Recipes Discovered

Chocolate Surprise Cookie Recipe

A few years ago at Christmas time, my aunt made these outrageous chocolate cookies with a gooey caramel center. They were one of the best cookies I have ever eaten and Seth declared them to be his favorite cookie. My aunt gave me the recipe, but it got misplaced in one of our many moves. I somehow forgot about them until I found the recipe again in The Cookie Bible. It’s a great recipe book for cookies and bars. It has a picture along with each recipe so I actually know what I am supposed to be making, plus it has a lot of tips for making better cookies. Anyway, the recipe in the book is only slightly different than my aunts (I asked her again for the recipe). The recipe in the book used baking powder and baking soda, but my aunt’s recipe only uses baking soda. My aunt’s recipe uses equal parts brown and white sugar as well. I have made the recipe both ways though, and the cookies turn out the same. >>

The recipe (from the book) starts out by combining flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. I add a little bit of salt to the dry ingredients. Next, beat the butter and both sugars until they are light and fluffy. This takes a couple of minutes, but it’s necessary to ensure they are well incorporated. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. I add two teaspoons of vanilla extract because I think it balances the intense chocolate flavor. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients a little bit at a time and beat just until it comes together and then stir in half of the pecans. The dough is very thick and chocolaty, almost like a very thick brownie batter. I can usually roll the dough as is, but if the dough is too sticky, I put it in the refrigerator for 10 or 15 minutes to let to firm up. I roll all of the cookie dough into balls without adding the Rolos so I can make sure I have equal sized cookies. It always seems the first half are much larger than the second half. Once I roll all the cookies into balls and make sure they are roughly the same size (I consistently get 42 cookies from a batch), I push the Rolo into the center of each ball and roll the cookie dough around it. Then I mix together the remaining pecans and a tablespoon or so of sugar on a small plate and press the top of each ball into the mixture. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet with the pecan side up and bake them for about 7 minutes, just until the sides of the cookie begin to crack. Don’t over bake the cookies or they will lose their fudginess. I let them cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or and then transfer them to parchment paper to cool completely. I don’t bother with the vanilla frosting. I suppose it would make them look fancier (sometimes they aren’t the prettiest cookie), but the cookies are so good, they don’t need extra frosting. The cookies are rich and chocolaty, very similar to a dense brownie, and the caramel in the center is a little gem that makes them possible the best cookie ever.