Monday, August 23, 2010

The Un-Grilled Cookies

It's a rainy day on the Cape.  The wind is gusting at 45 mph.  It is a day for tea and cookies.  Alas, it is the Cape, so we have no cookies that aren't soft with moisture.  Ahh, humidity...

Point of the story: I made cookies.  I used the grill cookbook like usual, but it's raining, so I baked them inside.  It was novel, using the oven in the summer to bake. 

Chunky Chewy Chocolate Cookies a la Sarah (i.e. I replaced the ingredients I didn't have with what I found in the house)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 package (11.5 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks, divided
3 large eggs
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed (only had dark brown sugar, so I used about 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (didn't use)
1 cup shredded coconut (Didn't use - used butterscotch chips instead)
1 cup raisins or dried cherries, or use half of each

1. In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt the butter with 1/2 package (about 1 cup) of the chocolate chunks, stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.   I used the double boiler.  I never understand why I should stir constantly if I can just let something cook for a while in a double boiler.

2. Prepare the grill for indirect cooking over medium heat (about 350°F).  (I preheated the oven to 350)

3. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the cooled butter-chocolate mixture.

4. In a medium bowl sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Gradually stir into the large bowl of batter. Add the walnuts, coconut, raisins and/or cherries, and the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chunks; stir to blend. The batter will be stiff.

5. Use a tablespoon and wet fingertips to drop 1-inch mounds of the batter onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, keeping the mounds about 2 inches apart (the cookies do not spread when baked). Grill, in batches, over indirect medium heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, for 20 minutes, keeping the grill's temperature as close to 350°F as possible. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet until they are easy to remove with a spatula, 2 to 3 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.  I baked them for about 22 minutes.

Makes about 36 cookies

They came out very interestingly.   They kind of have a brownie-like consistency, definitely dense, but moist as well.  They're good, though not my favorite cookies of all time.  I'm not huge on chocolate-chocolate chip in general, so probably not the best judge.  They look awesome and don't spread at all when baking, so you can really jam them on the tray.  I think they'll do better when cooler.

I have pics, but the net down here won't ever let me load them, so I'll put them on when I get home.

http://weber.com/grillout/RecipeDetails.aspx?key=148&cid=8This picture is from the Weber website.

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