Chocolate "Cookies"

I swear I didn't just fall asleep on the keyboard and accidentally put the "" around the word cookies. This recipe is for cookie shaped brownies...if that makes any sense. They have that soft moist center when you pull them out of the oven like a brownie (the part that makes you drool onto your plate and wish you weren't dieting for the eightieth time this year) but are baked and shaped just like a cookie.

I made these cookies as part of the Valentine's Day meal posted earlier, and I had all the greatest intentions of cutting them into hearts, using royal icing to decorate the edges, and write cute things in the middle of them like the conversation hearts (my faaaaaaaavorite Valentine's Day candy!). However it just was NOT happening for me. I ran out of time and energy (mostly the latter) while trying to bake up a double batch of the recipe, but I'm still really happy with the way they turned out.

Let's get started!

I'd like to start by introducing you to a very important and not very secret ingredient, vanilla. Recently I found that lots of blogs recommended trying vanilla beans instead of the vanilla extract and that even more talked about the wonders that come from vanilla bean paste. It's all the taste and flavor of the vanilla bean without having to worry about keeping them fresh. I really think it gives an extra little kick to desserts and more importantly makes anything instantly sound gourmet.

For the chocolate in the recipe I used Guitard's semi-sweet chocolate for the batter and then their milk chocolate maxi chips for the little extra oomph at the end. Their milk chocolate chips are gigantic and melty and sooooo delicious. I think I might have eaten three or four handfuls...maybe five... okay! FINE! SIX!

I used a cookie scoop to make all of the cookies relatively the same size. Best. Invention. Ever. It's so easy to use and really takes a lot of the hassle of out of it. I'm sure you're thinking it's one of those useless kitchen gadgets, but since I got it a couple of months ago I've used it multiple times.

All in all these cookies came out really well, especially fresh out of the oven. After a few days they seem to lose some of the texture they have the first day, but we just popped them in the microwave for about half a minute and ladled some ice cream on top (vanilla bean ice cream!), yeah, you know you want some........

-D