Chocolate By Brand Challenge

partysugar — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:48:11 -0800

So on Friday I decided to enter a recipe in a food blogger's challenge entitled Sugar High Friday #27: Chocolate By Brand. Today was the deadline for submissions and the rules of the competition state that I can make any chocolate recipe as long as I list which brand of chocolate I use. Now I'm from San Francisco, so I had to represent my hometown by choosing Ghirardelli chocolate. To share my adventure with everyone in the office, and get lots of opinions, I made a cookie recipe. A very chocolatey cookie flavored with espresso and filled with chocolate chunks (a glass of milk is a must with these cookies!). For the recipe and a look at the process that I took to make the cookies, read more

These cookies came out awesome. I added 8 oz of chocolate instead of 7 (because the bars come in 4 oz each and you can never have too much chocolate!) and made the cookies smaller than 2 oz. I prefer small cookies to large ones because I can never eat all of a monster cookie and everything is better in bite size pieces. I baked the cookies for 18 minutes instead of 20 and the end result was a cookie with a crispy outside and a delicious chewy inside. The espresso was subtle-hardly noticeable-and the chocolate smell intense and fragrant. The girls at work enjoyed them as did my parents at home. I recommend this recipe and will add it to my repertoire of cookie recipes.

Espresso Double-Chocolate Chunk Cookies
From Martha Stewart

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 325°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together espresso powder, vanilla, and a tablespoon of water; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add egg and yolk; mix until incorporated. Add espresso mixture; mix well, scraping down the sides of a bowl with a spatula.

At low speed, add flour mixture in small batches, mixing until just combined.

Remove bowl from mixer, and stir in chocolate chunks.

Using a 2-ounce ice-cream scoop, scoop heaping balls of dough and place 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are set, about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven; let cool completely before removing cookies.

Makes eighteen 3-inch cookies.

Click on an image below for a larger view of the photo!

View 24 Photos ›

Print recipe with images | without images

Chocolate Challenge Recap

partysugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:36:11 -0800

On Monday I told you about my adventures in the food blogging challenge Sugar High Friday (edition 27). David Lebovitz, a food blogger, cookbook author, and chocoholic stationed out of Paris, invited food bloggers to submit a recipe and picture incorporating chocolate for this week's Chocolate By Brand test. I used Ghirardelli chocolate to make dunk-able, delectable espresso double chocolate chunk cookies. There were over 100 recipes submitted to David and here are a few of my favorites.

Trinigourmet used chocolate from her native Trinidad to whip up a absolutely heavenly looking upside down chocolate pudding with crispy top.

Hallo at Cook (almost) Anything made a fashionable, frothy white chocolate mousse with poached cherries (using Lindt chocolate) that I'm dying to try in my kitchen because I love white chocolate.

For a scrumptiously sweet breakfast treat, Suzy Not a Homemaker made chocolate hazelnut scones using a bar of chocolate she bought at Starbucks. These are definitely a must make for my next brunch.

Check out the rest of the competition and read the comments at David's (mostly) chocolate website.

YumSugar

Chocolate By Brand Challenge

Chocolate Challenge Recap