There is no photo of the "Salted Double Chocolate Chewies" in Shauna Sever's Midwest Made, which I think is the reason I waited so long to give them a try -- I just kept flipping right by the recipe. But after seeing another baker's photo of the cookies on Instagram, I added the recipe to my to-bake list. The headnote says that the recipe started out as a holiday cookie before becoming a year-round fixture in Shauna's baking rotation.
The dough comes together quickly and requires only a brief chill before baking. You beat room temperature butter with dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy; beat in eggs; incorporate the dry ingredients (flour, Dutch-process cocoa powder, baking soda, flaky salt, and fine salt); and stir in bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli 60% chips). I chilled the dough for a few hours before scooping it out (I used a #30 scoop and got 35 cookies from a batch) and rolling each cookie in granulated sugar before baking.
The cookies spread nicely in the oven and I really liked the look of the baked cookies. They had a subtle sparkle from the sugar coating (it's difficult to see in the photo)
And these cookies were exactly what the recipe name promised. Deeply chocolate-y, with a chewy interior and a generous amount of salt to heighten all of the flavors. I thought these cookies were excellent and I would happily make them again any time. I'm glad that I used chocolate chips in this recipe even though I generally prefer to use Cacao Barry Guayaquil 64% pistoles in cookies because they melt into attractive puddles. But I've been hoarding my pistoles because my supply is quite low and I've been waiting for what I call "chocolate season," i.e., a substantial stretch of cool weather when I can order chocolate and it won't melt during the few days of transit required to reach my front door.
For these cookies, I liked the fact that the chips stayed intact and could be seen poking out of cookies after baking. It made the cookies look a bit more interesting, because sometimes a monochromatic chocolate cookie can look a bit blah. And I enjoyed the distinct chips of solid chocolate while I was eating them. So use whatever chocolate you like in these cookies -- I'm sure the result will still be delicious!
Recipe: "Salted Double Chocolate Chewies" from Midwest Made by Shauna Sever, recipe available here at Food52.
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