Chewy Brownie Cookies

Chewy Brownie Cookies

I like drinking Godiva liquor with mint ice cream over the rocks. It's like the Grasshopper's younger, eager cousin, who wants to please you, but doesn't have the right tools handy. Like a blender. One night G was making me this drink, and he secretly put in a tiny amount of whiskey, thinking he could acclimate me over time to stronger drinks. I took a sip and immediately made a face. "Did you put something else in this?"

He was stunned. "I put in the smallest amount possible of whiskey. I can't believe you noticed that."*

"I have a very sensitive palette."

Notice I didn't say mature, refined, or adventurous. Just sensitive. I can't handle spicy foods, because I notice even the smallest amount, and a "dash" of black pepper has been known to ruin steak for me. All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I'm never baking with shortening again. This is the second recipe I tried with it, and I was on the fence after the first disaster. That had a lot of other things going wrong, though, and I bought all this stupid shortening, and a commenter on this new recipe who had tried it both ways, butter and shortening, said there was no taste difference, just a better appearance with shortening. So I stayed true to the original recipe, used shortening, and ended up with brownie cookies that tasted off to me and my sensitive tongue.

I'm not too disappointed, since I didn't spend a lot of time on these, and G liked them, but I do want to try these again with butter. They're so close to being really good, and I'll gladly sacrifice appearance for taste, especially since my cell phone camera can't tell the difference anyway. All I want for Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's/my birthday is a real camera. And photography lessons. And black paint for the second bedroom. And a new kitchen floor. And new kitchen counters. I'll move on now.

The Ingredients:
2/3 cup shortening (I'll be trying out butter the next go-round)
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon water (not needed if using butter)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used about 1/2 cup of semisweet Godiva and 1 1/2 cup of milk chocolate Hershey's)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I left these out)

The Process, Illustrated:

1) Leave out the shortening/butter and eggs for a while so they come to room temp, and then preheat the oven to 375 F.

2) Cream the shortening, sugar, water and vanilla (or the butter and vanilla) in a big mixing bowl. I didn't want to bother cleaning my hand mixer after this was over, so I did this all with a wooden spoon. The shortening was soft, but my arm still got a workout.

Proof 

3) Beat the eggs into the mixture.

4) In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda. I like to mix the cocoa with the salt and baking soda first, so you can tell by the color that everything's evenly mixed, and then mix in the flour. Otherwise you may end up under-mixing the salt and baking soda since they'll get lost in the flour (goes my line of thought). But I'm obsessive.

5) Little by little, add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Beat (or stir vigorously) until blended. Don't over-blend. (Does it annoy anyone else when you see recipe instructions like "Don't over-bake"? Who's out there deliberately over-baking their cookies? Maybe if I had a transparent oven door that would be easier to control. Or if I knew how much time resulted in over-baking. Or maybe if you TOLD me the right amount of baking time.)

6) Stir the chocolate chips into the mixture, and if you're using nuts, now's the time.

Chip chip cheerio

7) The original recipe says to "drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets." I probably followed that in general, but I was using a regular spoon to scoop so I don't know the exact size. I made 22 cookies, and the recipe says it would make 18. Take from that what you will. I also used parchment paper, because I loathe doing the dishes. Putting away dishes, though? I'm a champ.

Batch numero uno

8) Bake at 375 F for 7-9 minutes. Don't over-bake. Let them cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes, then move them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Can you tell which cookie I toothpick tested? I'm a pro.

Short version

Ingredients:
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon water (not needed if using butter in place of shortening)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1) Leave out the shortening/butter and eggs for a while so they come to room temp, and then preheat the oven to 375 F.
2) Cream the shortening, sugar, water and vanilla (or the butter and vanilla) in a big mixing bowl.
3) Beat the eggs into the mixture.
4) In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.
5) Little by little, add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Beat (or stir vigorously) until blended. Don't over-blend.
6) Stir the chocolate chips into the mixture, and if you're using nuts, now's the time.
7) Scoop onto a cookie sheet, either ungreased or with parchment paper.
8) Bake at 375 F for 7-9 minutes. Let them cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes, then move them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

*Really. He still brings this up, months later.