Christmas Eve Chocolavas

For dinner I had leftover stuffed peppers; started off with some Love Actually, and then tempered the Christmas spirit David Lynch-style with a little Inland Empire. Plenty of Baileys to set the tone, and some wasabi peas to offset it. And then I baked cookies.

I've eaten these Chocolavas several times; it's a favourite recipe among the girls at the office, from Julie Van Rosendaal's One Smart Cookie.It was my first time trying it myself, but the recipe's so simple it's impossible to screw it up. Unless you decide to satisfy your curiosity about whether or not one can use waxed paper to line a cookie sheet instead of greasing it, and then almost set the apartment on fire.

Here's Julie's recipe, revised to the baking time of my oven (whatever you do, DON'T overbake! Err on the side of underbaking), and to incorporate this exciting pink salt that I have:

Chocolava Cookies

1 1/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
icing sugar for rolling


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in margarine until the mixture is well combined and crumbly. Add egg whites and vanilla and stir by hand just until the dough comes together.

3. Place a few heaping spoonfuls of icing sugar into a shallow dish. Roll dough into 1 1/2" balls and roll the balls in icing sugar to coat. Place 2" apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for ten minutes, until just set around the edges but still soft in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.