Chunky Chocolate and Walnut Cookies

I try not to post sweets two days in a row.  I know it's not like there's a rule somewhere that I should be following, so it must have happened without my realizing it.  In much the same way that sweets are savored when they're available around here, I plan when they'll be posted as well, hoping to break the stream of savory recipes I always have ready and waiting. Well, it sounds good, anyway.  In my next life, I'll be Martha.  Okay, so maybe not.

It's not like you can gain weight looking at photos, right?  They show up on the computer screen and look great, but looking isn't synonymous with ingesting or digesting. Jumping up to grab a snack bar, more of this or a little of that after drooling over aforementioned food on your computer screen does not count in this particular situation.

If you're my youngest son, evidently, you don't gain weight actually eating cookies, either, and I must confess; I've been trying to fatten him up. With half a year until his 17th birthday, he's just over six feet and weighs in at a willowy 146. I know it's all about HGH, and I had my opportunity to bask in the glow of eating and not gaining decades ago, but clearly that time has passed.

Evidently, he's inherited both my husband's and my skinny genes.  Goodness knows we're no longer using them.  And that would be genes — not jeans — because he's not one for skinny jeans.  Instead, when shopping for pants, we have to decide just how small the hip size can be to maintain some modicum of bagginess he prefers, and a belt takes care of the rest.

What does this have to do with food, you ask?  Cookies.  It's about cookies.  And this week, Chunky Chocolate Walnut Cookies, to be specific.  Yes, it's Week Three, and I'm still making cookies for my boy.  I think it's because it's a helluva lot easier than committing to exercise regularly even though I've been sort of trying to maybe think about possibly getting off my rump to do that, too.  I logged about 10 miles walking last week.  Not bad, right? 

Does it count that when I got home from my 4-mile walk yesterday, the first thing I did was reach into the bag of cookies I'd made for my son last week?  I only had one.  Truly.  I did.

They're rich, they're chocolatey, and if you're me, then your tastebuds sing when you bite into a piece of walnut, too. No pecans in these babies.  They're light and soft and have given me pause about milk chocolate since I'm a devout fan of dark chocolate.  Did I mention the chunks are dark?

Mmmm….

Chunky Chocolate Walnut Cookies

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 lg. eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

2-1/3 c. all purpose flour

12 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicone.

In the top of a double boiler, melt the unsweetened chocolate, remove from heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, beat eggs until foamy and add the oil and the sugar, continuing to beat until the mixture is light and frothy.  Stir in the baking powder, vanilla, baking soda, and salt, then add the melted chocolate as you continue to beat.  Add the flour a third at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in the chocolate chunks and walnuts.

 Drop tablespoons of dough onto the prepared sheets about 3" apart, making sure the chocolate chunks are well inside the dough.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  The centers should be set and no longer shiny, but be careful not to over bake.  Let cool on the pan about 5 minutes before carefully removing to a rack to cool completely.

Notes:

• Yes, I fell over when I saw the quantity of oil, too.  The good thing is there's no saturated fat from the oil, so let's call that looking on the bright side of things.  Besides — they're for my skinny son, remember?
• The batter is very shiny and tends to want to run slightly, but the cookies don't spread all that much when they bake.
• I chopped up a giant bar of semisweet chocolate I purchased at Trader Joe's for these, so the chunks do melt in the oven and when it's time to take them off the baking sheet, it can get a bit messy.  So make sure the chunks are well inside the dough if you can and it will help keep that in check.  Maybe.
• This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies that will keep at least a week in a well-sealed container.  They have routinely survived being thrown in a backpack for days, so that means mailing them is a no-brainer.  That means they're a keeper in my book.

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Tagged as: chewy, Chocolate, chunky, Cookies, Nuts, semisweet, snack, walnuts