“Machine of Death” by Chocolate Cookie Bars

Recently our cat passed away. It was very unexpected and traumatic. She always had a flair for doing things big. She didn’t let us down this time either. My familiar has moved on. She now holds a place on our altar and in our hearts.

I’d been thinking about making another cookie bar. Once she passed I had the idea to dedicate it to her (the cat) and make them chocolate. Her name was Machine of Death (M.O.D.) so what better cookie bar than death by chocolate? She was an all black cat and in her old age had some little white tufts. She was a sweet cat. Both of these traits lead me to use white chocolate in the bars. Usually you won’t find white chocolate in death by chocolate recipes. Adding white chocolate chips gives little bursts of sweetness to these bars. I had planned on doing black cocoa powder but didn’t have any. In reading more about it I’d be better off mixing the dutch processed cocoa powder with the black cocoa. Thankfully black cocoa powder is dutch processed so no crazy issues with baking there.

The bars are great. They’re rich, but not punch you in the face chocolate. The semi sweet and the white chocolate chips help lend some extra sweetness and flavor. You could really go crazy with these and swap the chips with chopped dark chocolate. Pick something between 70% - 88% dark and you won’t need any additional sugar. If you have a sweet tooth some milk chocolate would balance the 70% dark too. Hmm…. Maybe something to try for next time. Anyway where was I? These bars are moist, but not a brownie. They still have great cookie texture and chew. If you like brownies more than cookies, (how could you) you’ll really dig the edges of these bars. They have a great extra chewy crunch to them. Very brownie like edges. I’m pretty sure that’s from the sugars caramelizing. The longer you let the bars cool in the pan the crispier the edges get. Make sure you balance that with the fact that the bars are still cooking while in the pan. This means they’ll be less moist the longer they sit in the pan. I recommend 5 minutes in the pan and then remove them.

Make these bars, cut them up, and eat them. Then go love your pets for a little bit. Too often we don’t have as much time for them as we’d like or they’d like. As with anything you never know when it’ll be gone. I mean with these bars you will because there will only be one left. Eat it though, or someone else will.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup unsalted butter softened

• 3/4 Cup granulated (white) sugar

• 3/4 Cup dark brown sugar (packed)

• 3 Large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 Cup dutch processed cocoa powder (Hersey’s Dark)

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 Cups all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 Cups white chocolate chips

• 1 1/2 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

2. Cream the butter, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar until smooth

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl

4. Add the vanilla and mix to combine

5. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder

6. In two or three batches add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding the next batch. Mix just until the dough is formed

7. Add the white and semi sweet chocolate chips to the dough and mix until just combined. Do not over mix. You don’t want to form too much gluten

8. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment letting some hang over the sides. These will be handles to get the cookie bars out later

9. Spread the dough as evenly as possible in the parchment lined pan

10. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean in the center

11. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes

12. Using the parchment handles, remove the whole thing from the pan and cool on a wire rack

13. Slice and enjoy

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