Double chocolate satisfaction.

Before we left for New Jersey on Saturday, I decided to make a dessert to bring to my in-laws. I'd bought a block of white chocolate at Trader Joe's on Friday, and so I decided to make Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. But, I really didn't have to time to bake batches and batches of cookies so I decided to alter the recipe and make a bar instead.

The results were delicious. They didn't look spectacular since we covered the pan with foil, and put it into a backpack while still warm. As a result of that decision, M. got to make the trip smelling like brownies, and the brownies kind of collapsed on themselves so that the top of the pan was empty when we took it out but the bottom had waves of compressed brownies. It was a very interestingexperiment, but luckily didn't affect the taste at all. The brownie-like result was dense and fudgy, and the white chocolate chunks made a nice contrast to the thick fudginess of the brownie itself.

This picture was taken while the brownies were cooling, and unfortunately doesn't display the chocolate/white chocolate contrast to its fullest extent. But trust me - it was there!

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies (or Brownies)
Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa Parties
(makes 40-48 cookies)

Ina's notes - These are "reverse" chocolate chunk cookies. Chocolate dough with white choclate chunks. I prefer white chocolate to traditional choclate, so I think these are wonderful.

My notes - This was a very forgiving recipe. I was very distracted while making this, and put the eggs in with the sugars. I also used cold eggs. But there was no indication of these distractions in the taste, and the recipe worked very well despite my mixing up a few steps.

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate coarsely chopped (I used 10 ounces, and then threw in about a cup of regular chocolate chips as well)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and two sugars until light and fluffly in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time. Mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate (and chocolate chips, in my case).

Cookie directions - Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4 ice cream scoop or rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands, and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes, the cookies will seem underdone. Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly on pan before tranferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Brownie directions - Put cookie dough into greased 9x13 pan (or 8x8 would probably work as well). Spread slightly and smooth top. Bake in oven for approximately 30 minutes (mine baked for 35). Remove from oven, and cool in pan on wire rack.

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