Chocolate Fudge Chip Cookies

I am one lucky girl. Every summer, with two exceptions, I have been coming to northern Manitoba with my family. We have a cottage on Clearwater Lake, about 20 minutes out from the town of The Pas.

It is so beautiful here, in more ways than one. Firstly, the natural beauty is stunning. The waters of the lake are breath taking in their clarity -- you can see the bottom of the lake from the middle of the bay! At night, you can catch a glimpse of the northern lights or track the fiery journey of a shooting star against the black, black sky. It's quiet and peaceful and once a friend from London commented on the amazing (to her) fact that you could see an uninterrupted horizon in a 360 direction, without the smear of a jet stream across the sky's even surface.

Yesterday, my brother, his girlfriend, and I arrived in Winnipeg from Toronto then met my dad and drove up to The Pas. There was an interesting "landmark" that we encountered on our drive up: the giant Prairie Chicken next to the gas station in Ashern. I bet you don't see those too often!


Also, it was our annual 'four cottages' August long weekend dinner and we arrived just in time for the food. The Gemmil's spent the afternoon roasting an entire half pig on a spit! And there was a wonderful array of salads, potatoes, homemade applesauce, and meatballs.

And if that wasn't enough, my grandma and mum made both pumpkin and lemon meringue pie and Sally Gemmil brought the too-cute brownie bites topped with cool whip and fruit.

The baking medic also water skiis. How about that?

It certainly feels good to be back at the cottage. Summer just wouldn't be summer without a visit to Clearwater.



Anyways, this post is also about cookies. Chocolate fudge chip cookies to be exact. I mentioned a few days ago that my attempt at making chocolate fudge was only semi-successful. So, I pulled out Alton Brown's recipe for "the Puffy" chocolate chip cookie (one of my favourites) and decided that it would taste fantastic with the added richness of the fudge crumbs.



I will admit that these cookies did not turn out how I had imagined them. My visions included puffy, cakes cookies dotted with pieces of warm fudge. I had not antipitated that the fudge crumbs would melt. As a result, my cookies flattened out almost completely! Still, they have a slightly crispy edge and a nice chewy centre. Not to mention a lovely chocolate, fudgy taste. They were an accidental hit! Unfortunately, as I don't know when I'll next be making fudge, I don't know when I'll next get a chance to make these cookies.

Still, if you've got some fudge crumbs kicking around, give these puppies a try; you won't be disappointed!

Chocolate Fudge Chip Cookies

adapted from Alton Brown's "The Puffy"

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cups milk chocolate chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate fudge crumbs
  

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the mixer's work bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. In the meantime, sift together the cake flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.

Add the eggs 1 at a time to the creamed mixture. Then add vanilla. Increase the speed until thoroughly incorporated.

With the mixer set to low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine well. Stir in the fudge crumbs and milk chocolate chips. Chill the dough. Scoop rounded tablespoons of batter onto greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool and store in an airtight-container. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack, or you risk disemboweling you cookies! (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, becuase you'll of course have to eat the "dead" ones.;) )