Chewy Chocolate Cookies

½ C (3 ½ oz/99 g) granulated sugar for coating
⅓ C (2 1/3 oz/66 g) granulated sugar
1 ½ C (7 1/2 oz/213 g) all-purpose flour
¾ C (2 ¼ oz/64 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
½ t (2 g) baking soda
3/8 t salt
½ C (120 ml) dark corn syrup
1 large egg white
1 t (5 ml) vanilla extract
12 T (1 ½ sticks/168 g) unsalted butter, softened
⅓ C (2 ½ oz/71 g) dark brown sugar
4 oz/113 g semi-sweet chocolate, ½-inch pieces

Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat to 350° F (177° C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Place ½ cup granulated sugar in shallow baking dish. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. Whisk corn syrup, egg white, and vanilla together in small bowl.

In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low, add corn syrup mixture, and beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping sides and bottom of bowl as necessary. With mixer at low speed, add flour mixture and chopped chocolate; mix until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Give dough final stir with spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain. Chill dough 30 minutes to firm slightly (do not chill longer than 30 minutes).

Divide dough into 16 equal portions; roll between hands into balls about 1 ½-inches in diameter. Working in batches, drop 8 dough balls into baking dish with sugar and toss to coat. Set dough balls on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart; repeat with remaining dough balls on second baking sheet. Bake, reversing position of baking sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and front to back), until cookies are puffed and cracked, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), 10 to 11 minutes. Do not over-bake.

Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Makes: 16 ea 2-inch cookies

22 Oct 18 – Made them for my neighbor’s son. High confidence in this recipe because it came from ATK. Pre-creaming, my butter (Tillamook) temperature was approx 65 degrees so I creamed it a little longer than recipe suggested. I used large glass bowl for dry ingredients. The medium bowl would have been better. Used serrated knife to break up chocolate bar into ½ pieces. Worked well. Once dry and wet ingredients were combined, batter was thick, sticky and gooey as chocolate cookie dough always is. Covered with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight even though recipe suggested chilling no longer than 30 mins. I plan to leave dough out at room temperature before portioning. The recipe directed you to bake both pans at the same time. This was highly unusal for an ATK cookie recipe who almost always recommends baking one at a time to insure even baking. Because I was using convection heating, I was confident doing two pans at a time was not going to be a problem. Baked in island oven at 325° F using convection heat for 11 minutes. Tops just started to crack. Good chocolate flavor and texture/crumb was just about right. Next time I would check cookies at 10 ½ minutes.