Chocolate Fudge Candy-Cookies

One of our good friends was in town briefly for a sad occasion and said she'd drop by. As seems to be general instinct in these cases, I felt the need to provide food, and thus I baked these cookies in such a rush that I didn't have a chance to take photos.

These cookies come together quickly and live up to their name: they're very chocolatey and have a fudgy texture. I was a bit peeved that the recipe is very much like the one for chocolate miracles, but I liked it better: the butter and vanilla soften the chocolate, and the flour gives the cookies a more brownie-like texture.

As it turns out, our friend wasn't able to come by until long after the cookies had mysteriously disappeared (when kids are on holiday, it turns out, they eat and share more cookies) and all she wanted was tea anyway. But it was good to spend time together and good to have made this cookie recipe, which I would definitely make again.

Here's the recipe.

Chocolate Fudge Candy-Cookies

2 c. (12 oz.) chocolate chips or other semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 c. (2 oz.) butter

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 t. vanilla

1 c. (4 oz.) sifted flour

2-1/4 c. (8 oz.) toasted chopped pecans (I used about half this amount, and as you can see, there are plenty)

Heat the oven to 350. Line some cookie sheets with foil, parchment, or silicon liners. In a large microwave-safe bowl melt the chocolate and butter in 30-second pulses--mine took a minute and a half to melt completely. Stir in the condensed milk, vanilla, flour, and pecans. 

Choose your scooping spoon according to whether you want 55 fairly tiny cookies (as Maida suggests) or 36 somewhat larger cookies (as I did). I used normal-sized teaspoons and did not round them too much. In any case, scoop out balls of dough and put them 12 to a sheet on the prepared cookie sheets. These don't spread, so if you want to put them fairly close together, that's OK. Bake for "exactly 7 minutes". There's no way to tell if these are done, but you certainly don't want to bake them too long, or the chocolate will burn and turn bitter. Six minutes worked for my hot oven. The cookies will seem soft but will become firm as they stand. Slide the foil/parchment/silicon off the cookie sheet and let the cookies cool on the liner  before transferring to racks. Enjoy with an espresso.