Alice Medrich's Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are classic chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges, chewy centers, and lots of chocolate. They are best baked as specified on an ungreased cookie sheet rather than on parchment or a synthetic baking sheet.

EQUIPMENT

• 2 cookie sheets, ungreased

INGREDIENTS

• 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cubes unsalted butter, melted
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 cups (packed) brown sugar, lump free
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups chocolate chips

PREPARATION

1. Combine the flour and baking soda in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or a fork. Set aside.
2. Melt butter and stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt.
3. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
4. Stir in the flour mixture just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Let the mixture cool. 5. Stir in the chocolate chunks.
6. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Remove the dough from the refrigerator to soften. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough and place them 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
8. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and no longer look wet on top. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.
9. Remove from the oven and let cookies firm up on the pan for 1 to 2 minutes. Use a metal pancake turner to transfer them to rack to cool completely before storing or stacking. May be stored in a tightly sealed container for several days.

Makes about 10 dozen cookies

Cream Cheese - Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

The cheesecake like topping bakes right into the cupcake so you can decide whether or not frosting is required!

Makes about 18 cupcakes

FOR THE CHOCOLATE BATTER:

1 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup unsifted unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup water, at room temperature

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE - CHOCOLATE CHIP TOPPING

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1 extra-large egg, at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1. Lightly butter and flour eighteen muffin cups or line them with paper liners; set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the water, oil, vanilla and vinegar in a small bowl. Make a large well in the sencer of the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid ingredients and stir both together with a whisk until a batter if formed. Fill each muffin cup a little more than half full with batter.

3. For the topping, beat the softened cream cheese with egg, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl, using a hand-held beater. Blend well for 2 minutes, then stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon a heaping Tablespoon of topping on top of each cup of chocolate batter.

4. Bake the cupcakes on the lower-third-level rack of the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until nicely risen; a wooden pick inserted into the center of a cake should come out clean and dry.

5. Let the cakes stand in the tins on the wire rack for 1 minute and then remove them to a second cooling rack.

6. Serve the cupcakes at room temperature.

From Country Cakes by Lisa Yockelson

Chocolate Pan Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

One 9 x 13-inch cake

Serve big squares of this cake with a glass of cold milk.

FOR THE CAKE

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut in rough chunks

4 tablespoons unsifted unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups unsifted cake flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon powdered Vitamin C

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

FOR THE CHOCOLATE FUDGE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in chunks

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup light cream, at room temperature

1 box (1-pound) (3 1/4 cups) confectioners sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1. Lightly butter and flour a 9 x 13 x 2-inch cake pan; set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. For the cake, place the butter, cocoa and water in a large saucepan, set over moderately high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. Sift together the sugar, flour and salt into the large bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk together the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Pour the hot butter-cocoa-water mixture over the sifted dry mixture and beat on moderate speed until thoroughly blended. Add the whisked egg mixture and continue beating on a low speed until the batter is a uniform color, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake the cake on the lower-third-level rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 22 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and dry and the cake shrinks away slightly from the edges of the pan.

4. About 10 minutes before the cake is done, make the fudge frosting. Place the butter, chocolate, cream in a large saucepan, set over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted down completely. Remove from the heat and beat in the sugar by cupfuls with the vanilla and salt.

5. As soon as the cake is done, remove it from the oven to a wire cooling rack. Immediately spread the frosting evenly over the top with a flexible palette knife. Let the cake cool in the pan.

6. For serving, cut the cake in squares directly from the cake pan.

The World's Greatest Brownies

Makes 16 Large (2-inch) or 32 Small (1-inch) Brownies

Brownie

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound plus 2 Tablespoons butter

4 ounces baking chocolate (be sure to use good-quality chocolate Ghirardelli.)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs, beaten until frothy

Frosting

1/2 cup boiling water (You may not need all of it.)

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 pound butter

4 ounces baking chocolate

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (300 degrees if using a convection oven). In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, except nuts.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan large enough to hold the chocolate. When the butter is melted, turn down the heat and immediately add the chocolate.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir until both the chocolate and the butter are completely incorporated. Add the vanilla and then the eggs. Whisk until mixed. Add the wet mixture to the dry and whisk until smooth and creamy. Stir in the nuts (if using). (Do not mix the nuts with the dry ingredients because the flour will get trapped in the nutmeats and make white spots in the batter.)

