Chocolate Whoppers

This weekend I went to a "Chocolat Show" in Saint-Germain. There were tables with free samples from most of the good chocolatiers in town, and a few novelties: mole from a Mexican grocery (what a find!!), a chocolate fountain (with marshmallows for dipping), a ganache bar. It was fun and delicious and I found myself buying a few things just out of guilt for taking so many delicious free samples. I'm sure that's why they give them out.

But I had my own chocolate show earlier in the week: making Maida's Chocolate Whoppers. This recipe, which makes "15 tremendous cookies" or 24 normal-sized cookies, involves an entire 14 oz. of chocolate. Plus lots of nuts.

I used just regular supermarket chocolate this time: Meunier and Nestlé. They were perfectly suited for this kind of recipe.

Making these cookies is a lot like making brownies: melt butter and chocolate; add sugar and eggs and flour.

And a lot of chopped chocolate and nuts. The batter barely contains all the stuff.

And here are the little devils, all baked up. I baked them to bring to a meeting of parents and school administrators. Unfortunately, they didn't get noticed until the meeting was almost over, and I had trouble "selling" them (though those who tried one were effusive). So I brought home at least a dozen, if not more. That spelled danger with a capital D for me--these are my kind of cookies: crisp, a little salty, nutty, CHOCOLATE. So I handed the Tupperware filled with these to Sami and implored him to take them to work. On the way out, he gave one to our concierge (I guess that's like the super), who was on the phone but showed her delight through sign language. He told me that he then walked from office to office like Santa Claus, handing out cookies, and that he was "congratulated". Whatever that means.

In any case, we squeezed a lot of happiness out of a couple of dozen cookies. I just wish I'd had chance to eat more than two. Then again, maybe not. The Season of Chocolate is upon us...

Here's the recipe (as I made it), if you want to share the happiness.

Chocolate Whoppers

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

6 oz. semisweet chocolate

3 oz. (6 T.) butter

2 t. instant espresso

1/4 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

3/4 c. (5 oz.) sugar

2 t. vanilla

2 eggs

1/4 c. (1 oz.) flour

6 oz. chopped chocolate (or 1 c. chocolate chips)

1 c. (4 oz.) coarsely chopped walnuts

1 c. (4 oz.) chopped toasted pecans

Heat the oven to 350; line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment or foil. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolates and butter in 30-second intervals; this will probably take 1-1/2 minutes. Stir in the coffee, baking powder, and salt; then stir in the sugar and vanilla.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Add the flour, mix until barely combined, then add the chocolate and nuts. You will have a chunky, gooey dough. Spoon it out by the heaped teaspoonful onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets: if you're not too generous, you should get about 24 cookies. If you are more generous, that's OK too. Bake these for about 8-10 minutes, or until barely set. Let cool on racks and get ready for the chocolate show.