Chocolate-drenched Cocoa Nib Cookies

So after teasing you with the fabulousness of Adventures with Chocolate, I undertook one of them myself. Pretty successfully I might add though, as usual, mine didn’t look as pretty as those shown in the book, I’m going with the defense that I’m no food photographer.

In any case, the end results are a chocoholics dream AND I might be get away with the claim (barely) that these are good for you too. Cocoa nibs (according to the bag) are a Mayan superfood and dark chocolate is chocked full of antioxidants, so go ahead, enjoy without the guilt, you’re doing something good for your health.

Paul Young’s Chocolate-drenched Cocoa Nib Cookies
from Adventures with Chocolate (Kyle, 2011), page 36
based on recipe and instructions in the book with side notes by K2

1 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup demerara sugar I used Sugar in the Raw
Pinch of sea salt
2 cups all-purpose flour*
Scant 1 cup alkalized cocoa powder this is just cocoa powder
½ vanilla pod, the seeds scraped out, or ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 large organic egg I did not use an organic egg
50-100g cocoa nibs (as many as you like), or chocolate chips** this translates to approx ½ cup of nibs
10 ½ oz Venezuelan dark chocolate, or your favorite robust dark chocolate I used Ghiradelli 60% cocoa dark chocolate baking chips

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Place the butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and melt thoroughly.

Remove from heat and add the flour, cocoa powder, vanilla seeds (or extract) and the egg, mixing thoroughly.

Add the cocoa nibs and allow the cookie dough to cool for 5 minutes.

On a parchment-lined baking sheet, place generous scoops of the dough, leaving 3 inches between each cookie. You’ll probably need to bake in two or three batches.

K2: The 3 inches is in case they spread but my cookies did not spread at all. I did baked mine in 2 batches and made a total of 18 cookies.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, then leave to cool completely.

K2: I kept mine in the full 10 minutes because at 8-9 minutes, they were still a little soft. I also removed mine from the parchment, but if you take them out at 8 minutes and leave them on the pan, they will continue to cook even once you remove them from the oven.

Once you have baked your cookies and resisted eating them all while warm, the next step is to drench them in chocolate.

K2:  FYI, I did not resist and I tried one right away, they are good un-drenched and warm too.

Chop the dark chocolate into pieces. Temper the chocolate according to instructions on pages 18-21.

K2: Okay, I am NOT including tempering instructions from the book because I used chip form baking chocolate and simply melted it, you could also use dark chocolate candy bark they all have the same effect of coating the cookies.

Dip half of each cookie in the tempered (melted) chocolate and place back on the parchment paper (or wax paper) to let the chocolate cool and set fully.

K2: So my cookies baked up with some a serious tendency to fall apart, rather than dip them in the chocolate, I poured the melted chocolate over them and then stuck the pan in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes to help the chocolate set. That way the chocolate helps hold the crumbly buggers together better.

Store the cookies in an airtight container or leave on a place for everyone to enjoy while fresh. They won’t last long.

*The original recipe calls for 1-3/4 cups of flour and the first time I made them, I didn't change the amount, but the cookies were very crumbly and had to be handled carefully.  I decided to up the amount to 2 cups of flour the next time I made them. The dough still more closely resembled brownie dough (shiny & slick) than cookie dough, but the cookies were much less crumbly the second time around.

**Cocoa nibs are not going to be found on your joe schmoe grocer's shelf.  For those in the Triangle, I got mine at Whole Foods in the Health Food section (because they are antioxidants) and just an FYI, they are not inexpensive.  They only came in a large bag for $18.95, so yes, I will be looking for other ways to use them.