Third time's the charm! Everything at the Manhattan Sailing Club is cranked up to the highest level of competition, in a very friendly sort of way (even if it's just competing with oneself to do smoother jibes). The first year that I entered the Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest I used bittersweet chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate provides such a nice contrast to the sugars. But, after I took a bite of my cookie with a beer chaser, I knew that I had no chance of winning the Club contest where cookies are not eaten with a neutral drink like milk. The cookies tasted too bitter when eaten with beer. The next year I changed to semisweet chips but still the flavors were too subtle and a lot of people don't like nuts. This year I swapped out the vanilla bean pulp which didn't pack enough flavor, left out the nuts, and brought the Cookie Monster "trophy" home. So, here's the prize-winning recipe:
1/2 C unsalted butter
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C Nutella
2 eggs
1 T Kahlua
2 1/3 C flour
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
12 oz sweet chocolate chopped into chunks
Cream butter and sugars. Add Nutella until smooth. Beat in eggs and Kahlua.
Into separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix in chocolate. Chill cookie dough overnight.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Spoon dough 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake until lightly brown, 9 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy!!
Variations: add chopped nuts; use scraped-out pulp from 1 vanilla bean instead of Kahlua; use peanut butter with added chopped peanuts instead of Nutella; substitute bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
