Double Chocolate Cookies, Made with Mayonnaise

A few days ago I posted a recipe for a rich devils food cake made with mayonnaise. As I noted there (http://frugalfastfun.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-old-fashioned-recipe-with-great.html), I rarely have mayonnaise in the house, but I found a bargain price on a two quart jar of the stuff, so I have lots to experiment with. After making four of the cakes in a row, it was time to branch out, so I decided to try for cookies. Unlike the literally hundreds of recipes for that old chocolate cake, I found only one or two cookie recipes using mayonnaise.

Did that stop me? No. I just decided to do a little experimenting on my own and developed the following recipe that should satisfy anyone looking for a real homemade chocolate cookie, with a cake-like rather than crisp or chewy texture.

To make the cookies even more special, I decided to use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips. I had some "chocolate almond bark" left from some holiday baking that I wanted to use up. I have seen recipes that call for chopping chocolate that always seemed too messy, but the block of chocolate was waiting for such a time as this. As it turned out, these chunks were just the thing to make these "double chocolate" cookies perfect for snacking--and they met the frugal standard because the mayonnaise replaced more expensive fats and the chocolate block was much less per pound than ordinary chocolate chips.

Double Chocolate Cookies

1/2 c mayonnaise (I used Costco's Kirkland brand)
1/3 c cocoa
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 c chocolate chunks (see Cutting Chocolate into Chunks, below)

1. Combine mayonnaise, cocoa, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl and beat until smooth and satiny.
2.  Sift the flour and baking soda together and add to the first mixture. Stir until completely blended.
3.  Cut chocolate into small chunks and add to the cookie batter. Stir just enough to be sure the chocolate chunks are evenly distributed.
4.  Drop spoonfuls of batter about the size of a ping pong ball on a well-oiled baking sheet, allowing plenty of room for the cookies to spread.

5.  Bake at 325 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, until the center of a cookie springs back when touched lightly.
Allow to cool before storing in a tightly covered container. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

To Cut Chocolate into Chunks

This method works for all types of solid chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is quite cool, but not frozen.
Put a small cutting board into the bottom of a 9 X 13 or similar pan with high sides. Lay the chocolate on the cutting board and, using a heavy but not overly large knife, cut the chocolate with an up and down motion. Don't worry about the shapes of the chunks; they will be irregular and that is okay. Just try to make them quite similar in size.
When measuring the chocolate, scrape all the pieces into the measuring cup, including the small crumbs. These will melt into the batter and enhance the overall chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Almond Bark?

Many stores carry what is called "almond bark," even though there are no nuts at all in the product. The ingredients list on most of the chocolate (NOT "white chocolate") almond bark blocks mirror the ingredients list on most chocolate chips, so these can easily be substituted for chips. Since the almond bark blocks are most used for dipping pretzels, candy centers, etc., many stores carry these only around Christmas or Valentine's Day and mark them down drastically along with all the other holiday goods--nice find for frugal cooks!