Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

The idea of baking chocolate cookies came to my mind while making a chocolate cake for my brother-in-law's birthday. While the cake was in the oven my entire kitchen, whole appartment in fact, become filled with a wonderful aroma of chocolate. No one could resist that. Neither could I. So, I decided to bake something with chocolate also for myself. I opted for these totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies recipe. As the name says, the cookies tasted totally chocolate and made my kitchen smell chocolate not less than when I was baking the cake. Needless to say, they were also totally delicious!! The recipe makes 12-14 cookies - it doesn’t sound like many, but believe me, even though they’re truly delicious, it’s almost impossible to eat more than a few. They’re just too...chocolate. The recipe for these extremely chocolate cookies comes from Nigella Lawson (see the video below). The only change I’ve made was using golden caster sugar in place of regular white sugar.

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 12-14 cookies

125 g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
150 g flour
30 g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
125 g soft butter
75 g light brown sugar
50 g golden caster sugar or regular white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, cold
350 g dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 340°F (170°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Melt the 125 g chocolate in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.
3. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Add the melted chocolate and mix again until completely combined.
5. Add vanilla extract and cold egg. Beat until well combined.
6. Add the dry ingredients, mix on the lowest speed until well combined.
7. Stir in chocolate chips.
8. Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop 12-14 mounds of the dough onto prepared baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2.5 inches (6 cm) apart. Do not flatten them.
9. Bake for about 18 minutes. Leave on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to let them cool and harden.

Print the recipe

Nigella making the cookies:



Recipe in Polish:
Obłędnie czekoladowe ciastka Nigelli

Autumn Hazelnut Cake

Hazelnut was the first nut I’ve had in my life. When I was 2 years old we had a hazelnut tree in our garden. One of my earliest childhood memories is the one of my grandfather picking up a nut from the tree for me. He was choosing the biggest and the most beautiful one and it made me feel so special… When I was three we moved out from the house and I have never seen a hazelnut tree again, but my love for hazelnuts has remained unchanged.

So, when I saw the recipe for a cake with hazelnuts and pieces of dark chocolate on Every Cake You Bake blog, I couldn’t wait to try it. I made the cake last Friday and it turned exactly as I had imagined - extremely moist and fluffy with a wonderful hazelnut flavor. The combination of flavors and textures in the cake is just perfect.The pieces of chocolate taste absolutely sensational when they melt in your mouth and the apples add extra moistness to the cake.

The recipe originally comes from an Austrian leaflet and was called Autumn Apple and Nut Cake, but since the cake has strong nutty flavor and the apple flavor is very subtle, I’ve decided to change the name. I also altered the recipe slightly by reducing the amount of sugar (the original called for 250 g ).

Autumn Hazelnut Cake
(adapted from Every Cake You Bake blog)

6 eggs, separated
250 g unsalted butter or margarine
200 g sugar
250 g all purpose flour
1 packet (16 g) vanilla sugar
3-3,5 teaspoons baking powder
120 g hazelnuts
100 g dark chocolate
2 apples peeled, cored, and cut into cubes

Preheat the oven to 140°C (280 F)

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the sugars and beat again until mixture comes together and is no longer crumbly.
Add the flour and baking powder and stir with a spoon until well combined. Then, stir in the apples.

Put all the nuts into a food processor and grind up without turning them into a powder.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff peaks. Fold in the chocolate pieces and ground hazelnuts. Gently fold the egg whites mixture into the batter.

Pour the mixture into the greased and floured springform pan and bake for 1 1/2 hour.