For the Chocoholics

Every time I visit my parents, my mom and I email constantly the week before about what we will bake.  There are always too many things for us to try, so it’s usually a pretty fattening special looking recipe that makes the cut.  Last weekend we made Picky Palate’s Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookie Sandwiches and Candy Bar Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches.  They were amazing.

This weekend I couldn’t help but be inspired by those delicious cookies.  As if a chocolate chip cookie stuffed with a Snickers Bar or Oreo Cookie wasn’t enough, I had to take it a step further for all of the chocoholics out there.  Why not take one of my favorite chocolate cookie recipes and stuff it with chocolate candy?  I made Stuffed Triple Chocolate Cookies.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t tasted them yet.  I am on my 6th day of a week-long deprivation vegan challenge and baking these was an extreme form of torture.  Luckily, I have the Husband to do my taste testing for me in a time like this.  If the number of Hershey Kiss stuffed cookies he ate is any reflection of the verdict, I’d say these are a winner.  Trust me, though, when vegan week is over, I’ll be inhaling a dozen cookies doing my own “quality control”.  (More on Vegan week in an upcoming post!)

The Triple Chocolate Cookie dough is adapted from Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey.  I’ve made the cookies using her exact recipe as a standalone cookie and they never disappoint.  You may remember my Gooey Caramel Butter Bars were also from that cookbook.

To begin, you take semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate along with a stick of butter and place them in a microwave-safe bowl

Microwave the ingredients for a minute and stir; microwave again for 30-second increments until everything is almost melted; stir the remaining lumps until smooth and do not overheat.  Set aside

Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) and set aside

In your mixer, combine eggs, sugars and vanilla

Beat on high speed for about 5 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy

Reduce the speed of your mixer and add in melted chocolate and butter

When that is well-combined, stir in flour mixture but do not over-mix

Stir in chocolate chips

Refrigerate cookie dough for an hour or more prior to making the cookies

Choose any chocolate candies of your preference.  Smaller candies will yield more cookies.  I selected these chocolate meltaway Kisses  because, well, why not make these as intensely chocolate as possible?

Other candy included dark chocolate Peanut Butter cups and Peppermint Patties.  Once dough is chilled, pre-heat oven and unwrap your chocolates

Use a cookie dough scoop to form balls of dough; place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Place candy on top of dough mound and then push down

Gently form cookie dough around the candy until it is completely covered; it might be easier if you freeze your Peppermint Patties first because they can break if you push too hard with the cookie dough

Repeat process

Use just enough cookie dough to cover the candy; size will be about 50% larger than candy alone

Make sure your candy is completely covered with dough or you may end up with some oozing like my Peppermint Patty cookies experienced

Bake the cookies for about 9 minutes and set aside on a cooling rack to cool

This is the deliciousness you will experience when you bite into the different cookies:

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Stuffed Triple Chocolate Cookies

Inspired by Picky Palate and adapted from Jill O’Connor

Makes ~50 cookies (more cookies with small candy, but less with large)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

7 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Place semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate with butter in a microwave-safe bowl

Microwave the ingredients for a minute and stir; microwave again for 30-second increments until everything is almost melted; stir the remaining lumps until smooth.  Set aside

Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) and set aside

In your mixer, combine eggs, sugars and vanilla; beat on high speed for about 5 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy

Reduce the speed of your mixer and add in melted chocolate and butter

When that is well-combined, stir in flour mixture but do not over-mix

Stir in chocolate chips

Refrigerate cookie dough for an hour or more prior to making the cookies

Once dough is chilled, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and unwrap your chocolates

Use a cookie dough scoop to form balls of dough; place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Place candy on top of dough mound and then push down

Gently form cookie dough around the candy until it is completely covered; repeat (make sure your candy is completely covered with dough)

Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes and set aside on a cooling rack to cool

[Edited to add] Note:  The Peppermint Patty and Hershey Kiss versions were the most popular.  I think the larger Reeses Cups would be better so that the candy is in every bite.

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What candy would you put in your cookies?