Chewy Chocolate Cookies

You know, it's true, man does not live by bread alone. Despite the numbers here weighting the scale towards dinners, I really do love a good sweet. But it really does have to be good. I have no qualms admitting to being a total food snob when it comes to treats, because if ever you want your calories to count, it's when you're indulging. Who wants to say they blew their diet and their conscience on something that was just fitting the "sweet" bill? You want any guilt to be completely subdued by the utter glory of eating something truly divine. That being said, there are a lot of bad cookies out there. The kind you eat but wish you hadn't. It takes a good cookie to make me go in for more than one(hey, I'm not THAT snobby-of course I'll give all cookies a try!). I'm not going to go in to my whole rating system, but there are a lot of factors involved. These cookies passed my test. For me, chocolate cookies really have to have something that makes them special, because chocolate alone just doesn't do it for me. Texture: thin layer of crisp on the outside, like the top of creme brulee. Just enough to let you know you're breaking through to a chewy inside. Not doughy or pasty or airy or too dense of an inside, but classically chewy and tender. Taste: clean cocoa flavor, the kind that makes you think of how good hot chocolate smells. Chips: different kinds of chocolate, so they don't all blend into the cookie dough making for an anonymous chocolate flavor, but rather give you a chocolate disco in your mouth; the intense cocoa cookie, the creamy mildness of milk chocolate chips, the vanilla richness of white chips that intensify the other cocoa flavors in the cookie. Don't worry, you won't harbor any ill will towards these cookies once you realize you've hoovered through more than your fair share.



CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES
from The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2010
makes 16 cookies

1/3 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup for coating
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
12 Tbs unsalted butter, soft
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place 1/2 cup sugar in bowl. In separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the corn syrup, egg white, and vanilla in separate bowl. In mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and remaining 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in the corn syrup mixture. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and chocolate chips. Mix just until incorporated. Chill 30 minutes. Divide dough into 16 portions and roll into balls. Toss in sugar to coat. Place on greased baking sheets until cookies are just beginning to show cracks, 8-10 minutes. Rotate sheets halfway through baking time.