Tartine Bakery Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookies

This is the third week of 12 weeks of Christmas Cookies and I have another fabulous chocolate cookie recipe for you. Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend BlogHerFood in San Francisco and one of the wonderful things about the conference was all the fabulous sponsors who gave away their products for us to take home and sample. Scharffen Berger, “America’s Finest Chocolate”, was one of those sponsors and they generously sent us home with bars of their delectable chocolate, so I couldn’t resist baking something with chocolate again this week.

I turned to the Scharffen Berger website for a great recipe and was excited to find a cookie recipe from Tartine Bakery. The day before the conference Megan, Megan’s Cookin’, and I explored San Francisco and stopped by Tartine Bakery for lunch and sinfully delicious baked goods.

I did make a mistake when I made the recipe. It calls for 1/3 cup of whole milk to be added before the flour, and I forgot to add it. But maybe it was fortuitous mistake because I loved the cookie without the milk. It has a deep, rich chocolate flavor and reminds me of a fudgy, decadent brownie.

In a recent post Tanvi, Sinfully Spicy, left me a sweet comment and asked me how I get my cookies the perfect size and thickness, so I thought I’d share my secret. I always use a scoop to place my cookie dough on my cookie sheets. Not only is it much faster and easier, it also makes it easy to make cookies the same size and shape. I used a small scoop for this recipe because it calls for only one tablespoon of dough.

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Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Tartine Bakery Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 7 minutes

Total Time 27 minutes

Ingredients

• 8 ounces SCHARFFEN BERGER 70% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons SCHARFFEN BERGER Natural Cocoa Powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder*
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup whole milk (I omitted)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water. Be sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. When the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat.
3. Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Set aside. Using a standard mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy. Slowly add the sugar and mix until the mixture is completely smooth and soft. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Beat in the salt and the vanilla, and then add the melted chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Add the milk and beat until combined. Finally, add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until incorporated.
5. Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies until they are just barely firm on top when lightly touched but are still very soft underneath, about 7 minutes. They will get firmer as they cool.
6. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool. They will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

*I only used 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder to adapt for high altitude baking.

There have been lots of great recaps written about BlogHerFood. I love Heather’s, Multiply Delicious, video and top 10 list, and Kristen’s, Dine and Dish, reflection on why we blog, so I wanted to share a few of my highlights from the conference.

• Exploring San Francisco with Megan, Megan’s Cookin’, the day before the conference. Megan was my roommate and people just aren’t any sweeter than her.
• The limo ride to the Soirée with 12 other fabulous bloggers, including Chris, MeleCotte, who is so fun and had us laughing the whole way.
• The Food Styling session taught by stylists Delores Custer, Adam Pearson, and Tami Hardeman. Chefdruk did a great post on tips she learned at this session. I also loved the food photography and SEO sessions.
• Meeting Jane, This Week for Dinner – Jane’s was the first blog I ever read and she inspired me to start blogging. She’s so sweet and even emailed me when we got home from the conference.
• Meeting Marla, Family Fresh Cooking – Marla came over to me at the closing party at the California Culinary Academy, introduced herself and said she was so glad that she got a chance to meet me. I had sort of been feeling lost in the crowd and she made me feel like meeting me was something special.
• There are too many other fabulous bloggers I met or chatted with to mention by name, but hanging out with other great food bloggers truly was the highlight of the conference. (Of course, winning an iPad from Gourmet Live was pretty awesome too.) Thanks everyone!

This post is part of a 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hog. Be sure and check out all of the fabulous cookies the other 12 weeks of Christmas Cookies bakers baked up this week