Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Chunkers

Chipsters, Chunkers, Grabbers...we Doritos continue our obsession with twee-ly named cookies this week. "Chocolate Chunkers" have a rich, fudgy cookie base with lots of melted chocolate (unsweetened and bittersweet) AND cocoa in the batter, which is then loaded with chunks of bittersweet and white chocolate, chopped nuts, and dried fruit.

The original recipe calls for chopped peanuts (or pecans) and raisins. I spent my formative childhood years picking dry, hard raisins out of raisin bran and perfectly good oatmeal cookies, so you know there was no way I was letting a raisin anywhere near my precious chocolate cookies. Instead, I used chunks of high-quality Guittard bittersweet chocolate, Ghiradelli white chocolate, toasted hazelnuts, and dried cranberries. I think these would also be wonderful with chopped dried sour cherries.

I learned my lesson after the last TWD cookies, when mine fell a little flat and didn't look as gorgeous as the malt ball studded examples in the book. This time, I reserved some of the chocolate chunks, cranberries and nuts, and after mixing the dough and scooping them out on the baking sheets, I pressed some of the remaining add-ins on top of the cookies. I think this really improved their appearance, although the taste would probably have been the same either way.

Verdict: these cookies are tasty! I'm kind of a simple girl so they were maybe a little too full of chewy and crunchy elements, so next time I might cut the nuts and fruit down to 1/2 cup each so that I got more of the fudgy dough with each bite. But I thought the texture was fabulous, and I'm looking forward to baking off half of the dough that's calling to me in my freezer right now.

What did everyone else think?

20 comments:

  1. Ah ha! Cheating by adding things on top! I looked at yours and thought - all my add-ins got lost in the fray, and there hers are, nya-nya-nyaaing me... :)

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  2. i love the first picture. looks like a bundle of joy. Plus adding on top makes it look all the more colorful! great thinking!

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  3. Anti-raisinists unite!!! Love your idea of putting things on the top, and I'm interested in your chocolate choices. I used all Ghiradelli, but would experiment with more next time. Gorgeous as always!

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  4. Anonymous8:35 AM

    they're really great without all the fruit, too - but then again i don't like dried fruit in cookies. that's a good idea, saving some of the add-ins to plug into the tops. i'll do that next time too!

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  5. I thought yours looked supremely chunky! I was getting jealous there for a minute. They look even better than the book!!
    As a side note, the frozen dough may be a little hard to work with, even after it's thawed. You might just have to hack off some pieces to bake! Nice job.

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  6. Yours are gorgeous. That is an excellent tip about reserving some of the add-ins. I had the same problem with the malt ball cookies, and these, too.

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  7. Yours look so lovely.

    I didn't add fruit to mine.

    Bring on the chocolate

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  8. Reserving some of the add-ons was a great idea! You'll win the "pretty cookie" award for this week for sure.

    Love your flavor combo. I can verify that they ARE good with chopped dried tart cherries. Very good!

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  9. Your cookies look very colourful! I absolutely loved these and will be making them again!

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  10. I love your formative years line. Yep, me too. I like my raisins in savory food, not sweet. I always press in my add ins on top, but I do it when they come out of the oven. Yours look fab as always.

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  11. Oh wow wonderful cookies! Just love your combo of ingredients

    Rosie x

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  12. Anonymous8:56 AM

    Yours look great. All that chocolate is so good!

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  13. Great idea to add them on top! They look so chunky and delicious! I love them!!

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  14. I really have to remind myself to scoop goodies on top, yours look delicious and chunky, great job!

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  15. Those are the chunkiest ones I've seen! Looks good!

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  16. I saved some of the white chocolate to press on top (learned that last week from someone's whopper drops). I also reduced the quantity of stir ins and did get more dough per cookie. I wanted to taste all that chocolate.
    Your cookies are stunning.
    Nancy

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  17. Sneaky girl! Good tip about adding some chunkiness to the tops before baking. Glad you enjoyed the cookies. Great job!
    Clara @ iheartfood4thought

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  18. wow, your method definitely make your cookies look super chunky!!

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