These cookies are a favorite of mine and are worth feeding your starter to get the discard. Cocoa Bomb Cookies are rich, slightly cake-like poufs with a subtle yeasty taste. Think of Guinness cookies. The chocolate taste is pronounced, but the cookies have something else in the background--sourdough--that makes them unusual. A touch of cinnamon and plenty of chocolate chips add extra sweetness to the cookies, and chocoholics (like me) will be happy. Walnuts add texture and a little crunch to the cookies. The walnuts also keep the cookies from being too sweet. Try these cookies when you need a chocolate fix but can't decide whether it should be in cake or brownie format. The Cocoa Bomb Cookies will bridge the difference and hit the chocolate target. Enjoy!
Sourdough Chocolate Cocoa Bomb Cookies -- Makes 24+
3 cups of flour
5 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2/3 cup of canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of sourdough starter/discard
1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips (preferably dark)
1/2 cup of walnuts, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or coat them with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar and mix them well until no white spots remain. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, and vanilla until well combined. Add the wet to the dry ingredients. Stir in the sourdough starter/discard until everything is barely combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. The batter will be very stiff and hard to stir. Keep at it. Drop mounds a little smaller than a golf ball onto the cookie sheets, spacing the mounds about 2 inches apart (9 cookies to a sheet is plenty). Use your fingers (dampened) to shape the cookies into round disks about an inch thick. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until barely firm. Let the cookies cool a few minutes on the cookie sheets and then remove them to cool completely.
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