The Kidlet recently attended a cooking class with TM. It sounds like it was a huge success. She returned from class effervescent with excitement over the dishes and their excellence. The mac & cheese was apparently the most delicious thing she's ever put in her mouth. The caesar salad was, in her words, "exquisite". And I forget which superlative she used to describe these cookies, but they also got rave reviews. We've since made a second batch to share with friends and they were also a huge success.
The recipe itself is fairly straight-forward. You cream the butter with the sugar, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients separately, then combine them with the wets. The final step is to stir in whatever inclusions you're using. The recipe is fairly flexible on this. They recommend 1 1/2 to 2 c. of chocolate chunks and up to 1 c. of chopped nuts. We opted for 1 c. of chopped dark chocolate, 1/2 c. of peanut butter chips, and 1 c. of chopped pecans for ours. (The Kidlet had originally selected walnuts, which I also think would have been excellent, but we were all out.)
Making this recipe also gave us a chance to talk a bit of baking chemistry which is always fun.
I was initially going to offer the choice of either regular (natural) or Dutched (alkalized) cocoa for these cookies. But, upon checking the recipe, I saw that they called for baking soda -- not baking powder -- as the leavener.
Baking powder is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, a base, and cream of tartar, an acid, (plus a bit of cornstarch). So, when it gets mixed with liquids, the acid and the base combine and react to produce carbon dioxide and make your baked goods rise. (Double-acting baking powder includes additional ingredients that are heat-activated so a second reaction occurs when your baked goods get exposed to the heat of the oven.)
Baking soda, on the other hand, is just plain old sodium bicarbonate. So, if you're using baking soda as your leavener, you need to make sure to add some acidic ingredients to your dough or batter so that it has something to react with. This is why you often see buttermilk, yogurt, lemon juice, or other acidic ingredients included in baked goods. And, in the case of these cookies, our acidic ingredient was the cocoa.
Natural cocoa is acidic. Dutched cocoa has been treated with an alkaline solution in order to give it a neutral pH. So, if you swap Dutched cocoa into a recipe that relies on baking soda for leavening, it won't rise!
So, moral of the story: stick with natural cocoa for these cookies. Or swap out the baking soda for baking powder. But that's not a simple 1:1 substitution. I think you generally need about 4x the amount of baking powder to equal the leavening power of baking soda. (Although I'm not sure how double-acting variants affect that conversion.) So, adapting this recipe to work with Dutched cocoa may take a little tinkering. Do give it a try if you're feeling adventerous though!
1 Use whatever chunks or chips you'd prefer: white, milk, semi-sweet, dark... You can even experiment with some of the other flavoured chips like peanutbutter, cheesecake, toffee, or butterscotch. Feel free to mix-and-match! Back
2 Use the higher amount of chocolate if you are omitting the nuts. If you're including the nuts, use the lower amount of chocolate. And, as with the chocolate, feel free to use whatever kind of nuts you'd like and mix-and-match as you see fit. White chocolate and macadamia nut is a classic combo, as is milk chocolate and peanuts/peanut butter. And I think toffee, pecan, and semi-sweet chocolate would be delicious. Or almond and dark chocolate. There are so many options! Back
The recipe itself is fairly straight-forward. You cream the butter with the sugar, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients separately, then combine them with the wets. The final step is to stir in whatever inclusions you're using. The recipe is fairly flexible on this. They recommend 1 1/2 to 2 c. of chocolate chunks and up to 1 c. of chopped nuts. We opted for 1 c. of chopped dark chocolate, 1/2 c. of peanut butter chips, and 1 c. of chopped pecans for ours. (The Kidlet had originally selected walnuts, which I also think would have been excellent, but we were all out.)
Making this recipe also gave us a chance to talk a bit of baking chemistry which is always fun.
I was initially going to offer the choice of either regular (natural) or Dutched (alkalized) cocoa for these cookies. But, upon checking the recipe, I saw that they called for baking soda -- not baking powder -- as the leavener.
Baking powder is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, a base, and cream of tartar, an acid, (plus a bit of cornstarch). So, when it gets mixed with liquids, the acid and the base combine and react to produce carbon dioxide and make your baked goods rise. (Double-acting baking powder includes additional ingredients that are heat-activated so a second reaction occurs when your baked goods get exposed to the heat of the oven.)
Baking soda, on the other hand, is just plain old sodium bicarbonate. So, if you're using baking soda as your leavener, you need to make sure to add some acidic ingredients to your dough or batter so that it has something to react with. This is why you often see buttermilk, yogurt, lemon juice, or other acidic ingredients included in baked goods. And, in the case of these cookies, our acidic ingredient was the cocoa.
Natural cocoa is acidic. Dutched cocoa has been treated with an alkaline solution in order to give it a neutral pH. So, if you swap Dutched cocoa into a recipe that relies on baking soda for leavening, it won't rise!
So, moral of the story: stick with natural cocoa for these cookies. Or swap out the baking soda for baking powder. But that's not a simple 1:1 substitution. I think you generally need about 4x the amount of baking powder to equal the leavening power of baking soda. (Although I'm not sure how double-acting variants affect that conversion.) So, adapting this recipe to work with Dutched cocoa may take a little tinkering. Do give it a try if you're feeling adventerous though!
Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
From Relish Cooking Studio
Ingredients
- 3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 c. natural cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 to 2 c. chocolate chunks1
- 1 c. chopped nuts2 (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes).
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Mix in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
- Stir in the chocolate and nuts (if using).
- Shape into balls ~3cm in diameter, place on prepared baking sheet, and flatten slightly. (Makes ~3 dozen cookies.)
- Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~10 minutes.
- Transfer to wire rack to cool.
1 Use whatever chunks or chips you'd prefer: white, milk, semi-sweet, dark... You can even experiment with some of the other flavoured chips like peanutbutter, cheesecake, toffee, or butterscotch. Feel free to mix-and-match! Back
2 Use the higher amount of chocolate if you are omitting the nuts. If you're including the nuts, use the lower amount of chocolate. And, as with the chocolate, feel free to use whatever kind of nuts you'd like and mix-and-match as you see fit. White chocolate and macadamia nut is a classic combo, as is milk chocolate and peanuts/peanut butter. And I think toffee, pecan, and semi-sweet chocolate would be delicious. Or almond and dark chocolate. There are so many options! Back
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