Christmas with the Muncey’s was a marathon this year. I got home from skiing in Utah on Tuesday, and then had a party every day through yesterday. That’s four separate Christmas parties. A night-before-the-night-before party, a Christmas eve party, Christmas, and Pickett Christmas. Like I said, a marathon.

Unfortunately, I was not able to bake for all of them, as I may have left quite a bit of my Christmas shopping for the last minute, and because if I didn’t make Chocolate Trifle for Christmas day I’m pretty sure my family would disown me.

But I did get to bake for Pickett Christmas. And, though most of my favorite cookbooks are at my apartment in Cambridge, I do leave a couple on my bake center at home for emergencies. One of those is the Taste of Home Cookie Special magazine, from a phase I went through when I think I bought all of the Christmas Cookie special magazines one year. Or, more accurately, from a phase I went through when I threw them into the grocery cart when I thought my mom wasn’t looking one year.

Regardless, I have a bunch of them, and they provide endless variations on cookies that hold up well to travel and make very large batches.

Earlier this season, right after Thanksgiving, I think, Whole Foods was handing out chocolate truffle samples that were actually the best chocolate truffles I had ever had. I think that’s why this particular recipe, Mocha Truffle Cookies, caught my eye. They are rich, mostly chewy with a bit of texture from the chips, and as chocolatey as chocolate gets.

First, melt the butter and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth.
Remove from heat and stir in the espresso powder. Allow to cool five minutes before proceeding.Next, stir in the sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract with a whisk until smooth. You’ll notice that my pictures don’t have brown sugar – that would be because I had the “Oh s***!” moment later in the process. You should add it at this stage even if I forgot. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour to the batter and stir to combine. Then add the remaining cup of chocolate chips and stir to distribute. This is when I looked over at the counter and saw that I had taken the brown sugar out, thought it was strange that I would do that if the cookies didn’t call for it, and then realized they did in fact call for brown sugar. So I just stirred extra hard. Drop the dough by the rounded teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet. If you shape the dough into balls, the cookies will look nicer. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the tops look dry.

Allow to cool on the pan for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.These are the kind of cookie that would be excellent with milk. But they’re pretty awesome on their own as well.

Enjoy!

Mocha Truffle Cookies

Ingredients:

•  1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, divided
• 3 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and 1/2 cup chocolate chips until smooth. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in the espresso powder. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk in the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir into the chocolate mixture.
5. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips.
6. Shape the dough into rounded teaspoon sized balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
7. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until tops are dry. Allow to cool on pan for a minute before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.