Mama’s Dark Chocolate {everything but the kitchen sink} Cookies

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe, so I’ll quickly remind you that I’m not a big fan of making or following recipes. I much prefer to use recipes for inspiration and edit them according to my preferences. Please, if you consider making these cookies, read through the recipe and substitute anything you might not like for something you do. Cooking is all about the experiment. So have fun.

Last night Chris asked for chocolate cookies. I had some Valrhona Cocoa Powder on hand so I knew I could make it happen. My cookies commonly have quite a few ingredients, but I like them that way. The white chocolate chips in this recipe are mostly for looks, the Heath toffee bits for a little crunch and the rest is to make them as chocolaty as possible.

I should also note that I always make my own brown sugar. If you’ve ever bought organic brown sugar you would have noticed how much more fluffy and sticky it is. After the first time I tried it, I couldn’t go back. And then I read the ingredients and realized that all brown sugar is is sugar and molasses. If you’d like to make your own, just pour some sugar in a bowl, add a bit of molasses (approx. 1 Cup sugar to 1 tblsp. molasses) and fluff with a fork until you have that yummy brown sugar you’re used to. It takes a couple minutes of fluffing, but it’ll get there. I also use homemade vanilla extract. I’ll post about that soon since I just realized today that I was using the last couple of teaspoons for these cookies.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 Cup Valrhona unsweetened cocoa powder (you can sub this for another unsweetened cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup Heath toffee bits

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Beat butter, Crisco, and brown sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add dry mixture. Stir in chocolate and peanut butter chips and toffee bits.
Drop dough onto cookie sheet. Bake approx. 13-15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets and then transfer to racks.

Everyone knows cookies straight from the oven are the best, so I recommend enjoying these right away. They are also fantastic milk cookies. I usually save half my cookie dough in the fridge for the next day or two so I can have oven fresh cookies more than one day in a row.

ETA: Since many of you are talking about the brown sugar tip, I will mention that my mom tried it recently and said it took her quite a while to get it to fluff up but that it did eventually get there. I haven’t experienced having to work too hard to get it where I want and I think it might be the kind of sugar I use. I used to use organic sugar and then I switched to Zulka. It isn’t as fine as the generic cane sugar and it could be the reason it doesn’t take me as long to fluff it up. I’d love to hear your experiences!