One Dozen Decadent Double Chocolate Cookies
Loaded with double Dutch chocolate and semi sweet chips
Simply the best chocolate cookie
Cocoa Beans
Cocoa beans are not beans but seeds of the fruit of Theobroma cacao tree.
Theobroma cacao tree is grown within 20 degrees latitude of the Equator.
a tree native to the tropical Amazon forests that is now grown commercially worldwide within 20 degrees latitude of the Equator. Approximately 20 to 40 seeds cluster inside football-shaped pods and are covered by sweet white fruit pulp.
Cream butter and sugar
Ingredients Double Chocolate Cookies
- 1 cup butter, (2 sticks)
- 1¼ cup sugar
- 2 eggs, large
- ½ cup dark cocoa powder
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. espresso powder
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2½ cups chocolate and nuts*
Chocolate and nuts*
1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips
| 1 cup chopped pecans
| |
1 cup dark chocolate chips
| 1 cup milk chocolate chips
| ½ cup chopped nuts
|
¾ cup dark chocolate chips
| ¾ cup milk chocolate chips
| ¾ cup white chocolate chips
|
2 ½ cups Cooks Choice
|
The point is, you can add up to 2 ½ cups of goodies. Macadamia nuts and white chocolate, dark chocolate and cherry chips, or mint chips and peanuts, for example.
Thick, rich dough
Instructions
- Set out butter and eggs, allow them get to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the cocoa powder until well blended. Add the flour, salt, espresso powder and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula. Be sure the ingredients are well mixed.
- Divide the dough into 4 ounce portions, or 12 equal pieces. Roll each portion of dough into a ball and flatten slightly into a disc. Place on the prepared baking sheets, a few inches apart. Bake 15-19 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in airtight container.
Kinds of Chocolate
- Chocolate Liquor - The center of the cocoa bean, ground into a liquid, not really liquor.
- Cocoa Butter - The fat extracted from the chocolate liquor, not really butter.
- Cocoa Powder - The solid that remains when the the cocoa butter is removed from the chocolate liquor.
- Unsweetened Chocolate - often used in baking, it is the solid form in chocolate liquor.
- Bittersweet Chocolate - contains at least 50% chocolate liquor.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate - contains at least 35% chocolate liquor.
- Dark Chocolate - contains just 15% chocolate liquor, plus sweeteners and cocoa butter. Known as 'sweet chocolate.'
- Milk Chocolate - contains just 10% chocolate liquor, with 12% milk solids, sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla.
- White Chocolate - contains no chocolate liquor. It is only cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids.
Chocolate Myths
Myth: Chocolate is high in caffeine
Truth: A 1.4 ounce chocolate bar contains six milligrams of caffeine - about the same as a cup of decaf coffee.
Too good to share?
Drinking chocolate
"Drinking Chocolate" is not the same as “hot cocoa.” Drinking Chocolate is made from real chocolate. Hot cocoa is made from cocoa powder (no cocoa butter).
Very often you buy drinking chocolate in the form of small bits or shavings of chocolate. It is necessary to melt and whisk the chocolate into milk or cream. Drinking is a much richer drink and usually thicker.
Hot cocoa, is a hot drink typically made from cocoa powder, instant milk or water, and sugar. Chocolate beverages have been around a long time; actually much longer than chocolate candies or bars. Mayans were drinking chocolate beverages more than 2,000 years ago.
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