Tuesdays with Dorie: Chockablock Cookies

I was so glad that Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet picked Chocolablock Cookies for this week's TWD recipe, because after weeks of dueling with bundt pans and tart shells, I was ready for some good old-fashioned cookie love.

But it turns out these chockablock cookies are not your grandma's cookies.
These could also be called "Kitchen Sink Cookies," because they seem to contain everything but. In keeping with the theme of excess, I used as many ingredients as possible. Four kinds of nuts! Three kinds of dried fruit! Three kinds of chocolate! My only regret was not having multiple kinds of oats or coconut to toss in the mix as well.

On a scale of "somewhat" to "very awesome," I would rate these "quite tasty." (Okay, maybe the scale could use some tightening up.) They probably won't replace chocolate chip cookies as my ultimate comfort snack, but they were fun and interesting, and I loved the chewy texture and how every bite had something different.

My one complaint?

They're not so easy on the eyes. With all the add-ins, they're kind of homely little things, bumpy and craggy, hiding their pockets of chocolate instead of flaunting them. What's a photo-obsessed food blogger to do?

Well, I quickly figured out that I couldn't really force them to be more attractive. So then I thought that maybe they would look more delicious if they were presented next to something less so, like a nice refreshing goblet of broccoli:

This might work for confirmed broccoli haters, but I happen to like the green stuff, so it didn't quite work out. What if they were posed next to a huge furry novelty spider?

Well, they're the better looking of the two options, but I'm not sure this picture would pique anyone's appetite. Except maybe the spider's. He looks hungry. I do, however, think we have a winner when the spider is presented on a serving platter:

Coffee, tea, or me?

Yes, when faced with the choice between chockablock cookies or medium-rare furry spider, these cookies are the clear beauty pagent winner! Besides, who needs looks when you taste so good on the inside?

And a final story about these cookies: I made them the day before I had a big race coming up. I decided to make some extra-large cookies to have as a post-race victory meal, sort of a reward for all that running. So I chose the two most delicious looking cookies of the bunch, and packed them in my car to eat after the race.

Well, many hours later, I finished (yay!) and was ready for my big reward. I pull out the cookies, only to find two mashed, mangled discs pancaked together and fused by the powerful Southern California sun. These puppies had been simmering in the heat of my car for 10 hours and were barely recognizable as cookies. They were also extremely fragile and fell apart at the mere grazing of fingertips upon their surface.

So, in a supreme example of poetic justice, I was desperate to eat these ugly cookies--the cookies whose appearance I had already planned on mocking on the blog!--and they were too far gone to be eaten, at least with any semblance of manners or dignity. Wah-wah.

But don't worry, this story has a happy ending. There were plenty of homely but intact cookies waiting for me at home, and I learned a Very Important Lesson about not judging...or something like that. Mmm, cookies!