Hunka Hunka Burning Love Cookies

I don’t really do the Christmas cookie thing. I make a couple of things that couldn’t even remotely be considered cookies for Christmas but that’s about it. I’ve always been mildly in awe of people who really go out and do a whole production line of cookies and send them off around the globe. Kyndell, my favorite black belt, does. A week before Christmas I got to watch as she did her her cookie thing. She made her two staples, Chocolate Toffee Cookies and Eggnog Kringela as well as some Gingerbread Cookies and my Amaretti Divine. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to post before Christmas. Well, would have been unfortunate but I just can never leave well enough alone, anyway.

Kyndell wields whisk with kung fu grip!

My boy loves the heat. He can’t eat a damn thing with out some heat in it. He kills everything from perfectly excellent cream sauces to hash browns with tobasco sauce. I haven’t had a breakfast with him in almost 20 years where I haven’t felt like I was swimming in tobasco. I say you need to be a bit more judicious with your heat; add it to things to make them taste better, not just cover them up.

Especially if you’re mixing in some heat in with the chocolate. Oh, what a heavenly combination that is. I start to tear up just thinking about it. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Flash forward to Kyndell’s cookie marathon. Every year we receive Chocolate Toffee Cookies from Kyndell. And every year, I’m not that interested. They’re good, but they’ve never made me want to cry. Then I tried them straight from the oven. They are, bar none, the best cookies I’ve ever tasted straight from the oven. They’re like fresh baked brownies with a perfect crispy edge. They’re warm and gooey and rich and…. deadly. So, why not make them even better by jacking them up with some smoky hot chili powders and chocolate chips? I’m thinking they might make my boy some seriously happy for valentines day. (If the boy is happy, everybody’s happy. Yea!)

My guess would be that these are not everyone’s cup of tea so below is the original recipe from Bon Appetit with Kyndell’s corrections in parenthesis. And then below that, I’ve put my hijacked version. (It has pictures!)

Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 lb bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 c unsalted butter

1 3/4 c packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 T vanilla extract
6oz milk chocolate toffee bits
1 c walnuts (omitted)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat in sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts if using. Chill batter until firm, about (at least) 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°f. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls (Ignore this and do 1-2 tablespoon sized dough – rolled into balls, “cuz that’s a whole lot of cookie the way they say.”) onto sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about (exactly) 15 minutes (leave on the pan for 2 minutes then move to racks for another 3 -4 minutes then they can be stacked) cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

Hunka Hunka Burning Love Cookies

1 lb bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 c unsalted butter

1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 – 3 T ancho powder
1 – 2 T chipotle powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

1 3/4 c packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 T vanilla extract
6oz milk chocolate chips

Stir chocolate and butter in top of boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Sift flour, chili powder, cinnamon, baking powder and salt into small bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Chill batter until firm, 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°f. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Take 2T (about) of dough and roll into balls.

Place onto sheets.

Bake until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, 15 minutes. Leave on the pan for 2 minutes then move to cooling racks for another 3 – 4 minutes. Can be made 2 days ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.