Kate Mignault is the wife of Erik Mignault. Who would have thought it? On top of being a great Mom, house cleaning and diaper duty, Kate is the baker in our family. The best baker I’ve ever known! I welcome the newest author to Erik Eats. (For the record, since I am eating Kate’s wonderful baked goods, it’s still technically Erik Eats).

Although I don’t see myself as a domestic goddess I sure do dream about it at times. In between loads of laundry, dirty dishes and diaper changes I really don’t have much time to bake. As for the original domestic goddess, I’ve always had a keen liking to Nigella Lawson. I have also loved Nigella’s look, a dark haired, light skinned, curvy woman that wouldn’t be found in any fashion magazine or on a runway as a model. To me she is the definition of what a true woman should look like, a real woman, one like me, who eats cookies.

Her cookbooks are fantastic and I love watching her show. The way she communicates, just makes me giggle with delight over whatever it is that she’s making. You want to taste it, you want to try it right then and there, which makes you get out your “list” and write down what you need to do, exactly that. I sometimes read her cookbooks late at night in my jammie’s, looking through the lovely photos and perusing the ingredient lists always thinking in my head “don’t I have all of that in the pantry? Can I make that right now?” More times than not I find myself just reading her intros to the recipes, drinking in her words. There is something comforting about it, like hot tea on a cold day, like a good conversation with an old friend, or a spontaneous belly laugh.

These Triple Chocolate cookies are not only filled with chocolaty deliciousness, but they are fast to make and any extra dough can easily be frozen for later. You should eat them right away, even if you burn the top of your mouth… OK, well maybe not, because you won’t be able to taste the next one, two or in my case 5 that I eat after the first. They are best eaten the day you make them, but if you can’t get them all down, or don’t have anyone to help you, the freezing tip below works out well. I have also enjoyed them piping hot out of the oven with a scoop of ice cream to crush their steaminess and create a river of creamy vanilla flowing over them. You’ve got to try it!

Triple Chocolate cookies
Inspired by Nigella Lawson – Nigella Express

4 oz semisweet chocolate
1 cup flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1 tsp baking SODA
½ tsp salt
½ cup sofened unsalted butter (one stick)
½ cup light brown sugar backed
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extra
1 egg, cold from the refridgerator
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips plus a little more for good measure
1 cup dark chocolate chips plus a little more for good measure

preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Cut up the 4 oz of semisweet chocolate and put it in a microwave safe bowl. Heat it for 30 second intervals until it is mostly melted, then with a spatula stir it until all of the chocolate is melted. (I say this so you don’t over heat or burn the chocolate)

Put the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl, whisk it. This will sift all of the ingredients and keep you from having a “salt or SODA” pocket in a bite of a cookie.

Using a hand or freestanding mixer, cream together the butter and the sugars. Try it for quality control 😉 Then add the melted chocolate, again sample it. This is so you can get a taste of what I believe Heaven will be like, okay, back to baking.

Continue mixing on low speed and add the egg and vanilla until incorporated. Then add your chocolate chips.

Line your baking sheet with parchment or a silicon pad. Grab your ice cream scoop or the largest  “baller” you have and start scooping the batter. Turn your chocolatey friends out onto the lined sheet, don’t squish them down, keep them in that wonderful round shape about 2 inches from one another.

Bake for 18 minutes, you can test them for doneness with a toothpick, but it might be in vain since you will probably hit a chocolate chip that is warm and melty. I always use my nose, if the house is filling up with a delicious smell, we’re getting close to being done.

Give them 2 to 3 minutes on the baking sheet, then using a large spatula or flipper transfer them to a cooling rack. If you can stand it, let them cool for a few more minutes. Enjoy with milk, chocolate milk, ice cream, whip cream, or whatever makes you smile.

FREEZING NOTE: to freeze these lovelies, just ball the dough out and put them in the freezer on a lined baking sheet (I used the cardboard lid of a pizza box, because it was laying around doing nothing) for 5 to 10 minutes. You want the dough to harden up a little before you transfer them. Once hardened, transfer them into a zip lock bag or air tight container. When you can’t stand it anymore and you just need a chocolate fix, or someone has shown up for dinner unexpectedly and the last thing you want to do is cook, bake and clean your house, pull them out! 20 to 30 minutes out of the freezer should do the trick for them to thaw out. Pop them in the oven and follow the above cooking instructions.