I work in a Psychology lab - which, for those of you who don’t know, isn’t what you’d think of as a “lab” really. Technically it is because we do run scientific experiments, we just run them on behavior instead of on body parts or animals or chemical compounds. So, it’s just a nice office floor with lots of open space and rooms and couches and a lovely kitchen. Speaking of said lovely kitchen, THAT is where I placed a cookie jar a few years ago to use as my cookie-recipe-testing-lab…so I suppose it’s in keeping with the theme; I’m testing the behavior of cookie flavor/texture preference!* I often make new cookie dough recipes, portion them out, and then freeze the dough to keep a stock pile to choose from for my next batch for the jar. Last week I tried out a Chocolate Stout Cookie recipe because I had some Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout in my fridge (which I loooooove and is particularly good in a vanilla ice cream beer float), and while I wasn’t going to load up the jar with them just yet, I couldn’t resist baking up a couple to try the next day.
HOLY WOA. These are some seriously fantastic cookies, I kid you not. And then…short story long - I realized St. Patrick’s day was coming up! An honest coincidence I swear! So, of course, I couldn’t resist sharing the recipe today. I PROMISE you that this is one of my top 5 cookie recipes.
*and I suppose I’m also testing the behavior of a somewhat close-knit group of people on the “honor system”, as there is a box where people are supposed to put $1 before they take a cookie, to offset my ingredient costs. It goes pretty well, but every few months I have to send out a little friendly reminder that the cookie jar will go away if people take advantage.
Happy Baking!
Adapted from heatherchristo.com
MAKES 26 Cookies
INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES
2 cups flour (240g)
1 cup dark cocoa (85g)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt (if you don’t have kosher, use a scant 3/4tsp table salt)
1.5 cups white sugar (300g)
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 eggs
1/2 cup Dark Stout Beer of your choosing
11 ounces semi- or bitter-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup raw or turbinado sugar (or sanding sugar, but large crystals please!)*
stand mixer
2-3 large cookie sheets & parchment
food scale or cookie scoop (optional)
DIRECTIONS
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 240g flour (2c), 85g cocoa (1c), 1t sp baking soda, and 1 tsp salt - set aside.
In your stand mixer, cream (beat on medium-high) 2 sticks butter, 300g sugar (1.5c), and 1TB light corn syrup about 1-2 minutes until fully incorporated.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the 2 eggs and mix on medium-high 6-7 minutes until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary.
Add the 1/2 cup stout beer, start the mixer on low until the liquid is incorporated enough that it won’t splash when you speed it up, then turn it up to medium-high and mix until well combined, about 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides.
Mix in the dry ingredients on low until just barely no traces of them are left.
Scrape down the sides, add the 11oz chocolate chips, and mix on low for 10 more seconds.
In order to make the cookies look uniform, you need to scoop the batter either with a cookie scoop or by weight - I use a 2” cookie scoop. Scoop the dough balls onto a wax paper or parchment lined cookie sheet - it’s okay if they’re close together; you’re not going to bake them yet.
If you want to bake them soon, wrap the sheet in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour, preferably two, up to overnight. If you want to save the dough to bake another day, put the cookie sheet in the freezer (you don’t need to cover it) and 1 hour later transfer the dough balls to a freezer ziplock bag. The dough will keep for up to 6 months, possibly longer. DO NOT BAKE THE COOKIES AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. Chilling is a must. When you’re ready to bake, heat your oven to 350F.
Take out one tray’s worth of cookies to roll in your raw/turbinado sugar*, then arrange the cookies a minimum of 3” apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes if the dough has been refrigerated or brought to room temperature, or 12-14 minutes if you’re baking them from frozen. Don’t overbake! You want the cookies to be nicely crispy on the outside/edges, but still chewy in the middle. Or…at least, I do.
Repeat steps 9 & 10 for one sheet of cookies at a time (i.e. don’t take cookie dough balls out of the fridge/freezer until you’re ready to roll them in the sugar/spice and put them on the tray and into the oven.
Cool the cookies completely on their baking sheets, and enjoy!
*Technically this step is optional, but your cookies will not be as good if you skip it. I repeat - THEY WILL NOT BE AWESOME COOKIES. So…just do it, mmmkay?
