Chocolate Drops

What a simple, unassuming name for a cookie that'll be every chocolate-lover's dream! These dark-chocolate cookies, each nestling a soft, rich blob - hey, there's no better word for it - of filling (chocolate or otherwise) in the center, are wonderful teamed with a glass of cold milk or cup of coffee. If you feel chocolate-on-chocolate is overkill, substitute another flavored chip for the filling - mint, cappuccino, cherry, cinnamon, macadamia or white chocolate are all delicious choices. For the ingredients and tools to make this recipes click here: HTTP://www.kingarthurflour.com/cgibin/start/offer-i.html?cust=T1080-C

COOKIES
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (4 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup (3/4 ounce) Dutch-process cocoa (we love our Double-Dutch)
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional; it heightens the flavor of the chocolate)
1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces) Mellow Pastry Blend or King Arthur
Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

FILLING
3/4 cup (4 1/2 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped bittersweet chocolate, or the flavored chip of your choice
1 tablespoon shortening
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla*
*Skip the vanilla if you're using mint chips.

COOKIES: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla till smooth. Stir in the milk, cocoa, espresso powder (if you're using it), flour and salt, mixing till the dough is cohesive; it'll be quite dry, but it'll hold together. Just keep mixing till it does. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (about the size of shelled chestnuts), and place them on ungreased baking sheets. Or, use a 1-teaspoon cookie scoop (which actually holds about 2 teaspoons of dough) to plop balls of dough onto the cookie sheet. Make a depression with your thumb (or with the 3/4-inch diameter top of a small bottle, such as a vanilla bottle) in the center of each ball.

Bake the cookies in a preheated 375°F oven for about 10 minutes; they'll seem set, but still a bit soft on top. (It's better to underbake these cookies than to overbake them, so watch carefully.) Remove the cookies from the oven. Immediately use the bottle (or your thumb, depending on how immune to pain you are) to firmly make the center impression again (it will have puffed up somewhat). Cool the cookies completely on a wire rack.

FILLING: Melt the chips or bittersweet chocolate and the shortening in a saucepan set over very low heat, or in a microwave. Stir in the remaining filling ingredients. At first the chocolate looks like it wants to seize up, but don't worry; just keep stirring.

Fill the cookies, using about 2/3 teaspoon filling for each cookie; a teaspoon cookie scoop (which holds about 2 teaspoons), filled about 1/3 full, works well for this.

Yield: 32 cookies. Note: The filling hardens to a very thick, but not brittle consistency, so the cookies won't stick together when you pack them up and put them in a tin.

Nutrition information per serving (1 cookie, 21g): 90 cal, 4.3g fat, 12g complex carbohydrates, 7g sugar, 1g protein, 8mg cholesterol, 38mg sodium, 71mg potassium, 29RE vitamin A, 1mg iron, 17mg phosphorus, 5mg caffeine.

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