The 12 Days of Holiday Cookies: Day Eight

Decadent Chocolate Chunk Cookies 

with a Latte for Dunking

Sometimes during the holiday season, the cookie baker needs a treat, too.

For maximum pick-me-up and minimal fuss, I vote for this chocolate chip cookie that is fortified by chopped walnuts and tastes fabulous dunked in a latte. 

Even better if the latte has a holiday ornament/apple/pomegranate artfully inscribed in the foam!

There's something positively therapeutic about warm, oozy chocolate and a milky, espresso-dark latte.

I feel better just thinking about that combination.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

(Adapted from Judith Fertig's Bake Happy, to debut in May 2015)

Erin Brown of Dolce Bakery in Prairie Village, Kansas, welcomes the relaxed pace of baking in her home kitchen. Brown’s husband, a professional athlete, “trains like a beast,” she says, but he saves room for her Chocolate Chunk Cookies, adapted here, dipped in an Affogato . For these cookies, bigger is better to achieve a gooey interior and a crispy exterior. If you want to work ahead, mix and place the cookies on a baking sheet. Freeze, then remove the unbaked cookies from the baking sheet and freeze them in a sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen about 8 to 12 minutes  longer.

Makes 24 (2-ounce) cookies

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (265 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

11/2 cups (270 g) semisweet chocolate chunks

1 cup (180 g) large bittersweet chocolate chips

11/2 cups (180 g) cups finely chopped walnuts

1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 packed cup (220 g) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, combine the chocolate chips, chunks, and walnuts.

Place the butter and sugars in a large bowl and cream together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy , about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating and scraping after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the dry ingredients on low speed, a fourth at a time, adding the chocolate chip and nut mixture with the last of the flour. 

Scoop 2 tablespoons of the dough at a time onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.

Bake, one pan at a time, until browned and crispy at the edges and soft in the middle, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months. To warm, microwave a frozen cookie on high for 15 to 20 seconds or until warm and gooey.

So Happy Together:

Chocolate Chunk Cookies + Affogato

A warm Chocolate Chunk Cookie dunked in an affogato can elevate a wonderful experience into the unforgettable—if you love coffee.  To make an affogato, Italian for “drowned,” simply put a scoop of ice cream or gelato in a coffee cup and pour a shot or two of hot espresso over it. Let the ice cream melt just a little, then dunk a still-warm Chocolate Chunk Cookie.