Hilly's Broken Heart Chocolate Lava Cookies

Dark Chocolate Brownie Cookie

Part cookie, part brownie (but mostly brownie), this cookie “dough” really resembles a thick brownie batter before chilling, so take care to give yourself ample chilling time. The internet says that the elusive papery brownie-y skin on top you come to expect of a brownie is due to how you whisk together your eggs and sugar, and while I can’t elaborate on the science of that, don’t skip this step.

Method:

-Prepare your ingredients: measure your light brown and granulated sugar into a large bowl, set aside. 

-Measure your AP flour, cocoa powder, ovaltine, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Mix well until fully homogenous using a whisk. Set aside. 

-Set up a double boiler: In a medium sized heat proof bowl, place your chocolate and butter, then set on top of a shallow pot of water. The bowl should not touch the surface of the water. Set flame to medium low heat and allow the water to come to a simmer. Stir your butter and chocolate regularly until the chocolate and butter have fully melted and become homogenous. Remove bowl from pot and turn off the heat. 

-Tip: you can also do this step in your microwave by heating in a heat safe bowl in 20 second increments, stirring well, and repeating until your chocolate and butter are melted and silky smooth. This will take a little more babysitting, and you run the risk of scorching your chocolate if you overheat it. But is totally possible.

-Add your eggs and yolk to your bowl of sugar. Whisk all together until incorporated, then roll up your sleeves and continue whisking vigorously for 5 - 6 minutes. (Note: if using a stand mixer for this, use your paddle attachment, not your whisk. Paddle for 3 - 4 minutes on medium high, or until visual markers outlined below are reached.)

-You are looking for your sugar/egg mixture to become more voluminous and pale in color, the texture should feel airy, and when lifting your whisk and letting the batter drip down, it should form loose ribbons that immediately dissipate back into your batter. (If you don’t work the batter at this point to this consistency, it will spread a little more in the oven than you might like, and you may miss out on the papery brownie texture on the surface of your cookies.)

-Once this milestone is reached, slowly stream in your melted chocolate and butter mixture, until fully homogenous. (stand mixer: stream in on low setting).

-Then, add your dry ingredients and stir in until no dry spots remain (stand mixer: mix in on low for 30 seconds, then scrape bowl and continue mixing by hand until no dry spots remain.)

-Mix in your chocolate chips. 

-Cover bowl and place entire bowl into fridge for 20 - 30 minutes, then move on to portioning. Dough should be workable, but not fully set. 

-Prepare a tray or plate by lining it with parchment paper. Potion your dough using an ice cream scoop, or by using a ¼ cup measure. This should yield 16 even balls, each should be a heaping ¼ cup in size. Feel free to eyeball this as well, as long as you end up with 16 even balls. 

-Wrap your portioned dough well with plastic wrap, and place in fridge to fully set, for at least 2 hours.