Double Chocolate Cookies

Last weekend, hubby requested a family dinner out for Father's Day.  With the munchkin's 6:30pm bedtime, we don't often go out for dinner as a family because really, who wants to eat at 5pm??  But for Father's Day, hubby gets whatever we want, so at 4:45pm we packed up and headed out to try an Italian restaurant in our neighborhood that had outdoor seating, a perfect way to enjoy this beautiful almost-summer evening.  As a side note to this post, I have to say that the munchkin was outrageously cute on this outing!  She had the entire waitstaff who was, shockingly, not too busy while we were there lined up as an audience to watch her perform - she learned how to dip bread in olive oil, she attempted to eat her pasta with a fork, and she even demanded a napkin for her lap so that she could wipe her face after every bite - priceless!  I have no idea how she got to be such a little lady at only 18 months, but we could not have been more proud :)

Getting back to the point, the reason this early dinner outing is relevant is because we realized that we would be done with dinner by 6:30, which left an entire evening for a yummy dessert creation!  I contemplated a chocolate mousse recipe I tried ages ago and have been meaning to make again, but the mousse needed to be refrigerated for at least an hour, which sounded annoying for this occasion.  Instead, I decided that cookies would be perfect - I'd have plenty of time to make the dough and it would be great to have them fresh out of the oven.

Ellie Krieger has a recipe for Triple Chocolate Cookies that gets amazing reviews.  I've come across this recipe a few times but have never had a good reason to try it out.  Bingo.  But of course, I couldn't resist making a few changes - some for taste preference (avoiding milk chocolate - hence the Double instead of Triple chocolate in my version!), some for health (more whole wheat flour and less sugar), and some for convenience (all brown sugar instead of some granulated since I was out).  I had to make several batches to get the baking time right, but the end result is a really yummy and rich (they really needed a glass of milk!) chocolate cookie.  I do have a few complaints, though - first, they spread a little more than I would have expected (I even refrigerated the dough - any suggestions???), you can definitely detect the whole wheat flour if you're paying attention, and they get cakey (instead of crisp on the outside) after day 1.

But overall I really enjoyed them and found them to be 100% capable of satisfying a cookie craving.  I think these have a lot of potential for personalizing, too - add coconut, use dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet, add a dash of espresso powder, maybe even throw in some white chocolate or butterscotch chips?  The possibilities are endless, and with less butter and sugar and the addition of whole wheat flour as compared to traditional cookies, these are a dessert I feel good about indulging in.

Double Chocolate Cookies
adapted from Food Network

1/4 cup butter, softened (this is half a stick)
1/2 cup (rounded) firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (I wouldn't recommend subbing regular whole wheat flour)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips/chopped chocolate (I used all semi-sweet chips; use whatever kind or combination you want!)
2/3 cup chopped nuts (e.g., pecans, walnuts - totally optional!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mash together the butter and sugars with a fork until well combined. Add the oil and egg and beat until creamy (you could use a hand mixer here, but I just whisked vigorously and it seemed to get creamy enough!). Mix in the vanilla.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and mix well.

Using a tablespoon, scoop the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool for a few minutes and eat while still warm.

Makes 24 small cookies