Radhi decided to organize anyone wanting to give her a final goodbye for a picnic in Dolores Park one Sunday in June, which elsewhere in the country might sound like perfect timing, but in San Francisco, of course, it meant overcast skies, plunging temperatures and fog fog fog.
Because we were essentially providing nothing but the place for the picnic, I figured I'd go to the trouble to use a CI recipe. I have to admit that, while I made some adjustments to accommodate my extracurricular use of these cookies (which I mention in the recipe below), I really should have focused less on this tried and tested recipe and more on... the actual ice cream.
I bought two pints of wonderful ice cream (balsamic strawberry and their famous salted caramel), and I was cleaning up in prep for the guests to arrive on the day of the party, I put the frozen pints in the fridge to loosen them up so they ice cream would be more accommodating.
Seriously, folks. I set an alarm when things go in the oven, right? I set an alarm to wake me up for work in the morning, right? WHY WOULDN'T I SET ONE TO REMIND ME THAT ICE CREAM IS MELTING IN MY FRIDGE? WHY OH WHY?
When I finally made it to the assembly stage, the ice cream was so soft that the cookies (perfectly thick and chewy) were sliding off one another. Even in the freezer they didn't set up. I suppose in my haste, I had forgotten that artisan ice cream (and premium brands like Häagen-Dazs) have so much more butterfat than the run-of-the-mill ice cream that they don't freeze so solidly, and they tend to soften up quickly. VERY quickly.
I pressed on in the face of a platter full of a mess of melting cream and chocolate midnight, determined to make as many as possible and hope for the best. In the end, I did manage to get some of the smaller cookies (I used a smaller cookie scoop for the second batch) to hold together, and the effect was charming when I took them out of the freezer for the gang to savor. Or maybe they were all just too drunk to notice they were falling apart. Maybe it's that second thing.
We bade Radhi a heartfelt farewell, toasted with lovely drinks and indulged her love of that amazing ice cream one last time. In the end, no one minded eating the little leftover ice cream straight from the containers with a few extra cookies as garnish. Nor did they notice the slowly solidifying mass of strawberry, caramel, chocolate and cream in my freezer. It's the traditional purview of the indoor picnic host to hide as many sins as possible behind his stainless steel door. And it's way more convenient than lugging a Frigidaire to Dolores Park.
Do you think I have a lot to say about recipes before I get to the ingredient list? Then I suppose we only have Cook's Illustrated to blame. Every recipe typically comes with a two page article outlining the many steps -- and most importantly the MIS-steps -- taken to work the proportions to a level of ne plus ultra so high as to satisfy Fibonacci himself. When you read through the recipes, they don't leave much room for thinking "Now, couldn't I just try it this way?"
That said, I thought that way anyhow! My first batch went into the oven just as specified... but they came out domed, and even a little dry looking. Because I wanted these a bit flatter so I could make sandwiches of them, and because they were coming out a bit too unwieldy, I did two things: I used a smaller-than-called for cookie scoop, and I used moistened fingers to press the balls out flatter before baking. The results side by side were welcome: the cookies even looked shiner and were a better size and shape, but didn't seem to lose any of their chewy quality. I think if I were to try again at some point I might even consider baking two 9 x 13 pans of the dough gently rolled out flat and then cut into brownie-like squares for assembly.
Or maybe I should just find a recipe actually MEANT for ice cream sandwiches. Hm.
In any case, the cookies, minus any ice cream, were still fabulously chocolaty and were an undisputed hit. Do resist the urge to bake longer than recommended, as it's hard to tell when chocolate cookies are done. They'll be soft, but will firm up out of the oven. If you're using these cookies for ice cream sandwiches like I did, it's even more important to keep them slightly under-baked, so biting into them won't crumble them into messy pieces. Also because of this texture, using parchment paper to get them off the sheet pans in a whole step is extra helpful, so get some if you can.
Interested in making these Triple-Chocolate cookies? Baking Illustrated suggests adding about 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter just after the dry ingredients are incorporated. And who are we to question that advice?
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 16 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
- 10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks), softened but still firm
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost-simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth; remove from heat. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and vanilla lightly with fork, sprinkle coffee powder over to dissolve, and set aside.In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or with hand mixer), beat butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds (15 seconds with hand mixer).
Beat in sugars until combined, about 45 seconds (1 1/2 minutes with hand mixer); mixture will look granular.
Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds (1 1/2 minutes with hand mixer).
Add chocolate in steady stream and beat until combined, about 40 seconds (1 minute with hand mixer).
Scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula. With mixer at low speed, add flour mixture and mix until combined, about 40 seconds (1 minute with hand mixer). Do not overbeat.
Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until consistency is scoopable and fudge-like, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Leaving about 1 1/2-inches between each ball, scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets with 1 3/4-inch diameter cookie scoop.
Bake cookies until edges have just begun to set but centers are still very soft, about 10 minutes, turning cookie sheets from front to back and switching from top to bottom racks halfway through baking.
Cool cookies on sheets about 10 minutes, slide parchment with cookies onto wire rack and cool to room temperature; remove with wide metal spatula.
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week. Makes about 40 cookies.
Haven't I been a bit non-traditional in my music choices? If it's traditional you want... traditional you're gonna get. Listen as the Robert Shaw Chorale sings a medley of undisputed classics of the season with big bold arrangements that are far too polished and professional to come off as cheesy. Now that's Christmas Caroling... old school style!
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