Find TV Listings
Listen To Our Radio Show
Follow Us
From America's Test Kitchen Season 10: All-Time Cookie Favorites
Cookie recipes that trumpet their extreme chocolate flavor always leave us a bit suspicious. While they provide plenty of intensity, these over-the-top confections also tend to be delicate and crumbly, more like cakey brownies than cookies. We set out to make an exceptionally rich chocolate cookie that we could sink our teeth into—without having it fall apart.
Our first batch, which used modest amounts of cocoa powder and melted chocolate, baked up too cakey and tender—just what we didn’t want. The chocolate was the culprit—its fat was softening the dough. We scaled back the chocolate until we eliminated it entirely, which made the cookies less cakey and tender, and thus, more cookie-like. To restore chocolate flavor without adding too much fat, we increased the cocoa powder and reduced the flour. Using an egg white rather than a whole egg (or yolk) gave us the structure we wanted and adding dark corn syrup gave the cookies a nice chewiness and lent a hint of caramel flavor. For more richness, we folded in chopped bittersweet chocolate; the chunks stayed intact and added intense flavor. After rolling the dough into balls, a dip in granulated sugar before baking gave the cookies a sweet crunch and an attractive crackled appearance once they were out of the oven.
Makes 16 cookies
We recommend using the test kitchen’s favorite baking chocolate, Callebaut Intense Dark L-60-40NV, but any high- quality dark, bittersweet, or semisweet chocolate will work. Light brown sugar can be substituted for the dark, as can light corn syrup for the dark, but with some sacrifice in flavor. A spring-loaded ice cream scoop (size #30) can be used to portion the dough.
Start Your 14-Day Free Trial Membership
Get all 13 years of America’s Test Kitchen:
Dear Friend,
It is hard to believe, but 2013 marks the thirteenth anniversary of the America’s Test Kitchen television show. Since our very first season, we have been public television’s most watched cooking show and have shared hundreds of our best recipes, equipment reviews, ingredient taste tests, and cooking techniques with our viewers. And, AmericasTestKitchen.com is the only place you’ll find everything we’ve ever featured on the show — every recipe, equipment rating, and taste test since the very first episode of America’s Test Kitchen.
As you may know, America’s Test Kitchen is the home of “Recipes That Work,” and our mission is to be your trusted source for recipes that work every time you use them. Our test cooks spend their days obsessively testing recipes until they offer consistently great results. As we like to say here, “We make the mistakes so you don’t have to.” So, try out our website for a 14-Day, No-Hassle Trial Offer. Whether you are new to America’s Test Kitchen or have been an avid viewer for years, I think you’ll find AmericasTestKitchen.com to be an invaluable resource.
Thanks for your consideration,
Christopher Kimball
Founder and Publisher
Related Content
