Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I’ve professed my love of Seattle and her many Tom Douglas restaurants before on this blog. In that post, I neglected to mention The Dahlia Bakery – for shame! When I saw that a Dahlia Bakery cookbook was to be released in late 2012, it is not an overstatement to say I was elated.

Some of the most grin inducing flavors of my life have emerged from this little bakery: feather light English muffin breakfast sandwiches, Tom’s Tomato soup, Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, Triple Coconut Cream Pie, and, what I’ll share with you today, Chocolate Truffle Cookies. 

Just look at this cover. What don’t you want to try? That grilled cheese sandwich is on my short list.

These cookies were the ‘teaser recipe’ on the Tom Douglas blog before the book release, so you can see the recipe from the book verbatim here. I couldn’t leave well enough alone though, so I swapped in whole grain flour and reduced the sugar a bit. Who would notice with 2 pounds (!) of chocolate? These little chocolate bombs are hardly health food regardless of these changes. But, oh, are they delicious. If you’re neutral about chocolate, you might skip these. But if you bliss out on a bite of a butter laden, bittersweet chocolate truffle – these cookies are for you.

The methods for making the dough and baking it are worth noting:

1. Whip, whip, whip the eggs for that lovely crackled texture.
2. Don’t overmix once you add the dry ingredients at the end or you’ll end up with tough cookies.
3. Work quickly to portion out the dough – as I’ve mentioned before, I love this scoop for cookies. The dough is soft at first, but quickly begins to harden to a truffle like texture making it difficult to scoop.
4. If you’re cooking these in batches, keep the waiting dough portions at room temperature so they’ll spread properly when baked.
5. Don’t overcook these (as I did on the first batch) – take them out after 14 minutes even if they look not-quite-done.

Okay, that’s a lot of rules. But none of them are difficult to follow and, I promise, these are worth your effort.

Once you portion the dough out on to the parchment, give them a little three-fingered push to flatten them. I froze about 2/3 of the dough in these little discs, as I do with most cookie dough (see method here). If you decide to freeze some too, remember to bring them back to room temperature before baking.

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Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Note that you need a whopping 2 pounds of chocolate for these. You'll melt 20 ounces of it, and then add another 12 ounces as chips! These are the perfect cookie for the chocolate obsessed.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 20 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, (1 1/4 sticks)
• 2 cups natural cane sugar
• 6 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
3. Sift flour, cocoa, and baking powder into a medium bowl. Whisk in the salt; set aside.
4. In a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering (not boiling) water add chopped chocolate (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Stir occasionally until the chocolate melts and is smooth.
5. Remove the bowl from the water and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
6. In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together at medium speed until well combined.
7. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on medium speed until eggs are incorporated.
8. Increase mixer speed to high and beat for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy, occaisionally scraping the bowl down.
9. Add melted chocolate and vanilla extract to egg mixture and mix just until combined.
10. Remove bowl from the mixer and gently fold in dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Fold in chocolate chips.
11. As soon as the batter is finished, start scooping the cookies on to the prepared baking sheets. At first the batter will be very soft, but it will harden quickly to a truffle-like texture making it more difficult to scoop.

12. Use a 3 Tablespoon scoop (see note in post) or a scant 1/4 cup of dough for each cookies.

13. Space the cookies about 2-inches apart and flatten each cookie lightly with your hand (dampened if you like, as the dough will be sticky).
14. If you are baking more than one batch, leave the portioned dough at room temperature as refrigerated dough won't spread as it should.
15. Bake cookies for 14 minutes, rotating the pan after the first 7 minutes. The tops should be crackly across the top, and you can bake them for up to 16 minutes. But don't overcook or you'll lose the lovely soft center.
16. Remove cookies from the oven and slide, still on the parchment paper, to a wire rack to cool.
17. Enjoy!

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