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In a stainless steel bowl, over a
saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove
from heat and set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer
(or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until
thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter
will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the
vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.
In a separate bowl whisk together the
flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture,
stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until
firm enough to shape into balls (3-4 hours or overnight).
Preheat oven to 325
degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in center
of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.
Place the
confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl.
With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1
inch (2.54 cm) diameter ball. Place the ball of dough
into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is
completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently
lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared
baking sheet. Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm)
apart on baking sheets. (If you find the dough getting too soft for rolling
into balls, return to the refrigerator and let chill until firm.)
Bake cookies for
8 to
10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still
soft. (For
moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them
to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire
rack to cool.
These cookies are best eaten the day they are
baked.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Sources:
Baggett,
Nancy. 'The International
Chocolate Cookbook'. Stewart Tabori & Chang. New York: 1991.
Lebovitz, David. 'Room for Dessert'.
Harper Collins Publishers. New York: 1999.
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