Celebrating with Chocolate

While breakfast in bed starts the morning out on the right foot, Valentine’s Day is never complete without a little extra chocolate treat. Hershey’s, Nestlé, Cadbury, and Lindt all agree; they create special candies wrapped in festive red and pink foil just for the holiday. Heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and truffles disappear from store shelves faster than Hallmark cards and candy conversation hearts, the empty spaces magically refilled before sunrise by delivery trucks and night-shift workers.

If packaged and sold, these homemade chocolate cookies would vanish long before any nougat or truffle. Moist and fudgy, the cookie develops a slight fruity undertone from the balsamic vinegar, and the small salt crystals on top pair beautifully with the chocolate’s sweetness. Go ahead, treat yourself and your loved ones to a decadent dessert. There’s more than enough to share!

Salted Balsamic Chocolate Cookies

based on Susan Voisin’s Balsamic Fudge Cookies

makes 3-4 dozen

I liked to turn the cookie upside down to eat it, which enhances the salty-sweet pairing. But if you’d prefer a purely sweet cookie, use a sprinkling of sugar on top of the cookies in place of the salt.

1 c. flour

¾ tsp baking soda

pinch of ground cinnamon

pinch of regular salt

½ c. + 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

⅔ c. granulated sugar

½ c. unsweetened applesauce

⅓ c. plain nonfat yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350° and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, mix the first four ingredients (flour through regular salt) together. In a large bowl, stir together the cocoa, sugar, and applesauce. Mix in the yogurt, vanilla, and balsamic vinegar. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Drop about 1 tbsp of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten with your fingers or the back of a spoon, and sprinkle with a bit of the coarse sea salt. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake at 350° for 9-11 min. Cool on the pan for 5-8 min before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.