Summer is finally in full swing here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  After last year’s summer (or lack of one), I think everyone was starting to get a little wigged out – those sunny months we all waited for every year were behind us, Seattle was now truly going to be dreary all year round.  Well, we finally broke free of the rain, and it has been incredible all week.  It was the most beautiful weekend I can remember, we still have our windows open as I am writing this now.  Amazing!

The last few weeks of school were such a blur to me, between the teacher gifts, school concerts, and other special events (many of which I had to bake for) – I am finally now getting to post some of these treats I made.  My older daughter’s class was quite something.  There was someone with a severe peanut allergy, someone allergic to dairy, a vegan, and a few that couldn’t eat chocolate.  Baking for her classroom was always quite the challenge – albeit a fun one.  This particular event called for desserts that were either vegan, or seed-free and nut-free.  I decided to go for the seed-free and nut-free option.  I actually had my daughter pick something out – and she found these delicious morsels in the Fine Cooking Chocolate Desserts magazine we had sitting on the cook book shelf.  Half way through the baking process it actually hit me that we were using chocolate – I thought someone had an issue with chocolate?  The directions said nut-free and seed-free, which I was following perfectly with this recipe.  I decided to keep my mouth shut and just go with it.

These cookies were delicious, and they actually stayed good and chewy for days.  They went very quickly that evening, and no one said anything to me about bringing chocolate.  I should have brought a sign that said Seed-Free and Nut-Free Chocolate Non-Vegan Dairy Brownie Cookies.  Next time…if they ever let me bring dessert to a school function again.

Ingredients

• 2 oz. (4 Tbs.) unsalted butter; more for the pan 12 oz.
• 3/4 lb. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 oz. (1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preparation

Position an oven rack on the center rung. Heat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment (or grease and flour the pan).

In a double boiler over simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate. Stir to combine; let cool. In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium high to a ribbon consistency, 3 to 4 minutes. Take the bowl off the mixer. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and the vanilla; stir to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Stir the flour mixture and the nuts into the batter; let the batter rest for 5 minutes.

Spoon the batter into a pastry bag fitted with a #4 tip (or into a heavy-duty zip-top bag with one bottom corner snipped to create a 2/3-inch diagonal opening). For each cookie, pipe 1 Tbs. batter onto the lined baking sheet. While you pipe the second tray, bake the first until the cookies are puffed and cracked and the tops barely spring back when pressed, 8 to 10 minutes. The cracks should be moist but not wet. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here:  Chocolate Brownie Cookies