Mulattoes

Mulattoes
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 199.

Of the hundreds of Maida Heatter cookie recipes, this may be the most famous. These are chunky but soft, extremely chocolaty,  full of nuts and chocolate chips. Sinfully delicious!

They are easy to make. The trickiest part may be the baking time. After making them numerous times, I have learned to only bake them 10 or 11 minutes at the most, then remove them and allow them to sit on the hot baking pan for about 5 minutes. They will be extremely soft to the touch but eventually they firm up nicely. 

I just use my hand mixer for these. Although the recipe states that it makes 18 large cookies, I find that the yield is slightly higher, even when making them fairly large. I use a tablespoon scoop to form the cookies.


2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
3 oz. (3/4 stick) butter
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. instant coffee or espresso
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 
6 oz. (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz. (1 cup) walnuts or pecans, broken into medium pieces

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the first three ingredients (chocolates and butter) over moderate heat
 in a double boiler. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat the eggs, sugar, coffee and vanilla on high speed for 1-2 minutes. 

Mix in the chocolate mixture (lower your speed to avoid a mess) 

Add the dry ingredients.. 

Add the chocolate chips...

And stir in the nuts. 

Drop by heaping tablespoons on the lined sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Tops will by dry. Centers should remain moist and chewy. Do not overbake. Let stand on cookie sheets until firm enough to move to a cooling rack.

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