September 16, 2008

TWD- Chocolate Cherry Cookies

This weeks TWD was chosen by Claudia and what a choice it was. I glanced at the recipe and noticed that there was only 1/3 a cup of flour in the whole batch and there is an alarming amount of chocolate- bittersweet chocolate, cocoa powder, semisweet chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate (did that remind anyone else of the quintuple chocolate brownies?).

Toss in a generous portion of nuts (I chose pecans) and some raisins (cherries in my case) and you don't even need flour! Well there was a bit, but as I was making these I knew they would be delicious with so much chocolate.

The dough came together quickly and I planned to bake them right away but had to leave a little early, so I stashed it in the fridge. I came home a couple hours later, got the bowl out, and came back to it a bit later to find a brick of chocolate. It was so hard that even after I let it sit in the Arizona sun all morning it was still hard as a rock.

So, I set up a little double boiler and took out my ice pick and worked at it until I could get the bits crammed into a baking dish and kind of smoothed out.

I'll admit at this point I had a stomach ache from testing the chunks I kept prying off.

I baked it for about 30 minutes at 350, let it cool for 15, and inverted it onto a cooling rack. I chopped them into "brownies", ate one, and promptly packaged up the others to send off to work with my husband and to my skinny cousins's houses.

These cookies were good. Next time I feel like burning through a few pounds of chocolate I will make them again... and be sure to scoop them right away! You can find the recipe at Madam Chow's Kitchen.

39 comments:

  1. They look delicious! I was also astounded by the amount of chocolate in these cookies.

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  2. haha!! your skinny cousin - we should all have one of those. it sure ain't me, especially after all these cookies. i love your idea to make them like brownies.

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  3. I found that the texture of these cookies are exactly how I like my brownies to be. Next time I'm baking these as brownies. ps.. I too was feeling a little sick when I was eating all the ugly ones I didn't want to bring to a party.

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  4. They look really good as brownies! When life hands you lots and lots of chocolate, make brownies, I always say! ;)

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  5. I stuck mine in the fridge, too. I can't believe how HARD it got! I hope your skinny cousin really enjoys these! ;o)
    P.S. They look really tasty as brownies.

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  6. yours look very tasty! and what a cute puppy too!

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  7. Wonderful.

    I totally love your Ghiradelli picture.

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  8. Oh mmm...your bars look fabulous!!! I could just sink my teeth into one of those babies! Well done!

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  9. oh my, those brownies look AMAZING!! I love that idea--and am impressed because I think if it were me, I would have given up!

    Ha--and I think we all have those skinny cousins!

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  10. That would have been the smart thing to do once I realized my batter was as hard as a rock... Love the cherries and pecans.

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  11. They look fabulous!! I loved the chunkers!

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  12. Nice save! They are very brownie like anyway!

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  13. thank god i didn't refrigerate mine. But oh yes.. despite all that chocolate. these were sinfully good.

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  14. BWAH!! I am laughing out loud at your comment about sending them over to your skinny cousins' house! "Have another one, dearie!" I adore (1) your cherry-for-raisin swap, (2) the fact that you turned these into bar cookies. And your packaging is gorgeous as always.

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  15. Great save! Your cookies/brownies look delicious, and I love the picture of all the chocolates lined up. =)

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  16. Nice job in the square idea. They look great.

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  17. Great idea about one pan baking. Totally stealing idea! Cookie bars is the way I'll go if I bake these. Great job!
    Clara @ iheartfood4thought

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  18. I love the cherry idea, I used have done that because I adore chocolate-covered cherries. Yours look so good!

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  19. I had to guffaw at the ice pick. In September. In Arizona. On the cookie dough. btw, great save - your bars look amazing. I had a major sugar/chocolate buzz from licking bowl and sampling cookies.
    Nancy

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  20. Oh yum!! I love the bar cookies! I will have to try them out like this!

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  21. Loved your idea of baking them like brownies! I think I'm the only un-creative one on TWD. :(

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  22. Oh man, these look really good! Can you send me some??

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  23. What a great idea to add cherries!!! They must have been to die for... I have to remember that when I decide to make them again, perhaps during the Holidays!
    Great Job Anne!

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  24. Wish I'd had the willpower to ship them off - these were just too good! Great idea making them into brownies. Since I've read so many different variations this morning (which I will have to try each one) I'll make them into brownies to make it more time-saving. Thanks for the idea!

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  25. That is funny! I think they look better as a bar/brownie. I was reminded of the 5 chocolate brownies as well.

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  26. Love your bars..look great. I really liked these cookies..yum!

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  27. Well, they tasted like brownies, so they might as well look like them too! Yours are lovely.

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  28. those look yummy!!! so funny on the lb of chocolate...they did have a lot of choco. and i agree re: quint brownies, those and the grabbers. fruit and lots of chocolate, two favorites.

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  29. I love the idea of baking them in bars. They look absolutely brownie like and delectable.

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  30. great save with the brownies! It was perfect in fact, cause they really were like a brownie in a cookie. I had to give mine away too. great job!

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  31. I sooo thought of brownies with these cookies. So glad you made them that way. Looks delicious!

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  32. Yum!
    I will so be making these come Christmas!!!

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  33. These look great! Don't you love all the chocolate?

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  34. Wow Anne,
    These cookies are going to the top of my list to make. Great photos. I'm drooling all the way from NY!

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  35. You are so funny this week...I laughed and giggled throughout...I can so envision all this. I think the idea of baking them like you did has a lot of merit...they looked lovely in the end, too!

    www.grandmaskitchentable.typepad.com

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  36. I know you weren't talking about Dave when you said your "skinny" cousin! I'm sure you were totally talking about ME. ha ha.

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  37. I like your riff on them as bars! My whole house smelled like chocolate by the time they were finished. Delicious.

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  38. Wow, these cookies really ARE brownies, aren't they? They look great!

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