Who would you be if you were a character on Sesame Street? My kids may choose Oscar the Grouch for me, but the one with whom I personally most identify, is Cookie Monster. Remember him singing of his complete devotion to cookies? (Here’s a refresher if you don’t have kids or sit around watching PBS very often.) That’s pretty much how I roll. Some girls may need fancy chocolates. Not me. Just give me a fresh, hot, chocolate chip cookie, and I’m a pretty happy camper. It’s taken my husband years to perfect the art of cookie making… and that’s with the refrigerated pre-made dough. He knows exactly how far to space them, when to pat them down, and when to take them out of the oven and how long they should sit on the hot cookie sheet to finish cooking. But do you notice how much effort is required of me in this picture? Pretty much all I have to do is remember to buy the dough and then sit and enjoy them. That’s it. I tell you all this so you can see what a sacrifice this post is for me. I do this research for you, People.
I had bought some Divine and Equal Exchange chocolate for my in-law’s Christmastime anniversary. I wanted more! It’s so creamy and reminds me of my Switzerland based semester abroad. I found out both companies’ secret is they have the chocolate processed in Switzerland. No wonder it tastes just like I remember! Anyway, we went out to Ten Thousand Villages in Raleigh this past weekend. They sell lots of fairly traded items. I was standing there trying to justify forking over $20 for chocolate (a few bars and a baking block). I remembered the chocolate chip cookie recipe I’d seen on Divine’s Facebook page. And then I thought of you. It’s the perfect reason to buy and bake so I can put together a little “review.” Thanks for reading! I wish I could share a cookie with every one of you.
Divine Chocolate Chip Cookies
Courtesy of Cocoa Bar
Makes 12 Cookies (I had 5 bonus ones too)
To make the best cookies, all ingredients should be brought to room temperature.
Ingredients:
1 Stick of Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 Cups Flour (I did one cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup pastry flour)
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup Divine Bittersweet Chocolate (chopped into small pieces) (They didn’t have this at the store, so I got the 37% milk chocolate)
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Let the Butter sit out of the refrigerator for a while to soften, chop into small pieces to help it along (don’t put it in the microwave).
Mix the Butter and Sugar fully
Add the Egg and vanilla extract and beat in a mixer on high until fluffy (I’ve never been patient enough to let the ingredients come to room temperature before. But at $4.50 for just the chocolate, I obeyed all the cooking rules. Glad I did! Look at how fluffy it looks when you can actually cream them together!)
Add Flour and Baking Soda
Add Divine Chocolate pieces
Drop dough by large spoonfuls onto a greased pan.
Bake for 15-17 minutes
Here they are – DIVINE!
The final taste test reveals…
(I have to post this pic of my husband because the lighting was terrible and every pic he took of me was… well, left a lot to be desired. He may be tempted to lace my cookies next time for doing this, but I had to document him enjoying them since he didn’t have to bake them)
These are some buttery cookies! They were quite greasy while hot, but were so soft, which is how I like my cookies! They weren’t overly sweet, even with the switcheroo of the milk chocolate baking bar. I’m glad that it takes so much time to bake from scratch since it drastically increases the chances that I won’t be doing this often. (Now if I can just try to forget buying the refrigerated stuff while I’m at it and these last 10 pounds of “baby weight” may depart from my body.) I couldn’t stay out of the bag today because they were just as good and soft today as they were last night when they were straight out of the oven. Overall, I’m a fan of Divine and Equal Exchange chocolates, even if they do cost a pretty penny. I’m willing to pay more when I know the cocoa beans were ethically sourced and fair wages were paid. I think I enjoy the chocolate even more.
I have, in front of me now, a brownie recipe using FT chocolate that I was going to post this month for Valentine’s Day! I use a combo of Divine’s smooth milk and Theo’s dark for a rich blend. I love Divine Chocolate so much that when I met the CEO of the US branch at the Northwest Chocolate Festival I told him it was “like meeting a major celebrity” haha!
I have, in front of me now, a brownie recipe using FT chocolate that I was going to post this month for Valentine’s Day! I use a combo of Divine’s smooth milk and Theo’s dark for a rich blend. I love Divine Chocolate so much that when I met the CEO of the US branch at the Northwest Chocolate Festival I told him it was “like meeting a major celebrity” haha!
Haha! That’s a good one. I should have mixed it up a little.