Remember how I said to be cautious when reprinting chef’s recipes and changing things up, because chefs tend to be prickly about specifics? Well, when it’s a family member’s recipe you’re reprinting, you can take a few more liberties con permiso. My Aunt Debbie calls these “Chocolate Chubbies” (admittedly also a cute name); I think they taste like brownies that have been transformed into adorable little crunchy cookie-cakes, and so here, on Ramshackle Glam, BrownieCakes they shall be.
Aaaaaand shoot. I just realized that the recipe I was given is adapted from a Serious Eats recipe for…something called Chocolate Chubbies. So…sigh. Fine.
CHOCOLATE CHUBBIES (adapted by my aunt from Serious Eats)
What you need:
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
9 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, about 62 percent cocoa butter (use Valrhona), finely chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups (12 ounces) semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
What you do:
1. Position racks in the middle and upper third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to low. Place a bowl on top and add the butter. Melt, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped chocolates to the butter and cook, stirring, until melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and let cool about 5 minutes.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
4. In the large bowl of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment, whip the eggs until foamy, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar and the vanilla, whipping until the eggs are pale and very thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and beat in the slightly warm chocolate.
5. Switch to the paddle attachment and reduce the speed to low. Gradually add the flour mixture until blended.
6. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips, pecans, and walnuts.
7. Using a 1/4 cup (2-inch) diameter ice cream scoop, portion the dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart, making 24 cookies.
8. Bake the cookies immediately or they will not be shiny. Bake them for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after about 7 minutes, just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with the batter clinging and moist. The centers may not look set. Cool completely on the sheets on wire racks.
