Today is the first day of the bar exam. Gross! On the plus side of bar-taking, last week my coworkers had a pizza party for me before I left, and my coworker Jeremy made these cookies. They are fabulous, so I’m glad to be able to share them with you, and also relieved to have a guest post while I’m taking this exam! I highly recommend pairing these cookies with some melty vanilla ice cream. They work super well together.

Here goes Jeremy!:

This recipe was made to celebrate the Good Eats final season and to appease the Mayan Feathered Serpent God, Kukulkan (may he allow our humble cosmos continue into 2013). You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

•  6 ounces 54-percent bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
•  2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
•  1 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour
•  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•  1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•  4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
•  6 ounces light brown sugar
•  2 large eggs, at room temperature
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  3 ounces 70-percent bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
•  3 ounces 40-percent milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
•  2 ounces cocoa nibs

I found cocoa nibs at Whole Foods, braving the parking lot and all. I only managed to find my chocolate in 10% increments. I’m sure the final result won’t kill me.

Directions:

1. After chopping up all the chocolate, put the 54% Bittersweet and the Unsweetened Chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.

2. Microwave on high for two 30-second increments. Stir between each increment to evenly heat the chocolate. Continue to heat in 10-second increments, stirring between until smooth. Set aside.

3. Combine all the other chocolates into another bowl, including cocoa nibs and set aside.

If you haven’t seen cocoa nibs before, they are just the roasted seed of the chocolate plant (theobroma cacao). This is the building block for all the later chocolate things. It’s chocolate’s version of a coffee bean. Delicious!

4. The next step is to assemble the wet and dry ingredients separately. Flour, Salt and Baking Powder in one bowl, Eggs and Vanilla in the other. Whisk eggs/vanilla until combined and relatively smooth.

Pay no attention to that egg whisk’s mustache; he is a murderer.

5. Mix soft butter with brown sugar. Make sure they are completely integrated. You can use a hand mixer or the lazy man’s spoon pictured below.

6. Combine butter/sugar with the egg mixture, mix until integrated.

7. Add the flour, mix until integrated.

8. Add the melted chocolate, mix until integrated.

At some point in all this mixing, those standing mixers require you to stop and scrape down the sides and mix a bit by hand.

9. Slowly mix in the remaining unmelted chocolates.

Obligatory Bowl Shot.

10. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes. While waiting prep your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

11. Pre-heat Oven to 350 Deg.

12. Using a large spoon (or melon baller, tablespoon, ice cream scoop, whatevs), dose out 1”-2” balls on your cookie sheets making sure to leave 1”-2” between them.

At this stage, you can throw these in your freezer and bag them for later baking.

13. Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Don’t you dare cook them longer; I will find you.

14. Let cool in the pan for 2 minutes then move the parchment to a cooling rack for complete cooling.

The gooey chocolatey goodness is perfectly balanced with a hint of salt and the crunch of the nibs. If you put any more chocolate in a cookie I swear it wouldn’t stick together at all.