4. Pour the batter into a greased 6x9-inch or 8x8-inch (or line a greased pan with waxed paper) and bake for 22 minutes: check. It may take as long as 30 minutes, depending on the oven. The brownie is done when the edges are firm but the very center jiggles slightly when shaken. If you wait until the center is firm the brownie will be more cakelike and fudgy.

5. Remove from the oven and allow the brownie to cool completely, in the pan. You can frost the brownie in the pan or remove it from the pan (if you used waxed paper) to frost. I prefer to invert the brownie and frost the bottom, which is nice and flat. This necessitates using the waxed-paper method.

6. To frost the brownie, have ready 1/2 cup of water, simmering. Sift the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Melt the butter in a double boiler, turn off the heat, and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate and butter are both melted. Add the vanilla. Immediately whisk the chocolate mixture into the powdered sugar. With an electric mixer or a whisk, beat until blended. Slowly beat in boiling water until the mixture is creamy and shiny. When this occurs, do not add anymore water.

7. Spread the frosting on the cooled brownies in a thin coat, only enough to cover, and set aside to firm. After 1 hour, return and cut the brownies to the desired size; I recommend cutting them into 2-inch squares.

From Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe by Br. Peter Reinhart

Chocolate Decadence

1 pound dark sweet chocolate

5 ounces sweet butter

4 large eggs

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon flour

2 cups whipping cream

1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

chocolate curls made from one-quarter pound dark sweet chocolate

3 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries

1. Turn oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Line bottom of a cake pan with parchment paper ( or butter flour a round of waxed paper)

3. In the top of a double boiler, melt together 1 pound of good quality chocolate and the butter. When chocolate and butter are melted and smooth, remove from heat.

4. Whisking all the while, place four eggs and one Tablespoon sugar in the top of a double boiler or bain marie (putting a large mixing bowl in a pan of gently bubbling water on top of the stove) until the sugar dissolves and the mixture darkens and becomes barely warm to the touch. Acting quickly, remove the eggs from the heat and beat at the highest speed of an electric mixer until the eggs reach their potential treble volume and are the consistency of lightly whipped cream (five to ten minutes).

5. Remove the mixer. Fold in one Tablespoon of flour. do this very, very gently...now mix one third of the egg mixture into the resting chocolate.

6. Once the egg and rested chocolate are carefully combined, gently fold the chocolate mixture into the remaining whipped eggs. When no longer marbled, pour uncooked Chocolate Decadence into its prepared pan. Tap the pan lightly on the table and place it into the preheated oven.

7. Remove the pan from the oven after 15 minutes. The Decadence will be soft in the center and crusty on the top. When it has cooled, place the cake, while still in its pan, into the freezer for at least a good nights rest. It can be frozen for up to a month.

8. On the chosen day, whip two cups of heavy cream with one Tablespoon powdered sugar and one teaspoon of vanilla.

9. Make chocolate curles from 1/4 pound of the same chocolate using a potato peeler. Have the chocolate slightly above room temperature.

10. Puree and strain eight ounces of fresh or frozen raspberries. Put in bowl.

11. Remove the Chocolate Decadence from th freezer and from its pan by momentarily spinning the pan over high heat. Turn the cake out onto a flat platter. Remove the parchment paper. Cover the Decadence with 2/3's of the whipped cream. Pile the chocolate curls high in the center. Refrigerate, removing from fridge 15 minutes before serving. Serve with bowl of raspberry puree.

From Chocolate Decadence by Veronica di Rosa and Janice Feuer

Hot Chocolate the Proper Way!!!!

We feel that any other way of making Hot Chocolate should just curl up and die. We use to make this with 2 cups of whole milk and 2 cups of heavy cream, but that seemed silly.

2 servings

4 cups of half & half

4 ounces of chocolate (the best you can afford...Ghirardelli or any chocolate bar you like)

Sugar to taste

Dollop of heavy cream

1. Coarsely chop the chocolate and place in a 4-cup microwavable container with a spout. Add half & half.

2. Zap in microwave for 3 minutes. Whisk.

3. Zap for another 1 or 2 minutes. Whisk.

4. Pour into mugs and add sugar to taste. Add dollop of cream to each cup.