Chocolate Brownie Cookies are not the best I've ever had, but they're pretty darn good

One would think that cooking magazine editors have tasted the whole gamut of mighty fine-tasting cookies.

    That’s why I was immediately drawn to a recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cookies (click for the recipe) in a recent issue of Food & Wine magazine. The intro said that Dana Cowin, F&W’s editor-in-chief and a cookie connoisseur, declared that these cookies are the most delicious she’s ever had. The recipe is from Belinda Leong of B. Patisserie.

    Well, I thought when I read the intro, who am I to sit idly by and pass on this easy-looking recipe when it was certified golden by the editor of a major cooking magazine and the payoff was so potentially huge?

    I dutifully tried them, and was definitely pleased with the results.

     So was my husband, his co-workers, and my co-workers.
    While I can’t declare these to be the best cookies I’ve ever had, they are certainly very good.
    The recipe has an unusual step of freezing the cookie batter for one hour. Although I am far from an expert on the manner, I think freezing the batter might help firm it up to be more like dough in order to scoop it up portions of it and put them on the baking sheets.
    The cookies are easy to make.
    Chopped semisweet chocolate and butter are put in a large bowl, which is set over a saucepan of simmering water. The chocolate and butter are melted, a process which takes about seven minutes. I did the melting on a medium-low temperature, which kept the water simmering yet kept it boiling.
    In another bowl, room-temperature eggs and sugar are beaten together until thick and pale, then vanilla, salt, the melted chocolate, flour and baking powder are added.
   Mini semisweet chocolate chips are stirred into the batter, which is scraped into a shallow baking dish. The dish is covered and put into the freezer until the batter well-chilled and firm, about one hour.  I used a glass 9x13” baking dish to do this, and covered it with aluminum foil.
   Baking sheets are lined with parchment paper, and two-tablespoon-sized mounds of dough are scooped onto them.
   The cookies are baked for 10 minutes, cooled on the pan for 10 minutes, then transferred to a rack to cool completely.