Who doesn’t love a good holiday cookie? For the next six weeks, we’re going to bring you some of our favorite recipes, and recipes from our chambanamoms contributors. We also asked all of our writers to share why these cookies are so important to them and how they fit into their families’ holiday traditions.
We will share these recipes every week on Monday, right up to Christmas Eve. If you have a recipe (and a story to go with it!) submit it here and we’ll publish it!
by Celina Trujillo
When it comes to food, I almost always like it dark. Thanksgiving turkey? Please pass the dark meat. Beer? I’ll have a stout. Chocolate? Well, truthfully I love all chocolate, but the darker, the better.
So a couple Christmases ago when my husband experimented with a new cookie recipe using two, yes two, packages of dark chocolate chips, I knew it had to be good. Little did I know it would LIFE CHANGING. Now when I crave chocolate, I really just craving these dark chocolate chocolate chip cookies. And when I crave cookies, I’m just craving these too. Why doesn’t he just make me these all the time?!
They actually take a little more work than your average cookie, so this time of year is a good excuse to put in the extra effort. Your family will thank you, I promise. I’m also willing to bet that for the chocolate-lover on your list, this will become a favorite delicious gift. These cookies hold up really well for cookie exchanges too, if only you are willing to part with them.
We’ve been to greedy to share, so ours only get served up for Christmas dessert beside my more traditional sugar cookie. Traditional? Ha! My sugar cookies need to be snow-women iced to look like they are wearing bikinis or Jackie O’s famous pink skirt suit with pill cap as a feast for the eyes to even compete next the hubby’s cookies, which are a feast for the tummy and the soul. I’m not kidding. That might be a recipe and picture for a later post.
Anyway, here’s what you’ll need for 2 dozen of his cookies:
2 Packages of 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips NOT semi-sweet. (We prefer Ghirardelli, and we buy them by the armfuls when Meijer has them on sale. This is also a modified version of their recipe.)
6 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions:
In double boiler over hot water, one package of chocolate chips and butter. In large bowl with electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs and sugar until thick; stir into chocolate mixture. In small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder; stir into chocolate mixture. Gently mix in the second package of chocolate chips and walnuts (optional). Using a sheet of plastic wrap, form dough into two logs, each 2 inches in diameter and about 12 inches long. As dough will be quite soft, use plastic wrap to hold dough in log shape. Wrap tightly; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Heat oven to 375°F. Unwrap dough; with sharp knife, cut into 3/4 inch slices. Place slices 1 1/2 inches apart on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until shiny crust forms on top but interior is still soft. Cool on baking sheet; store in airtight tin up to 1 week.
Who are they kidding? These never need storing. They’re gone by the next day. Oh! Don’t forget milk. You can at least double your intake of these cookies if you wash them down with milk.
Celina Trujillo has lived in Urbana since 1998, when she started attending the University of Illinois. Three degrees and one job later, she recently decided to put it all on hold to start homeschooling and homemaking full-time. Her blog, Squawks of a Mama Bird, records the learning process of this unexpected new adventure for her family.