The Best Ever Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

On Sunday I had some friends over for another baking day. We made cinnamon rolls and these chocolate chocolate chip cookies. One friend brought the dough for the cinnamon rolls, and I was in charge of the chocolate dessert. I was torn between brownies with a ganache topping, salted caramel brownies, chocolate cupcakes with Nutella frosting, and the cookies! I decided on the cookies because the recipe made more than any of the other treats and because they are easy to transport. While making the recipe, I realized that I have actually posted this recipe on the blog before - it was one of my first posts. At first I didn't think I would post them again, but after they came out of the oven, I knew they deserved another spot on the blog. They are SO amazingly yummy! My friend's nine-year old son came to help us out in the kitchen, and he went crazy over the cookies. He said they taste better with the sugar rather than the sea salt, but us adults preferred the sea salt topping. On Monday morning I served Greg some cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and he told me that they were way too sweet. I of course loved them, because nothing is too sweet for me, but I told him that he did not have to eat them! He went on to ask why we didn't do a healthy baking day and that we shouldn't put sugary things into our bodies, yada yada yada, and I told him because obviously that is no fun. I let him know that I could give away the cinnamon rolls if he did not want the sweets in the house, and he told me he thought that was a good idea. So I then said "do you want me to give away the cookies too?" And his response was "no, you can leave the cookies." Haha! Anyways, these cookies are rather delicious. They are rich and chewy and chocolatey and gooey and heavenly and better than you ever imagined that they could be. Enjoy!

Recipe for the Best Ever Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies 

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. of salt
14 ounces of semisweet (62%) baking chocolate, chopped
4 eggs
2 tsp. of pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. of instant coffee powder
10 Tbsp. of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups of semisweet chocolate chips
Chunky decorative sugar (optional)
Coarse sea salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a medium-sized bowl and mix together. Put the eggs, vanilla extract, and coffee powder into a small bowl and mix well. Put the softened butter into a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer set on medium-high speed to beat until the butter is smooth. Add in the light brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat again until well combined. Set the hand mixer on low speed and gradually pour in the egg mixture and beat until combined.

Prepare the bottom pan of a double boiler with water and set over medium heat. Put the chopped chocolate in the top pan of the double boiler. When the water simmers, set the pan with the chocolate over the water and stir constantly until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat.

With the hand mixer set on low speed, beat the  butter, sugar and egg mixture while pouring the melted chocolate into the bowl in a steady stream. Beat until the chocolate is well combined into the mixture. Add in the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the ingredients are just incorporated. Pour in the chocolate chips and fold in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a 1 3/4-inch cookie dough scoop to scoop the dough up into balls and set on the baking sheets. Make sure to leave about 1 inch of space between each ball of cookie dough. Sprinkle a little coarse sugar or sea salt over the balls, if using.

Put in the oven. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool for 15 minutes, then transfer to a cooking rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

*Recipe makes approximately 3 dozen cookies*

Recipe source: Annie's Eats, originally from Baking Illustrated