About two years ago now, I visited a friend in DC and visited the CakeRoom, where we sampled several desserts, including a decadent "Death by Chocolate" cookie. One of the bakers in the back heard me pestering the sales clerk about what precisely was in the cookie and he was kind enough to give me a rough sketch of the secret ingredients, including five total different forms of chocolate, one of which being a thin disc of chocolate in the middle to assist with loft, plus a bit of lemon zest to punch up the chocolate. This cookie was so good, but I don't live in DC (plus apparently they only sell them online by the dozen now).
Obviously, I had to try to replicate the Death by Chocolate cookie at home. The loft and texture of the cookies reminded me a bit of the famously gargantuan Levain chocolate cookies, for which a lot of bloggers have published their own copycat versions. A close read through of all the recipes brought Modern Honey to the top of my "has potential" list. I started with her chocolate chocolate chip cookies, added a touch of lemon zest to balance the richness, used variety of chocolate (including thin chocolate discs) and portionned them into 2 teaspoon (rather than ~½ cup) balls. These cookies were okay but disappointing when baked immediately after assembling the dough. After freezing the formed chocolate dough balls for 6 days, then baking them, they were extraordinary. That recipe will turn up on this blog after I test it enough times to figure out how long the dough needs to be chilled to take the cookies from mediocre to great.
In the meantime, I spotted a recipe for quadruple chocolate cookies in the Sprinkles Baking Book and couldn’t resist tinkering with it (very minorly) to make a rich and fudgy quintuple chocolate chip cookie. They’re a bit different from the CakeRoom quintuple chocolate chip cookies, notably in the absence of any citrus or white chocolate, instead containing just enough cocoa nibs to add a pop of crunch. I made them for our “Chocolate” bake-off at work and while they didn’t win, they were scored quite highly and I encourage you to give them a chance.
I altered the chocolates used just a little (and added one more to make it quintuple chocolate), formed smaller dough balls, chilled my dough overnight, then baked mine a minute or two less than Candice recommended. These cookies are super fudgy and ultra-rich, which is just about the perfect chocolate cookies in my opinion, but if you want your cookies to be crispy on the outside, you should bake them a full 11-12 minutes.
Adapted slightly from the Sprinkles Baking Book
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups (9 ounces) bittersweet chocolate chopped
- ⅓ cup (46 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons (21 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder or cocoa powder blend (I used King Arthur Flour's triple cocoa blend)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup (150 grams) sugar
- ¼ cup (55 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (55 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks
- ¾ cups (4.5 ounces) milk chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons cacao nibs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate on high for 2 to 3 minutes, stopping and stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Be careful not to continue cooking past this point.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and all three sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Reduce the speed to low, add the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time, ensuring each is incorporated before adding the next. The batter at this point should be creamy-looking. With the mixer running on low, slowly pour in the melted chocolate, carefully avoiding pouring onto the paddle attachment, which will toss the chocolate back at you and your kitchen. Continue stirring until just combined.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, then use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the flour mixture until just blended. Fold in the chocolate chunks, milk chocolate chips, and cacao nibs.
- If time allows, chill the dough for at least 6 hours, or up to one week, in the refrigerator. This will also make it easier to handle.
- Scoop the sticky dough using a 1.5-tablespoon #40 scoop (or an ice cream scoop) and drop onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 1.5-2 inches apart. After a rest in the refrigerator, the dough will be a bit crumbly, but you can just press it together to reform the balls if need be. At room temperature, this dough is quite sticky and will jam up your cookie scoop pretty quickly.
- Bake until the sides are hardened but the centers are still soft and slightly unset, about 10 to 11 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack; cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
