he's just kidding, but yeah he'll get his cookies.

I thought it would be a good excuse to make some cookies since I have a request now. I'm kinda lazy to make them as they always get too messy for me, getting sticky cookie dough all over my fingers. Competing against the warm humid weather in our tropical island to keep the dough intact is no simple feat. I had to keep dunking the cookie dough back into the freezer to sit for a while before working on them again.

Added a twist to the classic chocolate chip cookie - cocoa! These cookies are wickedly chocolatey. Caught whiffs of cocoa when my nose edges near them during the shooting. The chocolate chips stretches the chocolatey goodness even further. They're crispy on the edges and soft and chewy in the centre. The pecans provide another nutty dimension to the cookies as well. I like how my sister went, "Do you think I'll get a sore throat eating these?" I said "Yeah." and she pops one into her mouth anyway. Good job. I stored 2 portions of the cookie dough in the fridge so that I'll have fresh cookies from the oven whenever I crave for them.

Cocoa Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)
(makes 45 cookies)

Ingredients

175g all purpose flour
70g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt (1 1/4tsp if you really like salt)
3/4 tsp baking soda
225 butter, room temperature
200g sugar
160g light brown sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
340g bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 340g store-bought chocolate chips or chunks
100g finely chopped walnuts or pecans (I toasted them before chopping)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line parchment paper on baking trays
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda
3. In another bowl, with a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth for abt 1 min on medium speed
4. Add in the sugars and beat for abt 2 mins or so until well blended
5. Beat in the vanilla
6. Add in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min before the next one goes in
7. Reduce mixer to low speed and add in dry ingredients by 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated
8. On low speed, or by hand with a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate and nuts
9. Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls
10. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they are brown at the edges and golden in the centre
11. Pull the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 1 minute, then carefully, using a wide metal spatula, transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature...profit!