|
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 even 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) 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 the prepared baking sheet. Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches
(5 cm) apart on the 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.
|
