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Triple Chocolate Celebratory Cookies

Portraits by Rikki Will

Why is this cookie a celebratory cookie? Because it’s the first cookie I made after having A BABY! Rafa has brought so much joy into our lives and these past four months have been amazingly sweet – and hard. But these cookies made those late night feedings and postpartum crying sessions a little bit easier.

Thanks to our friend Rikki Will for taking these beautiful family photos right around Rafa’s two months. We laughed, Rafa cried, we baked cookies and it was mostly fun. Check her out if you need beautiful photos/portraits taken and are in the Brooklyn/Manhattan area.

Now I can’t make these cookies without thinking about those early months. Every time I start creaming the butter and sugar I think about what he’s going to be like as he grows up. Every time I sit down for a meal and he’s watching I say, “One day you’re going to love (insert food here).” I especially know he’ll love cookies – just like his dad.

Cookie photos by Colin Berg

These cookies are very chocolatey and not too sweet. They’ve got those brownie edges but they’re soft and bendy. They’ve got just enough salt that you can eat three in a row. Or if you’re Colin, all sixteen cookies in the middle of the night. His favorite line is, “you should have made a double batch!”

Now on to the cookie. When making these, you might think the batter is too sticky – but that’s just how it’s supposed to be. Make sure you refrigerate the dough overnight (or at least three hours) or you won’t get the right texture. The recipe calls for a large egg but if your eggs aren’t large, you should add a tablespoon of water to make sure the dough is moist enough and the cookies spread in the oven. If they turn out high and really hold the “ball” shape, then your egg wasn’t large enough.

ONE NOTE ON WHITE CHOCOLATE! If you’re not a white chocolate person like me, don’t skip the white chocolate chips, please. The white chocolate adds a perfect hint of sweetness that’s welcome in these deep, dark, chocolatey cookies. Because the batter isn’t too sweet, I really think the white chips take these over the edge.

I hope you celebrate something with these cookies because they’re really worth it. And right now, anything is worth celebrating.

Triple Chocolate Celebratory Cookie (adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature (if your egg isn’t large, add 1 additional tablespoon of water)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped dark chocolate (I use Trader Joe’s Pound Plus 72% dark) 
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, plus a few more for pressing on top of the cookies before they go into the oven
  • Maldon flaky sea salt 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, around 3-6 minutes. Add large egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. 

In a separate bowl add all dry ingredients and whisk. Add dry to wet mixture slowly. The dough should be sticky but if it seems dry, add a tablespoon of water and mix one more time.

Add chopped chocolate, walnuts and white chocolate chips right at the end. 
Refrigerate dough overnight (or at least 3 hours). 

Remove from fridge and let soften for 5-10 minutes. Scoop onto a baking sheet, press a few white chocolate chips into the top and sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 9-11 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a baking rack. 

The Pantry! Before and After

We’ve finished the LEAST crucial space in our house FIRST. Forget the bathroom, or the kitchen. No one lounges in the pantry, or eats in it, but I don’t care. I’ve always dreamed of a space to show off my jam jars, pickles and cookbooks. The pantry was a major selling point when we bought this house, despite the scary before pictures.

The former pantry was dated and far from beautiful. It had shelves that were way too deep and items hard to access. When we demo’d the shelves we discovered that this was a place where critters were hanging out, so in hindsight, I’m really glad we started from scratch in this room.

When I found Young House Love’s tutorial on built in shelving, I knew that I wanted to mimic their simple, clean pantry design. Although their tutorial was helpful, I’m almost certain the houses they renovate aren’t 1848 farmhouses. Which means when we went to do everything they instructed, it didn’t work for us. Our studs are NOT 16″ on center. We made 6,000 trips to Lowe’s to find other solutions, and we ended up using very heavy duty wall anchors and screwing into the studs wherever possible. We did the best we could and think we achieved our goal in making this space feel open, clean and functional.

And check out this hutch! We bought it at an auction for $25 and painted the back of it white (yes, I held an auction paddle and spent way too much $$). We also bolted it to the studs of the wall behind it, so it feels built into the room too (and won’t fall on anyone). I’m obsessed with it and love that my baking scale, cookbooks, vintage Saveur mags, and jars of beautiful ingredients live out in the open. There’s also a very convenient cabinet below for “ugly stuff” storage.

Swoon. Our $25 auction hutch.

Lastly, I wanted somewhere to hang pots and pans that was outside of the kitchen. I found some tutorials online for this, but we decided to wing it and figure it out ourselves. Check out the instructions below to build these on your own. It’s really easy – the industrial pipe pieces screw together and end up looking very chic against a white wall. I think it looks stunning!

Nothing brings me more joy than walking into this room, labeling jars of dried goods, stacking (and re-stacking) cookbooks, and getting inspired.

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What you’ll need for two racks:

Step 1: Slide S hooks onto the pipe

Step 2: Assemble the pipe to the elbows, then attach each nipple to the elbows, then the flanges

Step 3: Make sure the flanges lay flat against the wall and the pipe is level. Mark your holes on the wall

Step 4: If using anchors, drill holes for anchors and insert anchors. With someone holding on side, screw the flanges onto the wall.

Step 5: When attaching the second rack, make sure the distance from the bar to the wall is the same as the first. Or you can also stagger them, but make sure you’re aware.

Step 6: That’s it! Hang your pots and anything else from this very simple rack.

Five Ingredient Cranberry Sauce

I will keep this short and sweet, just like this five ingredient cranberry sauce recipe. If I were you, I’d appreciate it, because there are likely 300 things you still need to buy, make and do before four o’clock on Thursday.

The best part about this recipe is that it can be made up to a week ahead of the big day and no one will know (or care). But forget to make the cranberry sauce and someone will definitely notice (and complain). I know in my house, if there isn’t cranberry sauce on the table then it’s basically Christmas dinner. And that’s just boring.

So here it is, the most simple, beautiful cranberry sauce in all the land. Flavor it how you like – add ginger if you must, or pecans if you’re strange, but do me a favor – don’t leave it off the table.

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