David Lebovitz's Chocolate Crack Cookies

I don't have an addictive personality, however I could become addicted to these.  "Crack" is the perfect descriptive for these cookies.  


The majority of the dry ingredient is ground almonds or almond meal ( like to buy a huge vat of ground almond meal at Surfas-makes life so much easier).  These cookies look heavy, but they are so incredibly light.  They did not sit in my stomach or give me a temporary sugar high.  


These cookies could take me to the other side -the other side meaning, using alternative flours and organic sugars.  I loved these so much that I took Heidi Swanson's book, Super Natural Cooking, with me to Whole Foods the other day.  I spent $95.00 dollars on all kinds of whole grain, organic flours and sugars.  I am gearing up to test a new and approved way of giving my kids sweets and treats.

I made the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 3 days.  When I went to roll them out, the dough was a little dense.  I broke my small ice cream scooper, scooping out the dough..  I would suggest letting the dough rest for a few hours rather than a few days.

Regardless, these cookies are going to be a cookie jar staple!


ingredients:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 Tbls. unsalted butter
1 1/2 Tbls. liquor or strong coffee (I used espresso)
1 cup ground almonds (or almond meal)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for coating
powdered sugar for coating


directions:
• add chocolate, butter and liquor to a medium heat-proof bowl.  set over simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth.  remove from the heat.
• in a food processor, pulse the almond powder (I buy 2 lbs of ground almond meal at Surfas), flour, baking powder, and salt until finely ground.
• in a standing mixer, fitted with the whip attachment, whisk the eggs and the sugar on high speed, until the mixture forms a well defined ribbon.  Using a rubber spatula, mix in the melted chocolate mixture and then the almond mixture.  Chill dough until firm, about 2 hours.
• preheat oven to 325*.  line 2 baking sheets with parchment.  
• have a bowl of sugar and a bowl of powdered sugar ready.  shape dough into one inch balls.  roll in sugar and then powdered sugar.  set on baking sheet, spacing 1" apart.
• bake, rotating the pans midway, until firm (they will slide on the sheet).  it is very easy to burn chocolate cookies, so don't over bake!  
• let them cool and then transfer to a wire rack.

David says (from his book Ready for Dessert) these are best eaten the day they are baked, yet, I disagree.  These were still sitting around my house on day 3.  I popped one into my mouth and it was pretty darn good.