Cookies made by Cake Gumshoe Chris

Confession: we love Shirley Corriher's voice. It's just so...warm and appealing...almost hypnotic. We could listen to her talk about cookies and cakes all day, and then fall asleep to her southern twang reading us recipes at night.

But certainly she's not just a voice: this chemist-turned-food guru knows how to make one fine cookie. Recently, Cake Gumshoe Chris made a batch of her Lava Cookies (with some small changes) from her book BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking, and we can say with little hesitation that they're one of the most delicious cookies we've ever tried. Though the recipe suggests serving them warm for a gooey (lava) inside, we also liked them room temperature, when the exterior was slightly crisp, but the inside soft and fudgy; and with Chris' substitution of trablit for vanilla extract, they had an ever-so-slight coffee kick.

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided
  
• Nonstick cooking spray
  
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 2/3 cup sugar
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 2 tsp trablit
  
• 1 cup spooned and leveled bleached all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
  

1. Arrange a shelf in the middle of the oven and place a baking stone on it. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Spray several heavy baking sheets with nonstick spray and line with release foil (nonstick side up). Set aside.
   
3. In medium saucepan, melt remaining 6 TBL butter over medium heat. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Let stand for 1 min., and then stir. If all chocolate is not melted, place pan on very low heat for 1 min, remove, and stir. Let stand for 1 min, remove, and stir. Let stand for 1 min. and continue stirring. Repeat until all chocolate is melted. Set aside.
   
4. Min mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, salt, and trablit at high speed with an electric mixer for 2-3 min, or until light and pale yellow. Turn mixer down to low and pour in chocolate.
   
5. In medium mixing bowl, combine flour and baking powder, beating well with electric mixer. Stir flour into batter in several batches. Scrape down bowl and across bottom. 
   
6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20-30 min. Using a 2-inch (#30) ice cream scoop, scoop dough place portions approx. 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 1 sheet at a time.
   
7. Place baking sheet in oven on stone. Bake for exactly 12 min. Cool for 3-5 min. Best sered warm, but you can reheat each cookie in the microwave for 10 seconds for running centers. You can freeze cookies and thaw or microwave as you like.