Cocoa Nib Cookies

Do you sometimes get the urge to bake? Do your urges list towards an intense hit of chocolate straight to the noggin? Look no further, dear reader, for I have the cookie for you. Light on the sweet, heavy on the chocolate; a tall glass of tall milk is an essential ingredient.

 

These cookies were very nearly a complete disaster. In the fever of my baking I misread (i.e., glanced all-too-casually) at the ingredient list and misread the amount of butter. By the end, the cookies were essentially powder. But while I gave up all for lost, my quick-thinking sister (plus an egg and the missing amount of butter) saved the day. I got this recipe from the Grand Central Bakery cookbook and had been eying it for some time; it's technically supposed to be a shortbread (without any egg) but darnit, I didn't want to have to wait and chill the dough. So in the egg went and onto the sheet blopped the cookies. They may not be the most uniform and gorgeous of all cookies but boy are they addictive. Perfect for a midnight snack.

  

Cocoa Nib Cookies (adapted slightly from the Grand Central Bakery Cookbook)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup (2 oz) cocoa nibs*

1/2 cup (3 oz) semisweet chocolate chips 

(I was out of chocolate chips, so I chopped 3 oz of 70% cacao chocolate and they turned out just fine)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients into a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugar, vanilla and egg until batter is smooth and lighter in color. Gently add the dry ingredients, making an effort not to overwork the dough. Gently fold in chocolate chips and cocoa nibs. Drop by the teaspoon onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Proceed to consume, preferably while chugging inordinate amounts of cold milk.

I'm pretty sure that someday soon I'll attempt the "right" version of this recipe...until then, these little beauties will more than satisfy my chocolate cravings. 

*I couldn't find cocoa nibs at my local HEB, but did have luck when I went to Whole Foods. These were pretty pricey, but I bought some in bulk and it was completely reasonable. I would highly recommend checking your bulk grocery section!