CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

I was going to post a fancy soup recipe for today but I made these cookies yesterday that were so good I had to share them here instead. I also shared them with the staff of my buildiing and then took the rest to hosts who asked me for dinner. It's what might be called "portion control." If I'd had them around, I would have eaten them all - hopefully over several days. In this instance, I did have one, just to see if they were okay. And OKAY they were. Easy and delicious, and from Ina Garten, my favorite chef. She always adds coffee in one form or another to her chocolate, claiming - and it's true - that the flavor of coffee isn't detectable but only makes the chocolate more chocolate-y.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

makes about 25 cookies

6 T unsalted butter

12-oz semisweet chocolate chips, divided

2-oz unsweetened chocolate

2 extra-large eggs

1 T instant espresso powder

2 t pure vanilla extract (always use the pure, not the artificial, which is mostly chemicals)

3/4 C sugar

1/3 C flour plus 1 T

1 t baking powder

1/4 t kosher salt

1 C whole walnut halves (not choppedd)

1 C whole pecan halves (not chopped)

2/3 C peanut butter chips (you can find them in your grocery store with the chocolate chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Line a couple of sheet pans with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl set over simmering water, melt the butter, 6 ouncss of the chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate, stirrning occasionally until just melted. This will go faster if you chop the butter and the unsweetened chocolate into smaller pieces. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. Blagh! When melted and smooth, remove from the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes. (Time this; it's important.)

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, espresso powder and vanilla on medium low speed until combined. Add the sugar, raise the speed to medium-high, and beat for 2 minutes, until the batter is thick and falls back on itself in a ribbon. Set aside.

4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Combine the 1/3 cup of flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and fold it into the chocolate mixtrue with a ruber spatula. In another bowl, combine the walnuts, pecans, peanut butter chips, the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate chips and the tablespoon of flour (the addition of the flour keeps the other heavy ingredients from sinking to the bottom of the batter) and fold it into the chocolate mixture.

5. With two soup spoons, or a small ice cream scoop, drop rounded mounds of batter 1 inch apart onto the prepared sheet pans. Bake for exactly 15 minutes and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets.

Note: if you make a lot of cookies, the addition of a small-sized ice cream scoop to your kitchen equipment is well worth the small investment. I use mine all the time. And it's so less messy than two soup spoons.