The Ultimate Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies

Time of the month to whip up a recipe for the Baking Partners. It is a group of amazing home-bakers who help each other to learn and perfect their baking skills. Every month we bake a recipe chosen by one member and thus understand and learn more about the fineries of baking.

 I had to be a part of this extra amazing baking group as I am a complete baking maniac ! This is my first participation, having recently joined this group. This month we had to bake cookies and got not one but three wonderful recipes by three members. It was upto us to bake all three or choose one. Due to my time constraints, I had a real difficult time choosing one. I am in the middle of managing time between handling my adorable 15 month old daughter, shifting my entire household to a new place and handling the disrupted internet connection due to the non-stop rains in my beautiful city, Kolkata !!

Now I must confess that I am a complete desert freak. And when you mix my desert passion with the ethereal chocolate, the result is me straight jumping to it.

When I read the three equally amazing cookie recipes, I could not help but choose the ‘pick-me-screaming’ Chocolate Cream cheese Cookies ! This recipe was proposed by an incredible blogger Tina of Pinays Cooking Corner 

The first thing that came into my mind after having these cookies was ‘Is it a cake’ or ‘Is it a cookie’? just like the famous line from Superman !

The cookie has a surprisingly beautiful cake texture that just melts in your mouth and keeps you doing ‘Ummmmm’ for a long time. The chocolate chips add to the chocolateness and makes them equivalent to a ‘Death by chocolate cookies’. Needless to mention that I tucked in quite a few just experimenting with them !!

My first batch expanded and spread and became a bed of cookies (not that it hampered the taste in any way). I loved the extra crunch it got because of being too thin.

I carefully put the second batch which came out quite decent. But have to confess that the rest of my batches were perfect(I made 4 batches of 6 cookies each by halving the recipe)

So without further ado here is the recipe adapted from Matt Lewis and  Renato Poliafito

Ingredients:I have halved the recipe

•    1 cup(128g) all purpose flour
•    2 ½ tbsp (16g) cocoa powder
•    1 tsp (4g) baking soda
•    A pinch of salt
•    1 stick(113g) unsalted butter, softened slightly
•    2 oz. (56g) cream cheese at room temperature
•    ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
•    ¼ cup (55g) dark brown sugar
•    1 large egg
•    1 tbsp heavy cream
•    ½ tsp vanilla extract
•    1 ½ oz. (42g) bittersweet chocolate, melted     and cooled
•    4 oz. (112g) of semi sweet chocolate chips

Procedure:

In a medium bowl, sift the flour with cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl combine the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Beat in eggs, heavy cream and vanilla until blended.

At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients.

Add the melted chocolate and chocolate chips and beat until incorporated.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes or upto 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease the baking tray.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them two inches apart. Bake for 12-15 mins until the cookies are just set. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

I enjoyed my batch of cookies with a big glass of cold coffee..super perfect combination.

With the coming festive season, these cookies can be an amazing gift which will be surely loved and appreciated. 

A sure shot favorite for my family and aptly named 'Ultimate Chocolate Cream cheese Cookies'!! 

Happy Cookie-eating
Amrita