Cornmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

October is National Cookie Month, but then every month is Cookie Month in my book, especially cookies with chocolate. Today I welcome Victoria K. Anderson as a Guest Blogger. Check out her blog: DistrictChocoholic.
Thanks, Victoria!

As a lifetime chocolate lover, Victoria got very interested in examining the finest chocolate and chocolate-based creations after she finished her undergraduate work and took a job in Washington, DC. Now that she has nearly a decade of fine-chocolate sleuthing experience, she uses her blog to write about and review chocolate brands, chocolate shops, and chocolate treats. And of course, she posts chronicles of her chocolate-based kitchen adventuresand leaves the recipes for all to enjoy at districtchocoholic.blogspot.com/.

CORNMEAL CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

One thing I love about recipe research is finding a combination of ingredients that seems unusual but sounds delicious. In perusing cookie recipes, I happened upon instructions for cornmeal cookies not just once, but twice: once when checking out David Lebovitz’s site (www.davidlebovitz.com), and a second time when looking over the massive recipe collection from Joy The Baker (www.joythebaker.com). If two such culinary masterminds both thought that a recipe for cornmeal cookies was worth posting, these must really be something.

There was only one problem: No chocolate in either recipe. None. I was left to examine each recipe, figure out how to incorporate chocolate, and give a hybrid approach a try.

Getting your tools out (Ingredients)
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
½ tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate chunks (I used El Rey Mijao 61% Cocoa)

Getting to work (steps)
1. Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the egg, then the vanilla. Beat until well-incorporated
3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, cornmeal, baking powder, salt).
4. Add dry ingredient mixture to butter mixture until combined.

5. Mix in chocolate chunks (critical step).

That gets us the final dough product. Then the really fun part begins. These are not prepared like normal chocolate chunk cookies, which are basic drop cookies. Instead, they are shaped, frozen, and sliced before baking.
6. Roll the dough into a 4-inch diameter cylinder. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze.
7. After the dough has frozen, preheat oven to 325° F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. Remove dough from freezer, unwrap, and slice into ¼” thick discs.
9. Place discs on prepared cookie sheet, about 2” apart. Bake for 12 minutes and allow to sit for five minutes before moving to cooling rack.

I shared these with several friends and coworkers, who all thought this was a neat take on a chocolate chunk cookie that offered something a little extra. Give them a try yourself!