Chocolate Euphoria…
the name says it all!

I first tried these at one of my cookie exchange parties, when my kids were in elementary school. These came from my friend Darlene, who I met when our older boys were in Kindergarten. My Tyler and her Scott became fast friends, and I got a wonderful mommy-friendship from that too. So, back to the cookie exchange…. I loved hosting these parties, and after a couple years, I began co-hosting with another school-mom friend, Dawn. We had such a fun time with these get-togethers, and I’ve even got the yearly handmade recipe books to prove it 😉

The year Darlene brought the Chocolate Euphoria cookies, I remember eating *ahem* quite a few before the party was even over. The chocolatey cookies, with dark chocolate chips and pecans was beyond delicious. I think you’ll like them too!

Chocolate Euphoria Cookies

12 oz. dark chocolate chips (I use Guittard)
3 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon milk
1¼ cup pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350°
Melt ½ of the chocolate in a double boiler until smooth. (You can also do this in a microwave, but you risk the chance of burning the chocolate. ick!).
In one bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla till smooth. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Stir melted chocolate and milk into the butter mixture. Mix in dry ingredients. Add remaining chocolate chips and nuts, and stir well. Drop by 1½ teaspoon scoops (even, not rounded) onto a foil-lined baking pan. (To make all these cookies a uniform size, use a 1½ tsp. sized scoop (*I use a stainless steel, springloaded scoop. It’s the size I use for my Pixies, and it looks similar to the #40 scoop I show in my Chocolate Embers recipe, only smaller). Bake 10-13 minutes, until somewhat firm to the touch. Take them out of the oven, and pull the foil sheet off of the baking pan, and onto the counter. Let them sit here till they’re cooled.
Yield: 6 dozen*.
*This recipe is EASILY doubled (actually it’s much easier, since you don’t have to measure out the chocolate chips!) and it’s what I usually do. I make half of the cookies, and freeze the other half of the dough to save time at a later date.

I hope you enjoy these little morsels. It’s sometimes so hard to tell how good something really is, until you make it yourself. However, these are absolutely decadent, and I can guarantee that if you like chocolate, you’ll LOVE them!