Amy's Chocolate Cookies Made by Jon

Last Monday morning back to work, after gallivanting around NYC, I was very surprised and delighted to find this wonderful chocolate belated birthday surprise waiting on my desk!

Jon, my co-worker, friend, photographer and baker extraordinaire, was so thoughtful to bake me a batch of these amazing chocolate cookies. You have no idea how good these were. I did share. They were like a brownie cookie with M&M's. How's a girl supposed to maintain her weight with all these treats I can't turn down? 

It should be noted that Jon is far too humble about his baking skills. He will casually "whip something up" with ingredients he had "leftover" or "laying around" which turn into gourmet masterpieces, like banana muffins with a cinnamon crumble top, that you would pay $4.50 for if you were at a bakery. And his are better. He loves to bake and every now and then, those of us that work with him (or sit near his studio) are privileged to partake of his baked goods. Cranberry scones. Chocolate torte. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It's one of the reasons I love my job. Everyone tells him he should open a shop. 

He probably won't be thrilled about this photo (on the phone), but I had to give the guy some credit and put a face to the name. I told him if he didn't supply a photo of his choice I was going to use whatever I had.


These cookies were too good not to share, so I asked for the recipe, which came from Amy, Jon's assistant. Thank you Amy! Here it is if you need some chocolatey goodness in your life. Did I mention there's espresso in them? I highly recommend it! 



Amy's Chocolate Cookies

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups Ghiradelli 60% chips
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp instant espresso

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips on medium heat in microwave. Beat softened butter and brown sugar together. Beat eggs into sugar/butter mixture. Add milk, vanilla and coffee and mix to dissolve coffee. Mix melted chocolate and sugar/butter mix alternately into dry ingredients. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.

Scoop dough with 1 oz scoop onto parchment paper covered baking sheets. Press M&M's into top of dough and flatten cookies slightly. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. 

Makes about 2 dozen. 

And I got the keep this beautiful plate after they were all gone. Thank you Jon and Amy! You made my week!