One whole pound of chocolate

February 4, 2011 § Leave a comment

I’m back on the 9-5 schedule. I just wrapped up my first week at my new work, which is hidden in a tiny, sunny enclave park just off of the Embarcadero. At noon, the little park is alive with workers on their lunch break, the tiny, European-like cafes in the area swarming with people and the play structures hosting the occasional child enjoying a sunny weekday afternoon. Across the street, a little blue-fronted French restaurant serves $2.50 cappuccinos, which we take to go in china mugs (because we are an environmentally sustainable office), and makes rich, addicting dark chocolate truffles in house. Um, can you say dream-like office location? It doesn’t hurt either that there have been free samples of Tell Tale Preserve Co. caramels on my desk these past few days.

But proof that I’m not entirely a grown-up yet, I still haven’t adjusted to having to run at 6:30 a.m. in order to get to work on time. Seriously, I don’t know how people do it. But since I’ve decided I’m gearing up for a marathon — I’m looking at Vancouver May 1 if anyone has any input — that’s the way it’s going to have to be. Yesterday morning I discovered that firemen dispatched to put out the fire that burned an apartment building in the Castro take a break to catcall a girl running down the street. Today, I saw the sunrise over the Bayview. Who knows what I’ll see tomorrow. Oh wait, tomorrow’s Saturday. Happy weekend.

Yesterday evening, I took these cookies into Italian class with me. I think they were orgasmic. These are probably the first cookies I ever made entirely on my own. I took them to a swim meet when I was about thirteen, heavily coated in icing, because, well, I was thirteen and didn’t appreciate dense, subtly sweet, doubly incredibly dark and rich chocolate cookies yet. I mean, there is an entire pound of dark chocolate in these. And if you’re looking for a way to tell that these cookies are dated, the recipe is from a 1999 issue of the now-dead Gourmet 😦

And guess what I said when I presented them yesterday? Ho fatto dei biscotti chocolati per la classe. What, did you think my Italian was good enough to say something more complicated than that?

P.S. Biscotti in Italian actually means cookies not…uh…biscotti.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt (I used fleur de sel)
1 pound fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (I used 74%)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Coarsely chop chocolate. In a saucepan or double boiler, melt butter and three-fouths chocolate, stirring until smooth.
Remove chocolate mixture from heat and stir in sugar. Stir in eggs one at a time until combined well and stir in flour mixture until just combined. Chill dough, covered, at least 10 minutes and up to 1 hour.
Drop rounded tablespoons of dough about 1 1/2 inches apart onto baking sheet and stud each cookie with a few pieces of remaining chocolate. Bake 10 minutes, or until just set. Cool cookies on sheet on rack 5 minutes and transfer with a spatula to rack to cool completely.

Top with icing sugar, icing or melted white chocolate, my decoration of choice!

Soufflé Days