Chocolate Nut Chip Cookies

Reverse chocolate chip cookies, that’s the simplest way to picture these. Where the classic version uses a vanilla dough with dark chocolate chips, this one flips it: a deep, dark cocoa dough studded with sweet white chocolate chips and a generous cup and a half of chopped nuts.

Two-thirds of a cup of cocoa is what gives the dough its near-black color and intense chocolate flavor. Use a good Dutch-process cocoa if possible. Natural cocoa works fine but lacks the smooth, deep tone that makes these cookies look as serious as they taste.

White chocolate chips provide creamy sweetness that balances the bitterness of the cocoa. Cheap white chips made with palm oil instead of cocoa butter melt poorly and taste waxy. Spend the extra dollar on real white chocolate.

The two-tablespoon water (or milk) addition is the secret to chewy texture. It loosens the dough just enough that the cookies spread properly without pancaking, and the moisture turns into steam in the oven for a tender bite.

Pull them out at 7 to 9 minutes, when they still look soft and slightly underdone. They firm up substantially as they cool on the sheet, and pulling early gives you that fudgy-center, crisp-edge result.

Pro Tips

• Use shortening as the recipe directs for the proper crisp-edge, soft-center texture. Subbing butter changes the spread pattern and gives flatter cookies.
• Toast the chopped nuts at 350°F (175°C) for 5 minutes before folding in. The flavor difference is enormous and they stay crunchier in the cookie.
• Drop dough balls about 2 inches apart. The cookies spread, and crowded sheets give you one giant cookie sheet rather than individual cookies.

Variations

• Use a mix of nuts: pecan-walnut-almond gives the most complex flavor.
• Swap white chocolate chips for butterscotch chips for a different sweet contrast.
• Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the dry ingredients to deepen the chocolate flavor.