These were simply awesome! I love chocolate with a hint of spice and these were the best version of that combination that I have ever tried. I was initally concerned that there was too much chocolate in the recipe (I know, can there be too much chocolate???) but found the copius amounts of dark chocolate balanced the spiciness of the chipotle perfectly. The texture of the cookie is perfect too, slightly crispy-crunchy but still soft.
My family doesn't enjoy heat in their food, especially sweets, so I made a dozen or so cookies without the chipotle first and found this is the perfect chocolate cookie. After having eaten all of the plain cookies, and being somewhat tortured by a couple dozen dark chocolate chipotle cookies on the counter during two consecutive snow days, my daughter tried the spicy cookies and loved them. Completely addictive, these cookies were a huge hit at my office too.
I did find that adding the chipotle later in the recipe than called for resulted in the chipotle powder not being distributed as equally as it should have been and some cookies would be spicy and others not. I also reduced the amount of chipotle since I had already made a dozen cookies and that resulted in the cookies not having as much heat as I would have liked. But that was my fault and not a fault in the recipe! I can't wait to try these again with the full amount of chipotle called for in the recipe. If spice isn't your thing, I encourage you to omit the chipotle as the cookies are delicious without it and would be fantastic with nuts, other types of chocolate, and/or dried fruit. The cookies would be sooo good with ice cream sandwiched between them too.
Please give these a try!
Notes: I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips for both melting and the chips added to the batter at the end. I made the cookies both with and without refrigerating the dough and found the only difference is the cookies spread a little more when not refrigerated.
Dark Chocolate Chipotle Cookies
Nantucket Cookie Company
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups
(4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 1/2 cup for topping
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
2 teaspoons crushed, dried chipotle peppers
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
1/2 pound high-quality bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/2 cups high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, plus 1/2 cup for topping
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add butter and beat with the paddle attachment until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary to evenly cream it. Add the sugars, sifted cocoa powder and chipotle peppers and mix again at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, vanilla and water.
Beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add slightly cooled melted chocolate and mix again, scraping bowl to evenly mix everything.
Add the flour mixture, scraping sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. When well incorporated, add the chips and mix briefly, about 5 seconds.
Refrigerate the dough in the bowl until cool and fudge-like, but not solid, for approximately 1 hour. You can use an ice cream scoop to create large, even sized cookies. These cookie-dough balls can also be frozen at this point, and baked right from the freezer whenever the need arises.
When ready to bake, press the tops of the cookie dough-balls into the sugar, and then top with 2 to 3 pieces of dark chocolate chips. Place onto parchment-lined baking sheets, allowing space for the cookies to spread. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven when they are still a little underdone. Slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a cooling rack and allow to cool before removing from parchment.
I love spice and Chipotle & Chocolate sounds like a very interesting combination!
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