Whoop-tee-doo Chocolate Shard Cookie, V.1, Seattle’s Theo Chocolate

Seattle’s Theo organic fair trade dark chocolate

A lovely neighbor gifted me with two bars of Seattle’s own Theo Chocolate, a pure and dark variety, which, in this house, means “Bake something with it.”

6 ounces of chopped chocolate = 45 minutes work

Some people have suggested a deficit in the planned cookie menu for MsChef in Seattle upcoming shops, namely, a chocolate chip cookie. I’ve resisted because that cookie is widely available whilst I create and offer specialty cookies. “But how can you have a cookie shop without chocolate chip cookies? It’s un-American, I tell ya.”

So … this cookie is a test. It is bound to taste like a chocolate chip cookie because it has the same ingredients except for one, which I hope makes it different, in addition to my secret cookie sauce. The ingredient is lots of Theo Chocolate shards instead of chocolate chips, ergo, lots of chopping. The dough matured in the fridge for a day and a half to enhance flavor. Six people who’ve never had one of my creations will be sampling them in a few hours. If they’re terrible, I’ll report back.

I was going to call it Squashed Cookie with Chocolate Shards, but have changed my mind. It’s very labor intensive for what is normally a very simple cookie, so it’s now named more appropriately. I left out only the word “Scrumptious.”

Thank you to the donor of the chocolate bars. There’ll be a package on your doorstep.

And a pretty shot of the holly berry tree, meant to include a squirrel climbing the front tree to get away from Firepaw, but it was fast out of the frame. Nevermind.

Update: Too messy. Must eat wearing gloves. So, while delicious and, to me, a perfect mix of buttery, dark chocolate-y, crispy and something (I hope) undefinable, I am going to change something in a big way in Version 2 using the leftover, frozen dough. The experiment will have to wait, though. Two big chocolate cakes coming up this week and next for similar and still secret occasions.

Further update: The lady who provided the chocolate bars disagreed with me that they are too messy. She likes to get warm, melty chocolate on her hands and reports asking Starbucks baristas to warm a regular old chocolate chip cookie in the microwave to get what she likes.