booze + chocolate + salt = a winning combination.

these are some intensely chocolaty cookies.  they may be posing with the hershey's, but don't be fooled.  there's more than that in here.

mocha kahlua.  dark cocoa powder.  dark chocolate chips.  a smattering of that fancy-pants sea salt.

it's manchego-approved, so you know it's good.

in fact, the somm tried one and was sure that whoever i'd baked them for probably didn't deserve them.

not true!  happy 30th to mishap! 

these cookies were almost better than our miami celebration trip.  luckily, the hurricane-gale-force winds died down and the sun came out or it might not have been so close. 

warning: these cookies may not be conducive to a bikini-ready body, but just TRY to only eat one.  they're gooey and rich.  they have a perfect chewy edge.  and the salt just kicks it up a notch.

i finally found a trick to getting salt to stay on the top of cookies.  it's a little weird.  are you ready?

take cookies out of oven. quickly spritz with pam.  apply salt.

neat, huh?

i still can't figure out how to get turbinado sugar to stay crunchy on muffins.  i think i'm just going to need to practice! 

maybe we should start with another batch of cookies.

Salted Mudslide Cookies

Loosely adapted from How Sweet It Is

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee powder (I ran out and just used more cocoa powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled for 10-15 minutes
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup coffee liqueur + 1 teaspoon (I used Mocha Kahlua for an extra chocolate kick)
• 1 cup chocolate chunks
• sea salt for topping

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Stir together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, mix the melted butter and sugars until they are combined. Next add your liquids – egg, vanilla, Kahlua. 

Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms – it will be a little more crumbly than most cookie dough but should come together.

Fold in the chocolate chunks. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.  Be patient.  Remember you didn't have to remember to soften your butter, so you have to make up for it somewhere.  Your reward: puffy, chewy yumminess.

Scoop balls of dough onto a greased or nonstick baking sheet.  I went for about 1tablespoon-sized scoops because I was bringing them into work.  Bigger scoops would probably maximize the gooey, chewy character of the cookie.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are set and the middles are still soft. The centers should be puffy. Do not over bake.

Remove from oven.  Working three cookies at a time, immediately give each a spritz of Pam or other cooking spray (just not the kind with flour!) and then sprinkle with sea salt.

Good warm, cooled, or unbaked.