This recipe for Chocolate-Chocolate Chip-Coconut cookies is a slight variation on last December's Triple Chocolate Cookies, in case you're wondering why it looks so familiar. Variations marked in bold.
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. flaked coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue stirring until butter separates. Add to mixing bowl. Cream butter and sugars together until smooth (this won't look like your traditional "creamed butter and sugar" fluffiness, but go with it anyway. Scrape the sides of the bowl a few times), and beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix until almost blended. Add the chocolate chips and coconut and mix. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, and store in an airtight container up to 7 days. Makes 2 to 3 dozen (depends on the size of the cookie!).
OK. This was a little bit of an experiment. My general rule is to not experiment with baking, only with cooking ... but I ran into a snag when I went to make these cookies: the only butter I had was frozen, and I didn't have time or a microwave to defrost it. So, I had to come up with something. I remembered a friend had made chocolate chip cookies with browned, melted butter because the test kitchens of Cook's Illustrated had suggested it.
Browned butter? Hmmm.
I decided just to melt it and let it sit in the pan for a few over medium-low heat to see if I got anything brown. I didn't. Maybe I didn't let it heat long enough. What I DID get, though, was butter separation. The oily stuff stayed on the bottom and foamy stuff came to the top. I didn't skim it, though that seemed like something logical to do. Again, hmmm.
Well, cookies are cookies, and I'll be dadgummed if I didn't just decide to use the mysterious melt anyway. I poured it into my mixing bowl and added the sugars and mixed away. As I mentioned in the directions above, this didn't look like the usual "Cream butter and sugar" outcome. I thought the cookies would be runny because of the melt. Of course, that didn't keep me from plowing ahead ... there were cookies on the horizon and nothing was going to stop me! So I proceeded to add everything else, following the directions. I threw in some coconut at the end because (a) I love coconut (b) I found half a bag of it in my freezer and (c) I thought it would add an exotic flair.
Pleasant surprise:
The cookies held up nicely.
They didn't run and flatten out at all.
In fact, the dough was pretty sturdy, and when I rolled it into balls it wasn't sticky at all.
What I don't know is if the sturdiness of the dough is due to the melted butter or the coconut. Hmmm.
They came out great, especially for an adventuresome baking experiment :). Interesting idea to try the browned butter in the double choc cookies. In the reg choc chip it adds a real toffee flavor, could you tell if there were any hints of toffee in there, along with the coconut and chocolate?? I don't recall tasting it, but I also didn't know to be watching for it and...lets just say I was eating a lot of cookies at the time ;).
ReplyDeleteThe difference in the Cook's Illustrated recipe might be the heat level. Sounds like your butter might have melted but not browned. Also, that recipe doesn't have you cream the butter and sugar as you usually would, but stir the melted butter in and let it rest, repeating that a couple times before stirring in the flour. So, yes, TOTALLY different look/feel of the dough during the process. Here are the directions from that part:
2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes (ideally not dark/nonstick skillet, as this makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is browned). Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
oh! Thanks Mary!
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